tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-25398179744597637012024-03-13T23:13:24.250+00:00UnBiased Book ReviewsQuality Reads UKhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/03216387289293473067noreply@blogger.comBlogger742125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2539817974459763701.post-11828251557579581302015-05-02T07:30:00.000+01:002015-05-02T07:30:00.884+01:00Geronimo - #Excerpt from LUCIFER & THE INDIGO KIDS by @Lord_Ra_Krishna #Poetry #AmReading<br />
<i><b>Geronimo... (and the ones with religion) </b></i><br />
<br />
Dear Geronimo...<br />
My Great, Great grand Father<br />
<br />
They took you from us<br />
And our people were slaughtered...<br />
<br />
They didn't break your spirit<br />
You passed it unto me<br />
<br />
And I will spark the movement<br />
As soon as I get free...<br />
<br />
They hunted and chased you<br />
I clearly remember<br />
They would have never caught you<br />
They're lucky you surrendered...<br />
<br />
They tricked you and stole your land<br />
and we even have the audacity to celebrate Thanksgiving...<br />
<br />
They used you for mascots<br />
the Red Skins <br />
and the Chiefs <br />
<br />
Your great land was stolen<br />
By the ones with religion...<br />
<br />
<br />
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<a href="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-e7ohu8GS8NQ/VEZ099OgsPI/AAAAAAAADdI/JA7IU27mLuE/s1600/10543606_799244456762857_1951121046706555738_n.png" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-e7ohu8GS8NQ/VEZ099OgsPI/AAAAAAAADdI/JA7IU27mLuE/s1600/10543606_799244456762857_1951121046706555738_n.png" height="320" width="225" /></a></div>
<br />
"This
“new age” book of poetry reflects the diverse views and philosophies of
it’s author Ra Krishna EL. It’s an intimate, humorous and thought
provoking group of poems intended to evoke strong emotion. To quote the
German philosopher, Friedrich Nietzsche, this style of poetry can be
called “Zukunfts poesie“ which translates into “Poetry of the future”,
where truly original ideas are presented thru poetry. Also known as post
Nietzschean poetry.<br />
<br />
It’s subjects include society, pop
culture, love, religious dogma, God and the new age of Aquarius. This
book was written and published during the false incarceration of its
author in Chicago’s notorious Cook County Jail, the largest jail in the
country."<br />
<br />
Bu<span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-family: inherit;">y Now @ <a data-mce-href="http://www.amazon.com/Lucifer-indigo-kids-Last-Prophet-ebook/dp/B00L3VL7E8/ref=sr_1_1_title_1_kin?s=books&ie=UTF8&qid=1406567843&sr=1-1&keywords=lucifer+and+the+indigo+kids" href="http://www.amazon.com/Lucifer-indigo-kids-Last-Prophet-ebook/dp/B00L3VL7E8/ref=sr_1_1_title_1_kin?s=books&ie=UTF8&qid=1406567843&sr=1-1&keywords=lucifer+and+the+indigo+kids" target="_blank">Amazon</a></span></span></div>
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<span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-family: inherit;"><i>Genre - Poetry, Philosophy</i></span></span></div>
<div align="center" style="color: #333333; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; letter-spacing: normal; line-height: 19px; text-indent: 0px; text-transform: none; white-space: normal; word-spacing: 0px;">
<span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-family: inherit;"><i>Rating – PG-13</i></span></span></div>
<div align="center" style="color: #333333; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; letter-spacing: normal; line-height: 19px; text-indent: 0px; text-transform: none; white-space: normal; word-spacing: 0px;">
<span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-family: inherit;"><i>More details about <a data-mce-href="http://www.amazon.com/s/ref=ntt_athr_dp_sr_1?_encoding=UTF8&field-author=Lord%20Ra%20Krishna%20EL&search-alias=books&sort=relevancerank" href="http://www.amazon.com/s/ref=ntt_athr_dp_sr_1?_encoding=UTF8&field-author=Lord%20Ra%20Krishna%20EL&search-alias=books&sort=relevancerank" target="_blank">the author</a></i></span></span></div>
<div align="center" style="color: #333333; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; letter-spacing: normal; line-height: 19px; text-indent: 0px; text-transform: none; white-space: normal; word-spacing: 0px;">
<span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-family: inherit;"><b style="font-weight: bold ! important;">Connect</b> with Lord Ra Krishna EL on <a data-mce-href="https://www.facebook.com/pages/Lord-Ra-Krishna-El/729737850380185?ref=hl" href="https://www.facebook.com/pages/Lord-Ra-Krishna-El/729737850380185?ref=hl" target="_blank">Facebook</a> & <a data-mce-href="https://twitter.com/Lord_Ra_Krishna" href="https://twitter.com/Lord_Ra_Krishna" target="_blank">Twitter</a></span></span></div>
Quality Reads UKhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/03216387289293473067noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2539817974459763701.post-55831264145590310862015-05-01T10:00:00.000+01:002015-05-01T10:00:08.558+01:00#Excerpt from "MAKING WISHES" by Marilyn Holdsworth @M_Holdsworth #AmReading #Historical<div style="background-color: white; line-height: 21px; margin-bottom: 10px;">
<span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-family: inherit;"><b>HOUSEWIFE ELLOREE GETS INVITED BACK TO WORK</b></span></span><br />
<i><span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-family: inherit;"><b>(from Marilyn Holdsw<span style="font-family: inherit;">o<span style="font-family: inherit;">rth's Novel<span style="font-family: inherit;">, </span></span></span>MAKING WISHES)</b></span></span></i></div>
<div style="background-color: white; line-height: 21px; margin-bottom: 10px;">
<span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-family: inherit;">Elloree’s
hand tightened around the receiver. “I know you have a very large and
capable staff now, Mark,” she said. “Alex Tenner is one of the best, and
I read you stole him from Hallmark just last year.” Mark laughed, the
deep bellowing sound shaking the phone. “You’re right there, but we call
it ‘making an offer he couldn’t refuse.’ Yeah, we’ve got him on our
side now. But between you and me, the guy’s a light-footed ass who
spends too much time thinking with what’s below the belt. No, this
operation needs someone special.”How very like him, Elloree fumed,
pacing the kitchen, still clutching the phone. Today, without warning,
one phone call had transformed an ordinary <span class="aBn">Saturday</span>morning
into something that was anything but. Impulsive, aggressive Mark
Williams had always known what he wanted. And as he phrased it this
morning, “I want and need you to come back to work, El. This project
can’t fly without you.”</span></span></div>
<div style="background-color: white; line-height: 21px; margin-bottom: 10px;">
<span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-family: inherit;">
I wish I’d just let the answering machine pick up the call, she thought,
I wouldn’t have had to talk to him and hear those persuasive words.
Just like that, go back to work. Damn him. But even as she thought it,
she knew she’d made her decision when she’d heard his voice. Still, she
answered carefully. “You know I can’t just come back, Mark. I would need
time.” She hesitated and then added, “Time to talk to Tom. And there
are things here to work out before I could even think of it.” She tried
to sound firm and in control, but her heart was racing with excitement.</span></span><br />
<br />
<span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-family: inherit;">“Fine, fine; take all the time you need. Call me <span class="aBn">on Monday</span> with your answer.”</span></span><br />
<span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-family: inherit;">She wondered if he could detect the quiver in her voice when she promised to call <span class="aBn">on Monday</span>.</span></span></div>
<div style="background-color: white; line-height: 21px; margin-bottom: 10px;">
<span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-family: inherit;">For more, please see Making Wishes by Marilyn Holdsworth at: <a href="http://marilynholdsworth.com/making-wishes/" style="text-decoration: none;" target="_blank">http://marilynholdsworth.com/making-wishes/</a></span></span></div>
<br />
<div data-mce-style="color: #222222;" style="font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; letter-spacing: normal; line-height: 19px; text-align: center; text-indent: 0px; text-transform: none; white-space: normal; word-spacing: 0px;">
<span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-family: inherit;"><a href="http://g-ecx.images-amazon.com/images/G/01/ciu/15/97/44078a95157c0ad8986cb6.L._V393916356_.jpg" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="http://g-ecx.images-amazon.com/images/G/01/ciu/15/97/44078a95157c0ad8986cb6.L._V393916356_.jpg" /></a></span></span> </div>
<div data-mce-style="color: #222222;" style="font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; letter-spacing: normal; line-height: 19px; text-align: center; text-indent: 0px; text-transform: none; white-space: normal; word-spacing: 0px;">
<span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-family: inherit;"><br /></span></span></div>
<div data-mce-style="color: #222222;" style="font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; letter-spacing: normal; line-height: 19px; text-align: center; text-indent: 0px; text-transform: none; white-space: normal; word-spacing: 0px;">
<span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-family: inherit;"><span data-mce-style="color: #222222;" style="background-color: white; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; letter-spacing: normal; line-height: 19px; text-align: start; text-indent: 0px; text-transform: none; white-space: normal; word-spacing: 0px;">As a novelist, I draw on many real life experiences to<span class="Apple-converted-space"> </span></span><span data-mce-style="color: #222222;" style="background-color: white; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; letter-spacing: normal; line-height: 19px; text-align: start; text-indent: 0px; text-transform: none; white-space: normal; word-spacing: 0px;">provide
background for my books. After completing studies in Literature and
History at Occidental College, I became a staff writer on a travel
magazine, and throughout my career I have traveled extensively all over
the world. </span><span data-mce-style="color: #222222;" style="background-color: white; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; letter-spacing: normal; line-height: 19px; text-align: start; text-indent: 0px; text-transform: none; white-space: normal; word-spacing: 0px;">Because
I love horses, I owned and trained them. I support horse rescue and
wild mustang preservation. Based on my experience with horses and my
research on abuse issues, I wrote Pegasus.</span></span></span></div>
<div data-mce-style="color: #222222;" style="font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; letter-spacing: normal; line-height: 19px; text-align: center; text-indent: 0px; text-transform: none; white-space: normal; word-spacing: 0px;">
<span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-family: inherit;"><br data-mce-style="color: #222222;" style="background-color: white; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; letter-spacing: normal; line-height: 19px; text-align: start; text-indent: 0px; text-transform: none; white-space: normal; word-spacing: 0px;" /><span data-mce-style="color: #222222;" style="background-color: white; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; letter-spacing: normal; line-height: 19px; text-align: start; text-indent: 0px; text-transform: none; white-space: normal; word-spacing: 0px;">As
a descendant of James Monroe, I did extensive research at the James
Monroe Museum in Virginia about him and his wife Elizabeth Kortright
Monroe. I also visited their home, Ashlawn/Highland in Albemarle County.
This resulted in my novel, The Beautiful American. </span><span data-mce-style="color: #222222;" style="background-color: white; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; letter-spacing: normal; line-height: 19px; text-align: start; text-indent: 0px; text-transform: none; white-space: normal; word-spacing: 0px;">Making Wishes, was based partly on my experiences as creator, owner and operator of a greeting card company.</span></span></span></div>
<a href="https://www.blogger.com/null" name="49398"></a><a href="https://www.blogger.com/null" name="END"></a><br />
<div style="background-color: white; line-height: 21px; margin-bottom: 10px; text-align: center;">
<span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-family: inherit;"><img src="http://www.orangeberrybooktours.com/wp-content/uploads/2013/09/Making-Wishes.jpg" /></span></span></div>
<div style="background-color: white; line-height: 21px; margin-bottom: 10px; text-align: center;">
<span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-family: inherit;">Elloree
Prince is an attractive, creative young woman who marries a wealthy
businessman, Tom Randall. After courting his bride with unrelenting
determination, Tom moves her into old-moneyed Oak View, where
generations of Randalls have lived for years. Outwardly, Elloree appears
to settle into raising their two sons within Oak View’s stifling social
structure, but inwardly, she yearns for her artistic work. An
unexpected phone call from Mark Williams, her former employer, offers
her the career opportunity of a lifetime, and she must make a choice.
She is torn between her devotion to her sons and her love for her work.
Her decision to return to Wishes, Inc. brings dramatic life changes to
her and the people she loves.</span></span></div>
<div style="background-color: white; line-height: 21px; margin-bottom: 10px; text-align: center;">
<span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-family: inherit;">Buy Now @ <a href="http://www.amazon.com/Making-Wishes-Marilyn-Holdsworth/dp/1481707523/ref=sr_1_3_title_2_pap?s=books&ie=UTF8&qid=1369262924&sr=1-3&keywords=Marilyn.+Holdsworth" style="text-decoration: none;" target="_blank">Amazon</a></span></span></div>
<div align="center" style="background-color: white; line-height: 21px; margin-bottom: 10px; text-align: center;">
<span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-family: inherit;"><i>Genre - Women’s fiction</i></span></span></div>
<div align="center" style="background-color: white; line-height: 21px; margin-bottom: 10px; text-align: center;">
<span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-family: inherit;"><i>Rating – PG-13</i></span></span></div>
<div align="center" style="background-color: white; line-height: 21px; margin-bottom: 10px; text-align: center;">
<span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-family: inherit;"><img src="http://www.orangeberrybooktours.com/wp-content/uploads/2014/07/beautifulAmerican.jpg" /></span></span></div>
<div id="outer_postBodyPS" style="background-color: white; line-height: 21px; text-align: center;">
<div id="postBodyPS">
<span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-family: inherit;">“Abby
Long is thrilled when she offers the winning bid for an antique desk at
an auction. With its intricately inlaid woods and elegant style, the
desk is perfect for Abby; it is the gift she promised herself to finally
celebrate her thriving antique business. She has no idea that the
antique desk holds a secret that will lead her on a fascinating,
life-changing journey back in time.</span></span><br />
<br />
<span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-family: inherit;">When Abby discovers a hidden diary
stuffed inside a secret compartment in the desk, she can hardly wait to
read the spidery, faded script. As she carefully turns the tattered
pages, she reads the captivating story of two remarkable women from
opposite backgrounds who somehow manage to form an unforgettable bond
against the backdrop of a fledgling America struggling to find its place
in the world. Elizabeth Kortright Monroe, the wife of James Monroe, and
Jasmine, a young slave girl, develop an extraordinary relationship as
they are united by pivotal historic events, political intrigues, and
personal tragedies.</span></span><br />
<br />
<div style="margin-bottom: 10px;">
<span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-family: inherit;">From
a bucolic Virginia plantation to the bloodied, starving streets of
post-revolutionary Paris, this powerful tale follows the lives of two
courageous women from the past as they quietly influence—and inspire—a
woman of today’s world.”</span></span></div>
</div>
</div>
<div style="background-color: white; line-height: 21px; margin-bottom: 10px; text-align: center;">
<span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-family: inherit;">Buy Now @ <a href="http://www.amazon.com/Beautiful-American-Marilyn-Holdsworth-ebook/dp/B0080D41BI/ref=tmm_kin_swatch_0?_encoding=UTF8&sr=1-4&qid=1402430694" style="text-decoration: none;" target="_blank">Amazon</a></span></span></div>
<div align="center" style="background-color: white; line-height: 21px; margin-bottom: 10px; text-align: center;">
<span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-family: inherit;"><i>Genre - Historical fiction</i></span></span></div>
<div align="center" style="background-color: white; line-height: 21px; margin-bottom: 10px; text-align: center;">
<span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-family: inherit;"><i>Rating – G</i></span></span></div>
<div align="center" style="background-color: white; line-height: 21px; margin-bottom: 10px; text-align: center;">
<span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-family: inherit;"><img src="http://www.orangeberrybooktours.com/wp-content/uploads/2014/07/pegasus.jpg" /></span></span></div>
<div id="outer_postBodyPS" style="background-color: white; line-height: 21px; text-align: center;">
<div id="postBodyPS">
<span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-family: inherit;">Widowed
at thirty, Hannah Bradley is a successful journalist focusing on animal
abuse issues. An accidental meeting introduces her to lawyer, Winston
Caughfield III. Drawn to Hannah’s gentle beauty and fierce commitment to
her work, Win joins her in a fight to save wild mustangs from
slaughter. Together they rescue a badly injured horse with a mysterious
background. </span></span><br />
<br />
<span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-family: inherit;">Hannah’s search to discover the animal’s true identity leads
them into a web of black marketeering and international intrigue.
Action packed with crisp colorful dialogue the story propels the reader
to a race against time conclusion. Marilyn Holdsworth delivers a
gripping tale of mystery, adventure and romance guaranteed to hold the
interest and capture the heart. She brings true-life characters together
with real-life issue</span></span>s to create a fast-paced irresistible story.<br />
<br />
Bu<span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-family: inherit;">y Now @ <a href="http://www.amazon.com/Pegasus-Marilyn-Holdsworth-ebook/dp/B004S2LVYA/ref=la_B006LTHMZK_1_2?s=books&ie=UTF8&qid=1405682556&sr=1-2" style="text-decoration: none;" target="_blank">Amazon</a></span></span></div>
</div>
<div align="center" style="background-color: white; line-height: 21px; margin-bottom: 10px; text-align: center;">
<span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-family: inherit;"><i>Genre – Contemporary fiction</i></span></span></div>
<div align="center" style="background-color: white; line-height: 21px; margin-bottom: 10px; text-align: center;">
<span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-family: inherit;"><i>Rating – PG</i></span></span></div>
<div align="center" style="background-color: white; line-height: 21px; margin-bottom: 10px; text-align: center;">
<span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-family: inherit;"><i>More details about <a href="http://www.amazon.com/Marilyn-Holdsworth/e/B006LTHMZK/ref=ntt_athr_dp_pel_pop_1" style="text-decoration: none;" target="_blank">the author</a></i></span></span></div>
<div align="center" style="background-color: white; line-height: 21px; margin-bottom: 10px; text-align: center;">
<span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-family: inherit;"> <b>Connect</b> with Marilyn Holdsworth on <a href="https://www.facebook.com/marilyn.holdsworth.7" style="text-decoration: none;" target="_blank">Facebook</a> & <a href="http://twitter.com/m_holdsworth" style="text-decoration: none;" target="_blank">Twitter</a></span></span></div>
<div align="center" style="background-color: white; line-height: 21px; margin-bottom: 10px;">
<span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-family: inherit;"><b><b>Website </b> </b><a href="http://marilynholdsworth.com/" style="text-decoration: none;" target="_blank">http://marilynholdsworth.com/</a></span></span></div>
<div align="center" style="background-color: white; line-height: 21px; margin-bottom: 10px;">
<span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-family: inherit;"><b>Blog</b> <a href="http://marilynholdsworth.com/blog/" style="text-decoration: none;" target="_blank">http://marilynholdsworth.com/blog/</a></span></span></div>
Quality Reads UKhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/03216387289293473067noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2539817974459763701.post-71734511830785700672015-04-23T08:00:00.000+01:002015-04-30T21:26:19.355+01:00@JohnEWadeII Shares 10 Inspiring Elements of Heaven on Earth #NonFiction #Democracy #Spiritual<div class="p3" style="font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; letter-spacing: normal; line-height: 19px; text-align: start; text-indent: 0px; text-transform: none; white-space: normal; word-spacing: 0px;">
<br />
<span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-family: inherit;"><span class="s2">While
I know this size of this small book indicates that it will be a quick
and easy read—and does not take long to read—its impact on the reader
will be much deeper than they might anticipate. As billed, the book
indeed contains “inspiring quotations and insightful essays.” The
chapters are organized by topics, which are the ten elements of heaven
on earth which I have identified: peace and security, freedom,
democracies, prosperity, gender harmony, racial harmony, spiritual
harmony, ecological harmony, health, and moral purpose and meaning.
There is also a chapter entitled, “Individual Paths to Heaven on Earth,”
which includes some well-known quotations, as well as quotes from
“regular people” who state what heaven on earth would feel like for
them.</span></span></span></div>
<div class="p3" style="font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; letter-spacing: normal; line-height: 19px; text-align: start; text-indent: 0px; text-transform: none; white-space: normal; word-spacing: 0px;">
<br /></div>
<div class="p3" style="font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; letter-spacing: normal; line-height: 19px; text-align: start; text-indent: 0px; text-transform: none; white-space: normal; word-spacing: 0px;">
<span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-family: inherit;"><span class="s2">I previously published<span class="Apple-converted-space"> </span><i>How to Achieve a Heaven on Earth</i>, and the four other co-authors of<span class="Apple-converted-space"> </span><i>Glimpses of Heaven on Earth<span class="Apple-converted-space"> </span></i>each
contributed an essay to this first book. I think readers will be
interested in reading about the different backgrounds of each of the
co-authors, as I am a retired CPA who now devotes my time to investing
and writing. I have several active blogs which can be found on<span class="Apple-converted-space"> </span><a data-mce-href="http://www.JohnEWadeII.com" href="http://www.johnewadeii.com/"><span class="s3">www.JohnEWadeII.com</span></a>,<span class="Apple-converted-space"> </span><a data-mce-href="http://www.HeavenOnEarth.org" href="http://www.heavenonearth.org/"><span class="s3">www.HeavenOnEarth.org</span></a>, and<span class="Apple-converted-space"> </span><a data-mce-href="http://www.HonestJohnWade.com" href="http://www.honestjohnwade.com/"><span class="s3">www.HonestJohnWade.com</span></a><span class="Apple-converted-space"> </span>(which focuses on politics). </span></span></span></div>
<div class="p3" style="font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; letter-spacing: normal; line-height: 19px; text-align: start; text-indent: 0px; text-transform: none; white-space: normal; word-spacing: 0px;">
<br /></div>
<div class="p3" style="font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; letter-spacing: normal; line-height: 19px; text-align: start; text-indent: 0px; text-transform: none; white-space: normal; word-spacing: 0px;">
<span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-family: inherit;"><span class="s2">Charlotte
L. Piotrowski spent ten years litigating complex cases before she
turned her attention to writing, editing, and content creation for
websites and blogs on a freelance basis. Charlotte and I both live in
New Orleans, and work closely together on my many creative projects.
Daniel Agatino practices law and teaches in New Jersey, while Michael
Nagler founded the Metta Center for Nonviolence (<a data-mce-href="http://www.mettacenter.org" href="http://www.mettacenter.org/"><span class="s3">www.mettacenter.org</span></a>) and Martin Rutte is the founder of Project Heaven on Earth (<a data-mce-href="http://www.projectheavenonearth.com" href="http://www.projectheavenonearth.com/"><span class="s3">www.projectheavenonearth.com</span></a>)
and is a popular inspirational speaker. I think this diversity is what
really brings this book alive and makes it so relatable to any reader.</span></span></span></div>
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<span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-family: inherit;"><span class="s2">Not
to brag too much, but I think we did an excellent job locating and
including wonderfully inspiring quotations that truly relate to each of
the ten elements. Here are some examples:</span></span></span></div>
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<br /></div>
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<i><span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-family: inherit;"><span class="s2">“Peace cannot be achieved through violence, it can only be attained through understanding.” - Ralph Waldo Emerson</span></span></span></i></div>
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<br /></div>
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<i><span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-family: inherit;"><span class="s2">“Prosperity is only an instrument to be used, not a deity to be worshipped.” - Calvin Coolidge</span></span></span></i></div>
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<i><span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-family: inherit;"><span class="s2">“Prejudice is the child of ignorance.” - William Hazlitt</span></span></span></i></div>
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<br /></div>
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<i><span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-family: inherit;"><span class="s2">“I
expect to pass through life but once. If therefore, there be any
kindness I can show, or any good thing I can do to any fellow being, let
me do it now, and not defer or neglect it, as I shall not pass this way
again.” - William Penn</span></span></span></i></div>
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<span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-family: inherit;"><span class="s2">There
are many lesser-known quotations included as well, and as should be
evident, the more you really contemplate the quotes, the more impactful
they become. I expect each reader will have her or his own favorite
portions of the book, to which they will want to return time and time
again. For this reason, I believe this book is destined to become a
classic. It can truly help to start some much-needed and interesting
dialog. So I cannot help but to highly recommend this book, and hope you
enjoy reading it as much as I enjoyed writing it.</span></span></span></div>
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<span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-family: inherit;"><a data-mce-href="http://www.orangeberrybooktours.com/wp-content/uploads/2014/09/Glimpses-of-Heaven-on-Earth.jpg" href="http://www.orangeberrybooktours.com/wp-content/uploads/2014/09/Glimpses-of-Heaven-on-Earth.jpg"><img alt="Glimpses of Heaven on Earth" class="alignnone size-full wp-image-42087" data-mce-src="http://www.orangeberrybooktours.com/wp-content/uploads/2014/09/Glimpses-of-Heaven-on-Earth.jpg" src="http://www.orangeberrybooktours.com/wp-content/uploads/2014/09/Glimpses-of-Heaven-on-Earth.jpg" height="200" width="130" /></a></span></span></div>
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<span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-family: inherit;">Editor
and author John E. Wade II has compiled a spiritual guide of invaluable
insight for finding peace and meaning in life while making the world a
better place for all. Along with co-authors Charlotte Livingston
Piotrowski, Daniel Agatino, Michael Nagler, and Martin Rutte, this
collection of enlightening essays and inspirational quotes from renowned
thinkers and leade</span></span>rs throughout history provides the intellectual tools needed to live a more harmonious life.<br />
<br />
Buy <span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-family: inherit;">Now @ <a data-mce-href="http://www.amazon.com/GLIMPSES-HEAVEN-EARTH-Quotations-Insightful-ebook/dp/B00LOYGN3O/ref=tmm_kin_title_0?_encoding=UTF8&sr=8-1&qid=1405439205" href="http://www.amazon.com/GLIMPSES-HEAVEN-EARTH-Quotations-Insightful-ebook/dp/B00LOYGN3O/ref=tmm_kin_title_0?_encoding=UTF8&sr=8-1&qid=1405439205" target="_blank">Amazon</a></span></span></div>
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<span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-family: inherit;"><i>Genre - Inspirational</i></span></span></div>
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<span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-family: inherit;"><i>Rating – G</i></span></span></div>
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<span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-family: inherit;"><i>More details about <a data-mce-href="http://www.amazon.com/s/ref=ntt_athr_dp_sr_1?_encoding=UTF8&field-author=John%20E.%20Wade%20II&search-alias=digital-text&sort=relevancerank" href="http://www.amazon.com/s/ref=ntt_athr_dp_sr_1?_encoding=UTF8&field-author=John%20E.%20Wade%20II&search-alias=digital-text&sort=relevancerank" target="_blank">the author</a></i></span></span></div>
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<span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-family: inherit;"><b style="font-weight: bold ! important;">Connect</b> with John E. Wade II on <a data-mce-href="https://www.facebook.com/jwadeii?ref_type=bookmark" href="https://www.facebook.com/jwadeii?ref_type=bookmark" target="_blank">Facebook</a></span></span></div>
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Quality Reads UKhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/03216387289293473067noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2539817974459763701.post-38999759159319733502014-11-01T08:00:00.000+00:002014-11-11T13:51:10.667+00:00Mike Hartner on The Eternity Series Having Several Inspirations @MHartnerAuthor #HistFic #Goodreads<i><b>What Inspired Me to Write This Book</b></i><br />
<br />
This book is the second in a series of books called The Eternity Series.<br />
<br />
The Eternity Series has several inspirations.<br />
<br />
The
first inspiration is to show that each life, each person, is different.
We all have our crosses to bear, and how we overcome them determines
who we are as a person. Whether we blame everyone else and fester in
the crap that we are given by fate, or overcome the challenges and have a
good life is up to us.<br />
<br />
The second inspiration is to
show that nobody’s life is perfect. Everyone has challenges. And
appearances are not always what they seem.<br />
<br />
More than
that though, The Eternity Series is an epic saga of good vs evil, of
man’s desire to survive and thrive, and of what we can be if we come
together.<br />
<br />
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<span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-family: inherit;"><a data-mce-href="http://www.orangeberrybooktours.com/wp-content/uploads/2014/09/IJames.jpg" href="http://www.orangeberrybooktours.com/wp-content/uploads/2014/09/IJames.jpg"><img alt="IJames" class="alignnone size-full wp-image-41780" data-mce-src="http://www.orangeberrybooktours.com/wp-content/uploads/2014/09/IJames.jpg" src="http://www.orangeberrybooktours.com/wp-content/uploads/2014/09/IJames.jpg" height="200" width="130" /></a></span></span></div>
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<span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-family: inherit;">James Crofter was ripped from his family at age 11. <br data-mce-style="color: #000000;" />Within a year the prince was a pauper in a foreign land. <br data-mce-style="color: #000000;" />Is nature stronger than nurture? And even if it is, can James find the happiness he so richly desires? </span></span></div>
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<span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-family: inherit;">Buy Now @ <a data-mce-href="http://www.amazon.com/I-James-Eternity-Book-2-ebook/dp/B00MQHIG0Q/ref=la_B009VJQBEA_1_5?s=books&ie=UTF8&qid=1409891856&sr=1-5" href="http://www.amazon.com/I-James-Eternity-Book-2-ebook/dp/B00MQHIG0Q/ref=la_B009VJQBEA_1_5?s=books&ie=UTF8&qid=1409891856&sr=1-5" target="_blank">Amazon</a></span></span></div>
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<span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-family: inherit;"><i>Genre - Historical Fiction, Romance</i></span></span></div>
<div align="center" style="font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; letter-spacing: normal; line-height: 19px; text-indent: 0px; text-transform: none; white-space: normal; word-spacing: 0px;">
<span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-family: inherit;"><i>Rating – PG</i></span></span></div>
<div align="center" style="font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; letter-spacing: normal; line-height: 19px; text-indent: 0px; text-transform: none; white-space: normal; word-spacing: 0px;">
<span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-family: inherit;"><i>More details about <a data-mce-href="http://www.amazon.com/Mike-Hartner/e/B009VJQBEA/" href="http://www.amazon.com/Mike-Hartner/e/B009VJQBEA/" target="_blank">the author</a></i></span></span></div>
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<span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-family: inherit;"><b>Connect</b> with Mike Hartner on <a data-mce-href="https://www.facebook.com/pages/Mike-Hartner-Author/368690356556759" href="https://www.facebook.com/pages/Mike-Hartner-Author/368690356556759" target="_blank">Facebook</a> & <a data-mce-href="https://twitter.com/MHartnerAuthor" href="https://twitter.com/MHartnerAuthor" target="_blank">Twitter</a></span></span></div>
Quality Reads UKhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/03216387289293473067noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2539817974459763701.post-9917555759956948412014-10-29T12:30:00.000+00:002014-12-04T14:03:29.872+00:00MOXIE'S PROBLEM #Excerpt by Hank Quense @hanque99 #AmReading #SciFi #Fantasy<b>Scene Background:</b> <i> </i><br />
<br />
<i>Moxie is on her way to meet her betrothed
Count Gamel. Three apprentice knights, Percivale, Bore and Gareth are
escorting her there. </i><br />
<br />
<div style="text-align: center;">
<i>******************** </i></div>
<br />
Bors rode to the top of a
hill and examined a flat, boulder-strewn summit. Beyond the boulders, a
grassy knoll butted against a tall outcrop that would shelter them from
the wind. Bors rode past the boulders, dismounted on the grass and
removed the saddle from his horse, Escrow. He grunted in pleasure as a
cool breeze wafted over him.<br />
<br />
Percivale, Gareth and
Moxie joined him on the knoll and they decided to camp there. Soon, all
the mounts were unsaddled, hobbled and grazing nearby.<br />
<br />
After
tending to his horse, Escrow, Bors studied the boulders. Something
about them seemed strange, almost unnatural. The rocks were in lines
almost like the beads on his abacus. He ignored Moxie's latest
outburst of whining and continued to examine the rocks. Dark gray
boulders — dozens of them — covered the area in three lines with exactly
twenty rocks in each line. A fourth rank, separate from the other
three, contained five rocks.<br />
<br />
"How dare you!" Moxie roared.<br />
<br />
Bors
grabbed his sword hilt and whirled towards the sound of her voice.
Moxie stood ten feet away glaring at a boulder in the middle rank.<br />
<br />
"What's goin' on?" Percival, also on foot, asked her. Gareth stood near Percivale, looking quizzically at Moxie.<br />
<br />
"I'm a princess, you impudent rock. Apologize this instant or I'll break you into rubble."<br />
<br />
Bors
gawked at her. The memory of a story an old hunter once told him and
his father flooded his brain and almost overwhelmed him with the danger
they faced. His skin crawled.<br />
<br />
Moxie picked up a fist-sized rock.<br />
<br />
Bors gasped. Moxie was about to get them all killed.<br />
<br />
Moxie bounced the rock off the boulder.<br />
<br />
Bors ran to her and grabbed her arm before she could do more damage.<br />
<br />
"The stone insulted me." Moxie frowned at Bors as if she suspected his motives.<br />
<br />
"Why did you throw the rock?" Percivale asked.<br />
<br />
"Moxie just attacked one of the rock-folk," Bors said in a quavering voice.<br />
<br />
"I did what?"<br />
<br />
"She did what?" Percivale said. "I'm confused."<br />
<br />
Bors
waved an arm around the boulder collection. "This is a rock-moot.
I've heard about them. The rock-folk come together to settle problems
and make new laws. And the stone Moxie threw was a rock-baby."<br />
<br />
"The big one degraded me." Moxie sniffed and pointed at the boulder. "It made lewd suggestions."<br />
<br />
"Rocks can't talk," Gareth said. "Leastwise, not so we can hear them."<br />
<br />
"I
can hear them. I’m descendent from the Ancient Ones. Royal Ancient
Ones, of course. And the Ancient Ones were descended from the fairies.”<br />
<br />
"We have to get out of here," Bors said. "Fast."<br />
<br />
"Why is the ground shaking?" Moxie looked alarmed. She grabbed Percival's arm to steady herself.<br />
<br />
"It's the rock-folk," Bors said. "They're gettin' all worked up over Moxie's attack."<br />
<br />
Their
mounts whinnied in fear at the trembling ground. They jumped and
stamped their hooves and strained at the hobbles until they broke free.
The four horses ran down the hill and disappeared into the forest.<br />
<br />
A worried Bors said, "We have to get out of here. Let's grab the saddle bags and put some distance between us and the rocks."<br />
<br />
A boulder inched closer to Moxie's foot and she shrieked.<br />
<br />
Percivale made a face at the sudden pain in his ear from Moxie's reaction, but didn't move, as if frozen in place.<br />
<br />
"Someone has to get my horse," Moxie said.<br />
<br />
"I
ain't goin' through those rocks." Gareth pointed to a group of rocks
rolling to form a line between them and the direction the horses went.<br />
<br />
"We have to leave." Bors pushed Moxie in the back. "That way."<br />
<br />
"Unhand me! And what about dinner? I'm hungry."<br />
<br />
"Dinner
will be very late tonight, Your Royal Feyness." Bors kept his hand on
her back, nudging her away from the builders. He grabbed Moxie's saddle
bag and handed it to her, then picked up his own.<br />
<br />
"You expect me to carry that?"<br />
<br />
Bors
dropped her saddle bags. "If you don't carry it, it stays here and
gets crushed by the rocks. I'm not carryin' yours, you are."<br />
<br />
Bors
looked at Percivale who stood without moving, his face drained of
color. Bors grabbed an arm and yanked Percivale backward. Percivale
blinked and gave Bors a strange look. "Come on, Perc," Bors yelled.
"Snap out of it and let's get goin'."<br />
<br />
Percivale picked up his saddlebags and trotted away from the boulders.<br />
<br />
A few minutes later, they descended the hill.<br />
<br />
"Moxie, look out!" Gareth yelled.<br />
<br />
Bors turned and saw a boulder thundering down the hill. A bow wave of dirt sprayed out on both sides of its path.<br />
<br />
Gareth
dropped his saddle bags and pushed Moxie out of the way. Both landed
in a heap a moment before the boulder sped past them.<br />
<br />
"Get off me, you blundering lummox."<br />
<br />
Gareth
picked himself up and pointed to the boulder now at the bottom of the
hill and rapidly losing speed. "Must have been sentry." He went over
to his saddle bags, partially crushed by the boulder.<br />
<br />
"Are
these rocks stupid or something?" Moxie stood with her hands on her
hips. "Commoners are supposed to ignore royal misunderstandings."<br />
<br />
"I don't think rock-folk are impressed with your royal birth," Bors said. "Let's get movin'.<br />
<br />
"When do you think the horses will come back?" Moxie asked. "I can't carry my saddle bags all the way to Count Gamel's."<br />
<br />
"Those
animals ain't comin' back," Percivale said. "Not after the way they
got spooked. They're inna next county by now." The color had returned
to his face.<br />
<br />
"Can someone please carry my bags?" Moxie
asked in a pleasant voice while fluttering her eyelids. "They have my
wedding dress in it."<br />
<br />
Bors slung his own bags over one
shoulder and said, "It'll do you good to get some exercise." He turned
his back on her and walked east.<br />
<br />
"We gotta get a lotta
miles from here before we can stop for me to cook the rabbits I caught."
Gareth tied two hares to a saddle bag. "We better start pickin' nuts
and berries if we see any."<br />
<br />
Bors shook his head. He wished the adventure would go back to being boring again.<br />
<br />
Moxie
huffed, stamped her foot and picked up her saddle bags. She followed
the three knights while raining insults and curses down on their
collective heads.<br />
<br />
Moxie had never thought that life
outside the castle could be so difficult. Her escorts made her sleep on
the ground with only two thin blankets: one under her and one on top of
her. She had to sleep in her clothes. The men made her get up at
dawn. She had to eat cold meals when it rained. They made her ride the
horse all day long. The knights were disrespectful of her nobility.
They often ignored her commands.<br />
<br />
It was if she was a
peasant not a princess. And now they didn’t have horses and had to walk
and non one would carry her saddlebags.<br />
<br />
Moxie dropped the saddlebags to wipe her tear-filled eyes. Gamel better be worth all this misery she thought.<br />
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<a data-mce-href="http://www.orangeberrybooktours.com/wp-content/uploads/2014/10/Moxies-Problem.jpg" href="http://www.orangeberrybooktours.com/wp-content/uploads/2014/10/Moxies-Problem.jpg"><img alt="Moxie's Problem" class="alignnone size-full wp-image-42271" data-mce-src="http://www.orangeberrybooktours.com/wp-content/uploads/2014/10/Moxies-Problem.jpg" src="http://www.orangeberrybooktours.com/wp-content/uploads/2014/10/Moxies-Problem.jpg" height="200" width="130" /></a></div>
<div style="text-align: center;">
<br />
Do
you enjoy untypical coming-of-age stories? Well, you won’t find one
more untypical than Moxie’s Problem. Moxie is an obnoxious, teen-age
princess who has never been outsider her father’s castle. Until now. The
real world is quite different and she struggles to come to grips with
reality. The story takes place against a backdrop of Camelot. But it
isn’t the Camelot of legends. It’s Camelot in a parallel universe. So,
all bets are off!<br />
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<span style="font-family: inherit;"><span style="font-size: small;">Buy Now @ <a data-mce-href="http://www.amazon.com/Moxies-Problem-Hank-Quense-ebook/dp/B00MK5UA80/ref=sr_1_1?s=digital-text&ie=UTF8&qid=1409836365&sr=1-1&keywords=hank+quense" href="http://www.amazon.com/Moxies-Problem-Hank-Quense-ebook/dp/B00MK5UA80/ref=sr_1_1?s=digital-text&ie=UTF8&qid=1409836365&sr=1-1&keywords=hank+quense" target="_blank">Amazon</a> &<span class="Apple-converted-space"> </span><a data-mce-href="https://www.smashwords.com/books/view/448914" href="https://www.smashwords.com/books/view/448914" target="_blank">Smashwords</a></span></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: inherit;"><span style="font-size: small;"><i>Genre – Fantasy, Sci-fi</i></span></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: inherit;"><span style="font-size: small;"><i>Rating – G</i></span></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: inherit;"><span style="font-size: small;"><i>More details about <a data-mce-href="http://www.amazon.com/Hank-Quense/e/B002BM76IE/ref=ntt_athr_dp_pel_pop_1" href="http://www.amazon.com/Hank-Quense/e/B002BM76IE/ref=ntt_athr_dp_pel_pop_1" target="_blank">the author</a></i></span></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: inherit;"><span style="font-size: small;">Connect with Hank Quense through<span class="Apple-converted-space"> </span><a data-mce-href="https://www.facebook.com/StrangeWorldsOnline" href="https://www.facebook.com/StrangeWorldsOnline" target="_blank">Facebook</a><span class="Apple-converted-space"> </span>&<span class="Apple-converted-space"> </span><a data-mce-href="https://twitter.com/hanque99" href="https://twitter.com/hanque99" target="_blank">Twitter</a></span></span></div>
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<b style="font-weight: bold !important;">Website <a class="in-cell-link" data-mce-href="https://www.google.com/url?q=http://hank-quense.com/wp/&usd=2&usg=ALhdy29hrxwzFyEMQY_AGYyT9ew6gPqByA" href="https://www.google.com/url?q=http://hank-quense.com/wp/&usd=2&usg=ALhdy29hrxwzFyEMQY_AGYyT9ew6gPqByA" target="_blank">http://hank-quense.com/wp/</a></b></div>
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Quality Reads UKhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/03216387289293473067noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2539817974459763701.post-29565561357463484512014-10-24T08:30:00.000+01:002015-03-08T04:16:53.085+00:00Chapter 3 from DARK CHEMISTRY by Kirsten Mortensen @KirstenWriter #Romance #Suspense <b>This
excerpt is from Chapter 3 of the book. Haley Dubose—a spoiled, shallow
rich girl from Southern California—has reacted exactly as you’d expect
to the news that, in order to inherit her late father’s estate, she has
to move across country and run his company for two years. She threw a
temper tantrum and stayed out too late, drinking with her friends.<br /><br />Now
it’s the next day and she’s in the airport, getting ready to board the
flight to Amesbury, New York, that will change her life forever…</b><br />
<br />
<br />
Haley’s head hurt.<br />
<br />
She stood in front of the counter by Gate 7, waiting for the airline attendant to get off the phone.<br />
<br />
“May I help you?”<br />
<br />
Haley pushed her boarding pass across the counter like a note to a bank teller. “I’d like to upgrade to first class,” she said.<br />
<br />
The attendant shook her head. “I’m sorry. We’ve got a full flight. There are no first class seats available.”<br />
<br />
“I
have miles,” Haley said, but faintly. She wasn’t exactly sure if she’d
be able to use Sheila’s miles on a ticket paid for by Marla, the person
at her father’s company who’d actually bought it.<br />
<br />
The attendant,
in any case, didn’t seem to hear. “I’m sorry,” she said again, and then
picked up her microphone. “Okay folks, we’re now ready to begin
boarding. First class. Anyone serving in the military. People with small
children or who need special assistance—you may now board.”<br />
<br />
Haley looked down at her ticket. 23F.<br />
<br />
The printing pulsed slightly in the fluorescent light. Pulsed like her headache.<br />
<br />
And she gave up.<br />
<br />
At least it was a window seat ...<br />
<br />
She
pulled her rollerboard over to the rows of gray chairs near the gate,
and squeezed herself into an empty one between two other fliers to wait
for her turn to board.<br />
<br />
² ² ² ² ²<br />
<br />
The plane rose, tipped.
Haley watched the red tiled roofs north of downtown shrink and then the
plane tipped again and circled counterclockwise out over the bay. The
water looked like rippled glass from this height. Still climbing,
circling now back over land—over the mountains, the tawny desert
mountains that flank San Diego to the east ...<br />
<br />
She shut her eyes.<br />
<br />
With
her eyes closed she lost any sense that the plane was moving forward.
There was only the jiggling turbulence and the roar of the engines
humming through her body ... but that was people talking, too? How could
their voices be so clear with the engines that loud, she could hear
every word they said ... a woman telling someone about her son joining
the Navy ... a father promising a child that he’d get the iPad when the
seatbelt sign turned off ... now the jiggling and the vibration of the
engine made it feel like they were moving backwards ...<br />
<br />
I can’t believe my father did this to me.<br />
<br />
What had that lawyer told her?<br />
<br />
That
Richard Molnare’s entire estate was tied up in the company he’d
founded. And in two years—provided Haley met the terms of the will—she’d
be able to sell RMB, get her money, and go home.<br />
<br />
“So what you’re saying is, at that point I get my 70 million dollars,” Haley had said.<br />
<br />
But
the lawyer had waved her hand back and forth, a gesture signaling not
so fast. “Not exactly. RMB generates 70 million in annual revenue.
That’s not the same as the value of the estate. You understand the
difference, right?”<br />
<br />
And Haley had pretended that oh, sure, she’d understood the difference all along.<br />
<br />
And
the lawyer had gone on for a bit about how the company had been doing
well for quite a few years in a row. Something about how it was part of a
growth industry, and that a lot of other companies like it were buying
each other up, which meant that when Haley’s two years was up, chances
were good that RMB would be easy to sell.<br />
<br />
“Of course,” the lawyer
had continued—the lawyer had talked on and on for hours, it seemed
like—“what you take out will depend, in part, on how well the company
performs when you’re running it. If you can keep it on its current path,
it should be worth more, in two years, than it is today. Several
million dollars more, perhaps.”<br />
<br />
Whatever.<br />
<br />
Haley opened her eyes and leaned forward.<br />
<br />
A thick manila envelope protruded from the tote she’d pushed under the seat in front of her.<br />
<br />
Everything
she needed was in that envelope, according to the lawyer. Including a
Ziploc bag with a key inside—the key to her father’s house.<br />
<br />
She
turned and peered out of the window. The ground was gone, everything was
gone, they were inside a cloud—the cloud so thick, so uniformly white
that it didn’t seem like they were moving at all—they were suspended,
motionless except for that slight jiggling, they weren’t moving forwards
they weren’t moving backwards they were motionless ...<br />
<br />
She
pulled down the plastic shade and closed her eyes again, the sensation
growing again that she wasn’t moving anywhere ... she was suspended in
the air somewhere, suspended in a box ... in a box over which she had no
control, and what choice did she have but to sit here, to let herself
be jiggled and vibrated and hopefully go to sleep ...<br />
<br />
The
“seatbelt sign is on” bell-tone dinged and the pilot came on the
intercom to tell them the flight time to O’Hare would be four hours and
they’d be out of the turbulence soon and to enjoy the flight.<br />
<br />
What was it that Oliver said to me?<br />
<br />
She couldn’t remember it—not the words—only that he’d been ugly to her.<br />
<br />
The asshole.<br />
<br />
Her head hurt.<br />
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<span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-family: inherit;"><a data-mce-href="http://www.orangeberrybooktours.com/wp-content/uploads/2014/08/darkChemistry.jpg" href="http://www.orangeberrybooktours.com/wp-content/uploads/2014/08/darkChemistry.jpg"><img alt="darkChemistry" class="alignnone size-full wp-image-41412" data-mce-src="http://www.orangeberrybooktours.com/wp-content/uploads/2014/08/darkChemistry.jpg" src="http://www.orangeberrybooktours.com/wp-content/uploads/2014/08/darkChemistry.jpg" height="200" width="130" /></a></span></span></div>
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<h1>
<span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-family: inherit;">A woman's worst nightmare</span></span></h1>
<h2 data-mce-style="color: #cc6600;">
<span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-family: inherit;">Drugged by something...that makes her think she's fallen in love.</span></span></h2>
<span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-family: inherit;">All Haley Dubose has ever known is beaches and malls, clubs and cocktail dresses.</span></span><br />
<span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-family: inherit;"><br /></span></span>
<span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-family: inherit;"><b>But now her father is dead.</b></span></span><br />
<span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-family: inherit;"><br /></span></span>
<span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-family: inherit;">And if she wants to inherit her father's fortune, she has to leave sunny Southern California<br />for a backwater little town near Syracuse, New York. She has to run RMB, the multimillion dollar<br />chemical company her father founded. And she has to run it well.</span></span><br />
<span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-family: inherit;"><br /></span></span>
<span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-family: inherit;">Keep
RMB on track, and she'll be rich. Grow it, and she'll be even richer.
But mess it up, and her inheritance will shrink away before she gets a
chance to spend a dime.</span></span><br />
<h2 data-mce-style="color: #cc6600;">
<span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-family: inherit;">Donavon Todde is her true love. But is it too late?</span></span></h2>
<span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-family: inherit;">He's RMB's head of sales – and the more Donavon sees of Haley, the more he's smitten.</span></span><br />
<span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-family: inherit;">Sure,
she comes across at first as naïve and superficial. But Donavon knew
Haley's father. He can see the man's better qualities stirring to life
in her eyes. And Donavon senses something else: Haley's father left her a
legacy more important than money. He left her the chance to discover
her true self.</span></span><br />
<span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-family: inherit;"><br /></span></span>
<span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-family: inherit;"><b>Donavon has demons of his own.</b></span></span><br />
<span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-family: inherit;"><b> </b><br />He's
reeling from a heartbreak that's taking far too long to heal. But he's
captivated by this blond Californian, and not only because of her
beauty.<i> It's chemistry.</i> They're right for each other. But has
Donavon waited too long to woo this woman of his dreams? Because to his
horror, his beautiful Haley falls under another spell.<i> Gerad's spell.</i></span></span><br />
<h2 data-mce-style="color: #cc6600;">
<span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-family: inherit;">A web of evil.</span></span></h2>
<span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-family: inherit;">Gerad
Picket was second-in-command at RMB when Haley's father was alive. And
with Haley on the scene, he's in charge of her training. But there are
things about RMB that Gerad doesn't want Haley to know.</span></span><br />
<h2 data-mce-style="color: #cc6600;">
<span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-family: inherit;">And he must control her. Any way he can.</span></span></h2>
<h1>
<span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-family: inherit;">Romantic suspense for your Kindle</span></span></h1>
<span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-family: inherit;">Will Haley realize that her feelings are not her TRUE feelings?</span></span><br />
<span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-family: inherit;">Does Donavon have the strength left to fight for the woman he loves?</span></span><br />
<span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-family: inherit;">Will the two of them uncover Gerad's plot to use RMB pheromones to enslave the world?</span></span><br />
<span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-family: inherit;">And even if they do – can they stop it?</span></span><br />
<div align="center">
<span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-family: inherit;"><br /></span></span></div>
<div align="center">
<span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-family: inherit;">Buy Now @ <a data-mce-href="http://www.amazon.com/Dark-Chemistry-Kirsten-Mortensen-ebook/dp/B00KEYP3QI/" href="http://www.amazon.com/Dark-Chemistry-Kirsten-Mortensen-ebook/dp/B00KEYP3QI/" target="_blank">Amazon</a> &amp;<span class="Apple-converted-space"> </span><a data-mce-href="https://www.smashwords.com/books/view/422146" href="https://www.smashwords.com/books/view/422146" target="_blank">Smashwords</a></span></span></div>
<div align="center">
<span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-family: inherit;"><i>Genre – Romantic suspense</i></span></span></div>
<div align="center">
<span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-family: inherit;"><i>Rating – PG-13</i></span></span></div>
<div align="center">
<span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-family: inherit;"><i>More details about <a data-mce-href="http://www.amazon.com/Kirsten-Mortensen/e/B001JP7X50/ref=ntt_athr_dp_pel_1" href="http://www.amazon.com/Kirsten-Mortensen/e/B001JP7X50/ref=ntt_athr_dp_pel_1" target="_blank">the author</a></i></span></span></div>
<div align="center">
<span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-family: inherit;"><b>Connect</b> with Kirsten Mortensen through<span class="Apple-converted-space"> </span><a data-mce-href="https://www.facebook.com/pages/Kirsten-Mortensen-Writer/195344590544496?ref=hl" href="https://www.facebook.com/pages/Kirsten-Mortensen-Writer/195344590544496?ref=hl" target="_blank">Facebook</a><span class="Apple-converted-space"> </span>&amp; <a data-mce-href="https://twitter.com/Kirstenwriter" href="https://twitter.com/Kirstenwriter" target="_blank">Twitter</a></span></span></div>
<div align="center">
<span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-family: inherit;"><b>Website <a class="in-cell-link" data-mce-href="https://www.google.com/url?q=http://kirstenmortensen.com/&usd=2&usg=ALhdy29OlqrTvuWJGs0Xbb3RDK_7VviC8A" href="https://www.google.com/url?q=http://kirstenmortensen.com/&usd=2&usg=ALhdy29OlqrTvuWJGs0Xbb3RDK_7VviC8A" target="_blank">http://kirstenmortensen.com/</a></b></span></span></div>
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Quality Reads UKhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/03216387289293473067noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2539817974459763701.post-63417335361542179682014-10-15T07:00:00.000+01:002014-10-30T13:46:20.627+00:00Amy Lewis on Art Being Subjective & Surviving Bad Reviews @AmyLewisAuthor #WriteTip #SelfPub<div data-mce-style="text-align: center;" style="font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; letter-spacing: normal; line-height: 19px; text-align: center; text-indent: 0px; text-transform: none; white-space: normal; word-spacing: 0px;">
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<span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-family: inherit;"><b>The newbies guide to surviving bad reviews</b></span></span></div>
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<span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-family: inherit;">It
was already a bad day when I read her review, only half paying
attention to the words, because it was 6 am, and I had not slept well. I
got a full three sentences in before I realized, "Wow, this lady really
hated my memoir." Not only is she trashing my writing, she's trashing
me, and not so subtly accusing me of lying. She suggested not everything
in my memoir really happened to me. Despite the good reviews that had
been rolling in, as a first time indie author, I could not stop thinking
about this lady who hated my book. I knew I shouldn't care. I knew as
an artist I put my work out there and welcome good and bad feedback. Art
is subjective. I know that. But still my mind obsessed. If my book had
been fiction maybe her review would be easier to take. She thinks my
heroine sucks - no problem. But this was a memoir. She was basically
saying "you're worthless, your story is worthless and you should have
written it in a diary and kept it to yourself." Ouch. I googled how to
deal with bad reviews. I visited sites that list all the horrible
reviews that famous, award winning books received. I laughed and felt in
very good company ... but only slightly. I was not a famous writer. I’m
guessing bad reviews don't hurt as much when you're sitting on a pile
of money and holding your Pulitzer Prize. I considered writing her
back. I know this is a huge no-no. I found myself reduced to age 11 and
wanted to say horrible and childish things to her. I came up with many
creative insults, but I kept them to myself.</span></span></div>
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<span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-family: inherit;">It
took a few days for me to cool down and begin to see the bigger
picture. I finally got my "aha" moment as people like to say. This
lady's review actually could be a huge gift. Huge! I should actually be
thanking her. I have struggled all my life with people pleasing and
holding my self-expression back to fit in and be liked. I learned from a
young age to read people and give them what they wanted, what would
make them happy. I've been aware of my accommodating tendencies for
decades, but breaking out of them has been a challenge. The more I
relaxed and let go of my anger, the more I smiled when I thought of this
book-hating lady and her nasty review. Someone doesn't like me or my
book. Big f-ing deal. My world didn't shatter. I didn’t stop breathing.
In fact, nothing happened. There is nothing wrong with hating someone's
memoir, and there is no crime in sharing in vivid detail your feelings
in a book review. I even began to smile at how much she must dislike me
to take the time to write that particular review.</span></span></div>
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<span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-family: inherit;">The
real problem here is not the review or the fact that I got upset. The
real problem is when I or when any writer, artist or human chooses to
stay silent, to not play the game of expressing what is inside that
screams to come out, just because we are afraid we won't be liked or
accepted. The world does not need any more people like that. The world
needs bold artists whose desire to express and create is way bigger than
their fears of how their work will be received. I am happy and proud to
say I am one of those artists. And this bad review helped me to realize
that.</span></span></div>
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<span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-family: inherit;">I
leave you with one tip for dealing with bad reviews. When all else
fails, get a copy of the Frozen soundtrack, crank up Let It Go and belt
it out along with Idina Menzel ...</span></span></div>
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<span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-family: inherit;"><i>Let it go, let it go</i></span></span></div>
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<span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-family: inherit;"><i>And I'll rise like the break of dawn</i></span></span></div>
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<span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-family: inherit;"><i>Let it go, let it go</i></span></span></div>
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<span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-family: inherit;"><i>That perfect girl is gone!</i></span></span></div>
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<span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-family: inherit;"><i>Here I stand</i></span></span></div>
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<span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-family: inherit;"><i>In the light of day</i></span></span></div>
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<span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-family: inherit;"><i>Let the storm rage on,</i></span></span></div>
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<span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-family: inherit;"><i>The cold never bothered me anyway!</i></span></span></div>
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<br /></div>
<span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-family: inherit;"><a data-mce-href="http://www.orangeberrybooktours.com/wp-content/uploads/2014/08/whatFreedomSmellsLike.jpg" href="http://www.orangeberrybooktours.com/wp-content/uploads/2014/08/whatFreedomSmellsLike.jpg"><img alt="whatFreedomSmellsLike" class="alignnone size-full wp-image-41176" data-mce-src="http://www.orangeberrybooktours.com/wp-content/uploads/2014/08/whatFreedomSmellsLike.jpg" src="http://www.orangeberrybooktours.com/wp-content/uploads/2014/08/whatFreedomSmellsLike.jpg" height="200" width="130" /></a></span></span></div>
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<div id="postBodyPS">
<span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-family: inherit;"><br /></span></span>
<span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-family: inherit;">Diagnosed
with Borderline Personality disorder, Amy struggled with depression and
an addiction to sharp objects. Even hospitalization didn't help to heal
her destructive tendencies. It took a tumultuous relationship with a
man named Truth to bring her back from the depths of her own self-made
hell.Amy's marriage to dark, intriguing Truth was both passionate and
stormy. She was a fair-skinned southern girl from New Orleans. He was a
charming black man with tribal tattoos, piercings, and a mysterious
past. They made an unlikely pair, but somethin</span></span>g clicked.
During their early marriage, they pulled themselves out of abject
poverty into wealth and financial security practically overnight. Then
things began to fall apart.<br />
<br />
Passionate and protective, Truth also proved violent and abusive<span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-family: inherit;">. Amy’s own
self-destructive tendencies created a powerful symmetry. His sudden
death left Amy with an intense and warring set of emotions: grief for
the loss of the man she loved, relief she was no longer a target for his
aggression.</span></span></div>
<div id="postBodyPS">
<span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-family: inherit;"><br /></span></span>
<span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-family: inherit;">Conflicted
and grieving, Amy found herself at a spiritual and emotional
crossroads, only to receive help from an unlikely source: Truth himself.
Feeling his otherworldly presence in her dreams, Amy seeks help from a
famous medium.</span></span><br />
<span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-family: inherit;"><br /></span></span>
<span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-family: inherit;">Her
spiritual encounters change Amy forever. Through Truth, she learns her
soul is eternal and indestructible, a knowledge that gives Amy the
courage to pursue her own dreams and transform herself both physically
and emotionally. Her supernatural encounters help Amy resolve the
internal anger and self-destructive tendencies standing between her and
happiness, culminating in a sense of spiritual fulfillment she never
dreamed possible.</span></span><br />
<span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-family: inherit;"><br /></span></span>
<span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-family: inherit;">An amazing true story, What Freedom Smells Like is told with courage, honesty, and a devilishly dark sense of humor.</span></span></div>
</div>
<div align="center" data-mce-style="color: #000000; text-align: center;" style="font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; letter-spacing: normal; line-height: 19px; text-align: center; text-indent: 0px; text-transform: none; white-space: normal; word-spacing: 0px;">
<span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-family: inherit;">Buy Now @ <a data-mce-href="http://www.amazon.com/What-Freedom-Smells-Like-Memoir-ebook/dp/B00JTHDCSC/ref=tmm_kin_swatch_0?_encoding=UTF8&sr=&qid=" href="http://www.amazon.com/What-Freedom-Smells-Like-Memoir-ebook/dp/B00JTHDCSC/ref=tmm_kin_swatch_0?_encoding=UTF8&sr=&qid=" target="_blank">Amazon</a></span></span></div>
<div align="center" data-mce-style="color: #000000; text-align: center;" style="font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; letter-spacing: normal; line-height: 19px; text-align: center; text-indent: 0px; text-transform: none; white-space: normal; word-spacing: 0px;">
<span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-family: inherit;"><i>Genre – Memoir</i></span></span></div>
<div align="center" data-mce-style="color: #000000; text-align: center;" style="font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; letter-spacing: normal; line-height: 19px; text-align: center; text-indent: 0px; text-transform: none; white-space: normal; word-spacing: 0px;">
<span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-family: inherit;"><i>Rating – PG-13</i></span></span></div>
<div align="center" data-mce-style="color: #000000; text-align: center;" style="font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; letter-spacing: normal; line-height: 19px; text-align: center; text-indent: 0px; text-transform: none; white-space: normal; word-spacing: 0px;">
<span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-family: inherit;"><i>More details about <a data-mce-href="http://www.amazon.com/Amy-Lewis/e/B00KERPYYQ/ref=ntt_athr_dp_pel_1" href="http://www.amazon.com/Amy-Lewis/e/B00KERPYYQ/ref=ntt_athr_dp_pel_1" target="_blank">the author</a></i></span></span></div>
<div align="center" data-mce-style="color: #000000; text-align: center;" style="font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; letter-spacing: normal; line-height: 19px; text-align: center; text-indent: 0px; text-transform: none; white-space: normal; word-spacing: 0px;">
<span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-family: inherit;"><b>Connect</b> with Amy Lewis through <a data-mce-href="https://twitter.com/AmyLewisAuthor" href="https://twitter.com/AmyLewisAuthor" target="_blank">Twitter</a></span></span></div>
<div align="center" data-mce-style="color: #000000; text-align: center;" style="font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; letter-spacing: normal; line-height: 19px; text-align: center; text-indent: 0px; text-transform: none; white-space: normal; word-spacing: 0px;">
<span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-family: inherit;"><b>Website <a class="in-cell-link" data-mce-href="https://www.google.com/url?q=http://www.WhatFreedomSmellsLike.com&usd=2&usg=ALhdy2-u-DEq6B2o3ZSLOwj9JWZOYB9gHA" href="https://www.google.com/url?q=http://www.WhatFreedomSmellsLike.com&usd=2&usg=ALhdy2-u-DEq6B2o3ZSLOwj9JWZOYB9gHA" target="_blank">www.WhatFreedomSmellsLike.com</a></b></span></span></div>
Quality Reads UKhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/03216387289293473067noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2539817974459763701.post-21214952869359178722014-10-14T09:30:00.000+01:002014-10-30T15:56:42.130+00:00#Excerpt from HUSH by Kimberly Shursen @KimberlyShursen #MustRead #Thriller #Fiction <div style="text-align: left;">
<span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-family: inherit;"><b>Minneapolis, Minnesota</b></span></span></div>
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<span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-family: inherit;"><b>August 21</b></span></span></div>
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<span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-family: inherit;">Twenty-eight-year-old Ann Ferguson covered her ears to avoid the imminent, deafening roar.</span></span></div>
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<span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-family: inherit;">“Pass
the salt, pass the salt, pass the goddamn salt!” the crowd shouted,
waving hands overhead as Buffet’s “Margaritaville” resounded through the
speakers.</span></span></div>
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<span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-family: inherit;">Just
another typical Friday night in downtown Minneapolis—the lighting in
Donita’s Pub dim, the air thick with pheromones while blenders zapped
ice, lime, and tequila into margaritas.</span></span></div>
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<span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-family: inherit;">“Feisty crowd tonight,” Jess said to Ann, pushing her long, naturally curly, strawberry-blonde hair behind one ear.</span></span></div>
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<span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-family: inherit;">“Always is.” Ann took a sip of white wine.</span></span></div>
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<span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-family: inherit;">Stiletto
heels, form-fitting jeans, lips lacquered in hot pink or ruby red
mingled with Brooks Brothers’ suits, dress shirts, and silk ties.
Looking for soul mates or one-night stands—all the hoopla bored Ann.</span></span></div>
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<span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-family: inherit;">“This thing tickles.” Ann lifted up the sticky-backed, fake hair and scratched under her nose.</span></span></div>
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<span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-family: inherit;">Noted
for their creative fundraisers, tonight the money collected at the door
of the bar to purchase faux moustaches would go to prostate cancer
research.</span></span></div>
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<span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-family: inherit;">Ann
leaned back against the paver brick wall of the renovated warehouse.
Standing room only, members of generation X and younger were squashed
shoulder-to-shoulder, rear end to rear end.</span></span></div>
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<span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-family: inherit;">Ann
pushed her bangs back off her forehead. It was only last week that
she’d held her breath as her thick, dark, shoulder-length hair was cut
into a pixie. Dark eyes raking the room, she wished she was home curled
up on the couch, watching a movie.</span></span></div>
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<span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-family: inherit;">Jess cocked her head to the side. “You need to get out more.”</span></span></div>
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<span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-family: inherit;">“And you need to find another playmate.”</span></span></div>
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<span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-family: inherit;">Ann
and Jess had lived together for three years, and though polar
opposites, they’d become best friends. Growing up in a small town in
southern Minnesota, Ann offered the pragmatic side of the friendship
while Jess added the excitement. At five feet two, Ann was small boned
and petite. Jess, with her full hips and robust breasts, towered over
Ann by a good six inches. Unlike Jess who enjoyed showcasing her breasts
with low-cut, scooped necklines, Ann was comfortable in her faded jeans
and tank tops.</span></span></div>
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<span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-family: inherit;">“Picture, ladies?” A roaming photographer asked, decked out in a white shirt and red bowtie.</span></span></div>
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<span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-family: inherit;">“Absolutely.” Jessica squished her cheek against Ann’s, a margarita glass clasped in her hand. </span></span></div>
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<span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-family: inherit;">“Photographer from<span class="Apple-converted-space"> </span><i>Minneapolis-St.Paul</i><span class="Apple-converted-space"> </span><i>Magazine</i>,” Jess whispered.</span></span></div>
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<span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-family: inherit;">“Great,” Ann said sarcastically, “my parents will be so proud to see their daughter in a bar.”</span></span></div>
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<span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-family: inherit;">“Hey.”
The deep voice startled her, and Ann turned around quickly. “I hope you
don’t think I’m too forward, but you look familiar.”</span></span></div>
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<span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-family: inherit;">Jess tapped Ann’s knee nonchalantly.</span></span></div>
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<span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-family: inherit;">Ann
stared at the handsome man blankly. “I don’t think we’ve met.” However,
there was something familiar about him. Dark hair parted to the side, a
few strands fell casually over his forehead. He grinned, giving way to a
dimple in his right cheek.</span></span></div>
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<span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-family: inherit;">“You come here often?” he asked.</span></span></div>
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<span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-family: inherit;">“Second
time.” Men had come up and struck up a conversation when Jess had
dragged her to a bar before. But, just like the others, once this hunk
found out Ann wasn’t into one-night stands, he’d move on. Ann took a sip
of her wine, and the phony moustache toppled into her wine glass. “Oh
no.” </span></span></div>
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<span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-family: inherit;">Feeling
her cheeks grow warm with embarrassment, she quickly reached into the
glass and pulled out the sopping wet hairpiece. She wrinkled her nose.
“Disgusting.”</span></span></div>
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<span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-family: inherit;">He grinned, his dark eyes settling into half moons. “Oh…so, that isn’t real?” he asked poker-faced.</span></span></div>
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<span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-family: inherit;">She shook her hand until the small fluff let loose of her finger and fell to the floor. “I forgot I had it on.”</span></span></div>
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<span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-family: inherit;">“Whoa! There’s my song,” Jess said excitedly and started to shoulder her way through the crowd to the strobe-lit dance floor.</span></span></div>
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<span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-family: inherit;">Ann
watched Jess disappear, knowing she’d purposely left her alone with
this stranger. She wasn’t good at this and, again, wished she were home.</span></span></div>
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<span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-family: inherit;">“Ben.” He offered Ann his free hand, the other wrapped around a Samuel Adams.</span></span></div>
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<span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-family: inherit;">Ann pointed at her ear and shook her head, signaling she couldn’t hear.</span></span></div>
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<span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-family: inherit;">He leaned into her. “Ben Grable,” he said over the noise.</span></span></div>
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<span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-family: inherit;">“Ann,”
She slipped her hand into his, eyeing him. Suit coat draped over an
arm, his tie hung loose around the open collar of his light blue, dress
shirt.</span></span></div>
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<span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-family: inherit;">“You
wanna dance or—” He got out before someone shoved him, spilling his
beer down the front of his shirt, droplets falling to Ann’s sandals.</span></span></div>
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<span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-family: inherit;">“Whoa”—she picked up her foot—“that’s cold.”</span></span></div>
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<span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-family: inherit;">Ben took a few steps back, brushing the beer off his tie. “Sheesh, I’m sorry. You okay?”</span></span></div>
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<span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-family: inherit;"><i>Where had she seen him before?</i><span class="Apple-converted-space"> </span>She waved a dismissing hand. “I’m fine, but this noise is a killer. I think I’m going to call it a night.”</span></span></div>
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<span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-family: inherit;">“Wanna get a burger or something?” Ben blurted.</span></span></div>
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<span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-family: inherit;">“If you’re asking if I will go with you in your car,” she said, raising an eyebrow, “the answer is no thanks.”</span></span></div>
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<span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-family: inherit;">“If I am asking you to go two doors down to grab a burger,” Ben asked with a sheepish grin, “what would the answer be?”</span></span></div>
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<span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-family: inherit;">“Sure.” Her eyes lit up. “If it’s quieter than here, I’m game.”</span></span></div>
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<span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-family: inherit;">Ben
followed her through the maze to the dance floor. After Ann found Jess
and told her she was leaving, Ben put his hand in the small of her back,
sending a tingle up her spine.</span></span></div>
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<span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-family: inherit;">Groups of men and women passed them on the sidewalk—their inebriated laughter echoing through the brightly lit streets.</span></span></div>
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<span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-family: inherit;">A foot taller, Ben looked down at Ann. “You must think I’m pretty cocky just walking up and introducing myself.”</span></span></div>
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<br /></div>
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<span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-family: inherit;">“Actually, I’m glad you did. Definitely not my scene.”</span></span></div>
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<br /></div>
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<span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-family: inherit;">“Well, you looked as uncomfortable as I was.”</span></span></div>
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<span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-family: inherit;">Ben
opened the door of the tavern for her. Tally’s was crowded but not
nearly as loud. Peanut shells speckled the black-and-white tile floor,
and men wearing denim shirts and cowboy boots waited for a turn at a
video game. A trio of middle-aged women with painted on smiles huddled
together on the barstools, their puffy eyes darting from man to man. The
aroma of burgers and onion rings filtered through the long, narrow
space, making Ann even hungrier.</span></span></div>
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<span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-family: inherit;">“Not much ambiance here,” Ben apologized as the shells cracked beneath their feet.</span></span></div>
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<br /></div>
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<span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-family: inherit;">“But a much tamer crowd.”</span></span></div>
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<span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-family: inherit;">Ben stopped at an open booth. “This okay?”</span></span></div>
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<span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-family: inherit;">“Perfect.” Ann slid in.</span></span></div>
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<span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-family: inherit;">“Want a beer or something?” Ben asked, sitting down across from her.</span></span></div>
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<span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-family: inherit;">Ann thought for a couple of seconds. “I’d rather have a Coke.”</span></span></div>
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<br /></div>
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<span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-family: inherit;">“Me, too. Diet or real?”</span></span></div>
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<span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-family: inherit;">“Diet?” Ann made a face. “Yuck.”</span></span></div>
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<br /></div>
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<span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-family: inherit;">“I’m with you.”</span></span></div>
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<span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-family: inherit;">“What can I get you two kids?” a waitress asked, her weathered face giving away her age.</span></span></div>
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<span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-family: inherit;">“Two<span class="Apple-converted-space"> </span><i>real</i><span class="Apple-converted-space"> </span>Cokes”—Ben glanced at Ann—“and this young lady is starving.”</span></span></div>
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<span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-family: inherit;">“I would love a cheeseburger, American cheese, medium-well,” Ann said. “And is that onion rings I smell?”</span></span></div>
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<br /></div>
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<span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-family: inherit;">“Yes, ma’am.” The waitress smiled proudly. She folded her arms over her red-and-white checked shirt. “Best in Minneapolis.”</span></span></div>
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<br /></div>
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<span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-family: inherit;">“Great,” Ann said. “Oh…and ranch dressing on the side.”</span></span></div>
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<span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-family: inherit;">The waitress turned to Ben.</span></span></div>
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<span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-family: inherit;">“Exact same thing for me,” Ben told her.</span></span></div>
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<span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-family: inherit;">Ann leaned back in the high-backed booth. “Most guys take their burgers medium-rare.”</span></span></div>
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<span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-family: inherit;">“Not into E-coli.”</span></span></div>
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<span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-family: inherit;">“Smart man.”</span></span></div>
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<span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-family: inherit;">“So,” he said, locking his hands together and placing them on the Formica tabletop, “what’s your story?”</span></span></div>
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<span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-family: inherit;">Ann waited for the waitress to put the drinks in front of them. “Do I have to have one?”</span></span></div>
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<span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-family: inherit;">“Everyone has a story.”</span></span></div>
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<span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-family: inherit;">No
one had ever asked what her story was. For some reason, Ann didn’t feel
as uncomfortable as she usually did when she first met someone. She
tilted her head back, her eyes focusing on a stain in the ceiling.
“Pediatric nurse. Raised in Worthington—”</span></span></div>
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<span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-family: inherit;">“Ah…the turkey capitol,” Ben said casually.</span></span></div>
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<span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-family: inherit;">Ann’s eyes grew wide. “How’d you know that?”</span></span></div>
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<span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-family: inherit;">“Big turkey fan,” Ben answered with a straight face.</span></span></div>
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<span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-family: inherit;">“You are not.”</span></span></div>
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<span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-family: inherit;">“Love their combs.”</span></span></div>
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<span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-family: inherit;">Ann giggled. “You’re putting me on, right?”</span></span></div>
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<span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-family: inherit;">“I was in Worthington for a conference once.”</span></span></div>
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<span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-family: inherit;">“There was a conference in Worthington?” she asked as she tore the wrapper off the straw.</span></span></div>
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<span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-family: inherit;">“On that one, I’m not fibbing. Had to take a class.”</span></span></div>
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<span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-family: inherit;">She raised an eyebrow. “In…”</span></span></div>
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<span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-family: inherit;">“Law.”</span></span></div>
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<span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-family: inherit;">Ann wrapped her hand around the soda glass, not taking her eyes from him. “You’re a lawyer?”</span></span></div>
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<span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-family: inherit;">“Hello?” Ben grabbed his tie and waved it a few times. “Don’t I look like one?”</span></span></div>
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<span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-family: inherit;">“Do they all look alike?”</span></span></div>
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<span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-family: inherit;">“According to all the lawyer jokes, we do,” Ben said.</span></span></div>
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<span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-family: inherit;">The waitress served the burgers and onion rings with two sides of ranch dressing. “Anything else?” </span></span></div>
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<span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-family: inherit;">The older lady put a hand over her hip.</span></span></div>
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<span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-family: inherit;">“Mustard,” Ben and Ann said at the same time.</span></span></div>
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<span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-family: inherit;"><a data-mce-href="http://www.orangeberrybooktours.com/wp-content/uploads/2014/08/hush.jpg" href="http://www.orangeberrybooktours.com/wp-content/uploads/2014/08/hush.jpg"><img alt="hush" class="alignnone size-full wp-image-41080" data-mce-src="http://www.orangeberrybooktours.com/wp-content/uploads/2014/08/hush.jpg" src="http://www.orangeberrybooktours.com/wp-content/uploads/2014/08/hush.jpg" height="200" width="130" /></a></span></span></div>
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<div id="postBodyPS">
<span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-family: inherit;"><br /></span></span>
<span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-family: inherit;">Soon
after Ann Ferguson and Ben Grable marry, and Ben unseals his adoption
papers, their perfect life together is torn apart, sending the couple to
opposite sides of the courtroom.</span></span></div>
<div id="postBodyPS">
<span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-family: inherit;"><br />Representing
Ann, lawyer Michael J. McConaughey (Mac) feels this is the case that
could have far-reaching, judicial effects -- the one he's been waiting
for.</span></span></div>
<div id="postBodyPS">
<span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-family: inherit;"><br />Opposing counsel knows this high profile case happens just once in a lifetime.</span></span></div>
<div id="postBodyPS">
<span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-family: inherit;"><br />And
when the silent protest known as HUSH sweeps the nation, making
international news, the CEO of one of the top ten pharmaceutical
companies in the world plots to derail the trial that could cost his
company billions.</span></span></div>
<div id="postBodyPS">
<span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-family: inherit;"><br />Critically
acclaimed literary thriller HUSH not only questions one of the most
controversial laws that has divided the nation for over four decades,
but captures a story of the far-reaching ties of family that surpasses
time and distance.</span></span></div>
<div id="postBodyPS">
<span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-family: inherit;"><br /></span></span>
<br />
<div>
<span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-family: inherit;"><b>***
Hush does not have political or religious content. The story is built
around the emotions and thoughts of two people who differ in their </b></span></span><b>beliefs.</b><br />
<br />
EDITORIAL REVIEW: "Suspenseful and well-researched, this action<span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-family: inherit;">-packed legal
thriller will take readers on a journey through the trials and
tribulations of one of the most controversial subjects in society
today."</span></span></div>
<div>
<span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-family: inherit;"><br /></span></span>
<span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-family: inherit;">Katie French author of "The Breeders," "The Believer's," and "Eyes Ever To The Sky."</span></span></div>
</div>
</div>
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<span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-family: inherit;"><br /></span></span></div>
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<span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-family: inherit;">Buy Now @ <a data-mce-href="http://www.amazon.com/Hush-Kimberly-Shursen-ebook/dp/B00HZKBGW4/ref=sr_1_1?s=digital-text&ie=UTF8&qid=1404820465&sr=1-1&keywords=hush+and+kimberly+shursen" href="http://www.amazon.com/Hush-Kimberly-Shursen-ebook/dp/B00HZKBGW4/ref=sr_1_1?s=digital-text&ie=UTF8&qid=1404820465&sr=1-1&keywords=hush+and+kimberly+shursen" target="_blank">Amazon</a></span></span></div>
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<span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-family: inherit;"><i>Genre – Thriller</i></span></span></div>
<div align="center" data-mce-style="color: #000000;" style="font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; letter-spacing: normal; line-height: 19px; text-indent: 0px; text-transform: none; white-space: normal; word-spacing: 0px;">
<span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-family: inherit;"><i>Rating – PG-13</i></span></span></div>
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<span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-family: inherit;"><i>More details about <a data-mce-href="http://www.amazon.com/Kimberly-Shursen/e/B00C7ZBTIS/ref=ntt_athr_dp_pel_1" href="http://www.amazon.com/Kimberly-Shursen/e/B00C7ZBTIS/ref=ntt_athr_dp_pel_1" target="_blank">the author</a></i></span></span></div>
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<span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-family: inherit;"><b>Connect</b> with Kimberly Shursen through <a data-mce-href="https://www.facebook.com/pages/Kimberly-Shursen-Author/286879094678995" href="https://www.facebook.com/pages/Kimberly-Shursen-Author/286879094678995" target="_blank">Facebook</a> and <a data-mce-href="https://twitter.com/kimberlyShursen" href="https://twitter.com/kimberlyShursen" target="_blank">Twitter</a></span></span></div>
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<span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-family: inherit;"><b>Website <a class="in-cell-link" data-mce-href="https://www.google.com/url?q=http://www.kimberlyshursen.com/&usd=2&usg=ALhdy2-uex70LjIEkr9CbwWbuB4zDHIOKw" href="https://www.google.com/url?q=http://www.kimberlyshursen.com/&usd=2&usg=ALhdy2-uex70LjIEkr9CbwWbuB4zDHIOKw" target="_blank">http://www.kimberlyshursen.com/</a></b></span></span></div>
Quality Reads UKhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/03216387289293473067noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2539817974459763701.post-21435701622717933602014-10-08T08:30:00.000+01:002014-10-23T10:10:18.801+01:00WITNESS TO MY HEART #Excerpt by Loni Flowers @LoniFlowers #Romance #GoodReads #TBR<br />
<i>Excerpt contains strong language </i><br />
<br />
Grabbing my shoulders, Max pushed me against the wall. I sucked in a sharp breath and tried to push him away from me, but couldn’t make him budge an inch. “Get your hands off me,” I demanded.<br />
<br />
Stepping closer, Max leaned in and the muscles of his chest flexed under my palms. His stance was wide, each foot planted on the sides of mine. When I peered down, I noticed the waist of his jeans hung below his hip bones. Considering my position, and Max’s over-reactive, accusatory tone, I did my best not to drool because I was supposed to be mad. I was pissed, right?<br />
<br />
“Don’t play games with me, Abi.”<br />
<br />
Max stared down, his gaze skimming over my chest as I stood there in one of Caroline’s pretty, pink push-up bras. Having more than enough to fill the small cups, I didn't require the extra lift. My chest rose up and down with visible succession in every breath I took and I didn’t know if it was because I was scared or possibly getting turned on.<br />
<br />
“I don’t play those types of games, Max.”<br />
<br />
Shit! Not the appropriate comeback in a situation like this.<br />
<br />
His grip hardened, “Now! Tell me why you covered for me?”<br />
<br />
“Ow, let me go! I was only doing you a favor.”<br />
<br />
“I didn’t ask for handouts when I came here. What the fuck did David say to you!?”<br />
<br />
“He said you were a good guy and I shouldn’t kill you; but obviously, he has you mixed up with someone else because you’re a fucking lunatic!”<br />
<br />
“Oh.”<br />
<br />
“Oh? You man-handle me and all you can say is oh?” Forget shocked, I was furious. “For your information, Charlie is a friend, like a father, and he’s extremely protective over me. Sometimes, he does background checks on the people in my life. If he had seen you here, he would have done one on you and on your vehicle. I assumed you wouldn’t want him snooping around. Plus, if he did find something he didn't approve of, he wouldn’t let me…”<br />
<br />
I instantly paused and thought if he didn't stop this line of interrogation, I could say something I shouldn't. My record of zero slip-ups since being placed in the Witness Protection Program might be broken this very day.<br />
<br />
“Wouldn’t let you… what?”<br />
<br />
“Nothing. He wouldn't want me staying here. Excuse me for trying to be proactive.” If he thought he could talk to me or handle me however he wanted, he had another thing coming. I straightened up before I leaned forward, letting my hands slide up his chest until my fingers curled over the top of his shoulders. His brow rose with interest, but I ignored it. Pulling Max’s chest forward, I pressed my chest against his to whisper into his ear. “Didn’t I tell you not to underestimate me?”<br />
<br />
Max pulled back, slightly squinting as if he suddenly recalled something. His eyes gazed intently on me and I was momentarily frozen. His lips parted, and a rushed breath escaped his mouth as his finger curled around a lock of my hair. He gathered it in his hand and pulled it away from my shoulders. His face twisted in confusion before amusement sparkled in his eyes. My unexpected heavy breathing seemed to match his own.<br />
<br />
“Darling, I never underestimate anyone, but you...”<br />
<br />
“What? You think you know me? Don’t pretend to assess me either.”<br />
<br />
“Tell me, do you act this way every time you get pissed off? Because I think I could get used to it.”<br />
<br />
“Who pushed whom against the wall in a fit of anger?” I countered.<br />
<br />
His full, pink lips curved into a small grin as he pierced me with his amber brown eyes, the color of a light brandy. Like a cognac that slid down your throat until it found the right spot and scorched your insides. God, why did he have to be so damn sexy?<br />
<br />
My fingers swiped over the taut muscles in his neck and I might have murmured an audible sigh. I wasn’t sure. When his grin spread wider, I knew I was caught. It had been far too long since I'd been intimate with a man, and standing that close to him, inhaling so much testosterone, became too much for me to handle. He being a jackass didn't make much difference at that moment.<br />
<br />
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<span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-family: inherit;"><a data-mce-href="http://www.orangeberrybooktours.com/wp-content/uploads/2014/09/Witness-to-my-Heart.jpg" href="http://www.orangeberrybooktours.com/wp-content/uploads/2014/09/Witness-to-my-Heart.jpg"><img alt="Witness to my Heart" class="alignnone size-full wp-image-41881" data-mce-src="http://www.orangeberrybooktours.com/wp-content/uploads/2014/09/Witness-to-my-Heart.jpg" src="http://www.orangeberrybooktours.com/wp-content/uploads/2014/09/Witness-to-my-Heart.jpg" height="200" width="130" /></a></span></span></div>
<div style="text-align: center;">
<br />
Keep
a low profile. That's what Abigale Peterson was supposed to do,
especially when the person she was being protected from was one of the
world's worst crime lords. After seven years in the Witness Protection
Program, she felt no safer now than she did when she was seventeen.
Revenge was rarely forgotten when it came to a professional criminal
like Zerilli.<br />
<br />
Low profiles meant no social life and definitely no love life.<br />
<br />
Paranoia
and lies became daily habits, going against everything Abigale believed
in, but they kept her safe. They kept everyone safe.<br />
<br />
Until
a house fire puts her out of that safety and into the arms of a
stranger. Max Smith is sexy, smart, and has major attitude. He’s the
only one who seems to get her. He calms her fears and comforts her from
her nightmares. But he also sees right through her lies.<br />
<br />
Before
Abigale can stop, she’s in too deep; confiding too much and breaking
the one rule she promised herself to uphold: Never fall in love.<br />
<br />
Bu<span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-family: inherit;">y Now @ <a data-mce-href="http://www.amazon.com/Witness-my-Heart-Loni-Flowers-ebook/dp/B00MLN4IFW" href="http://www.amazon.com/Witness-my-Heart-Loni-Flowers-ebook/dp/B00MLN4IFW" target="_blank">Amazon</a></span></span></div>
<div align="center" data-mce-style="color: #000000; text-align: center;" style="font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; letter-spacing: normal; line-height: 19px; text-align: center; text-indent: 0px; text-transform: none; white-space: normal; word-spacing: 0px;">
<span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-family: inherit;"><i>Genre – Contemporary Romance</i></span></span></div>
<div align="center" data-mce-style="color: #000000; text-align: center;" style="font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; letter-spacing: normal; line-height: 19px; text-align: center; text-indent: 0px; text-transform: none; white-space: normal; word-spacing: 0px;">
<span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-family: inherit;"><i>Rating – R</i></span></span></div>
<div align="center" data-mce-style="color: #000000; text-align: center;" style="font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; letter-spacing: normal; line-height: 19px; text-align: center; text-indent: 0px; text-transform: none; white-space: normal; word-spacing: 0px;">
<span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-family: inherit;"><i>More details about <a data-mce-href="http://www.amazon.com/Loni-Flowers/e/B00JOF1XYO/ref=ntt_athr_dp_pel_1" href="http://www.amazon.com/Loni-Flowers/e/B00JOF1XYO/ref=ntt_athr_dp_pel_1" target="_blank">the author</a></i></span></span></div>
<div align="center" data-mce-style="color: #000000; text-align: center;" style="font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; letter-spacing: normal; line-height: 19px; text-align: center; text-indent: 0px; text-transform: none; white-space: normal; word-spacing: 0px;">
<span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-family: inherit;">Connect with Loni Flowers through<span class="Apple-converted-space"> </span><a data-mce-href="https://www.facebook.com/AuthorLoniFlowers" href="https://www.facebook.com/AuthorLoniFlowers" target="_blank">Facebook</a><span class="Apple-converted-space"> </span>&<span class="Apple-converted-space"> </span><a data-mce-href="https://twitter.com/LoniFlowers" href="https://twitter.com/LoniFlowers" target="_blank">Twitter</a></span></span></div>
Quality Reads UKhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/03216387289293473067noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2539817974459763701.post-22231959873067491642014-10-03T11:00:00.000+01:002014-11-07T04:43:23.623+00:00Cheryl Rice on Writing as a Safe Haven @RiceonLife #AmReading #AmWriting #Memoir <b>Why Writing is a Form of Personal Therapy</b><br />
<br />
If
someone asked me what three things I’d take if I were stranded on a
desert island I would say, my dog Gracie for love and companionship,
dark chocolate as my drug of choice, and a very large, spiral bound,
unlined journal with an attached Paper Mate InkJoy pen for therapy.<br />
<br />
Writing
has always been a safe haven for me. Through it I have found a
sanctuary of comfort, clarity and sanity. I remember writing my first
poem, which I spelled “pome,” in Mrs. Hilderman’s second grade class. It
was about a mouse with tickly prickly whiskers. Mrs. Hilderman chuckled
when she read it and gave me the ultimate compliment when she hung it
with a clothespin on a strand of twine that stretched the length of her
classroom supply closet.<br />
<br />
It didn’t take long for my
poetry to grow in depth and drama as I grew into my awkward adolescence.
Most of it was fairly melodramatic and maudlin but it provided a needed
outlet for the loneliness and longing that suffused my days. My
grandfather used to take fistfuls of poems that I had written into the
bathroom with him and emerge with tears in his eyes and arms wide open.
“Sherry,” he would say (my grandfather was the only person in the world I
let call me anything other than Cheryl), “Please don’t tell me you’re
as sad as these poems. I can’t bear it. Come here. Let me give you a
hug.”<br />
<br />
While my poetry served as an adequate outlet for
my sorrows at the time, it was the daily journals I kept throughout most
of my life that served as my gateway to self-knowledge and eventually
self-compassion. In my late twenties I kept a journal addressed to my
imagined future husband. It was a way for me to feel a hopeful
connection to my eventual life partner and also to clarify for myself
who and what I wanted in a partner. It’s amazing how many of the
qualities and even characteristics – like being a lawyer and having two
sisters – my real-life husband shares with the imaginary man I wrote to
all those years ago.<br />
<br />
Writing became most therapeutic
for me in the wake of losing my mother. When I was mired in
unprecedented grief I could bring my sorrow and anguish to the page
without worrying I was burdening anybody else. I would write my feelings
of course, but I also would write letters both to my mom and from my
mom to me. I even wrote a letter from me to my unborn child. I cried as I
wrote many of these letters but that cascade of words and tears
provided tender comfort and healing to my wounded heart.<br />
<br />
Another
powerful writing experience was when I gave myself permission to write
in an unlined journal. At first I was reticent and kept trying to write
in straight imagined lines – as if someone would strike my hand with a
ruler if my words weren’t straight. But once I got over that I found the
experience quite liberating. I could write in circles, I could turn the
page on its side or upside down, I could add drawings if I liked. The
freedom was indeed therapeutic as it lessened my self-imposed rigidity
and broke me free from rules I didn’t even know I had been following –
ultimately allowing for a catharsis and clarity I hadn’t even known I
was seeking.<br />
<br />
Writing was even therapeutic for me when I
was actually in therapy and wanted to take what I was learning in
sessions deeper. I wish I could say my journal didn’t talk back but the
amazing thing is it did! It would offer a fresh realization – like maybe
it wasn’t my fault that I couldn’t heal my father – or some much needed
self-compassion when I was grieving my mother.<br />
<br />
So, yes
– I’m sure that if I was indeed stranded on a desert island I’d find
meaning and a therapeutic sanctuary in my journal. I may even discover a
way off the island.<br />
<div style="-webkit-text-stroke-width: 0px; color: #333333; font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', 'Bitstream Charter', Times, serif; font-size: 13.3333339691162px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; letter-spacing: normal; line-height: 19px; orphans: auto; text-align: start; text-indent: 0px; text-transform: none; white-space: normal; widows: auto; word-spacing: 0px;">
<br /></div>
<div data-mce-style="text-align: center;" style="font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; letter-spacing: normal; line-height: 19px; text-align: center; text-indent: 0px; text-transform: none; white-space: normal; word-spacing: 0px;">
<span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-family: inherit;"><a data-mce-href="http://www.orangeberrybooktours.com/wp-content/uploads/2014/09/Where-Have-I-Been-All-My-Life.jpg" href="http://www.orangeberrybooktours.com/wp-content/uploads/2014/09/Where-Have-I-Been-All-My-Life.jpg"><img alt="Where Have I Been All My Life" class="alignnone size-full wp-image-41809" data-mce-src="http://www.orangeberrybooktours.com/wp-content/uploads/2014/09/Where-Have-I-Been-All-My-Life.jpg" src="http://www.orangeberrybooktours.com/wp-content/uploads/2014/09/Where-Have-I-Been-All-My-Life.jpg" height="200" width="130" /></a></span></span></div>
<div style="text-align: center;">
<br />
Where
Have I Been All My Life? is a compelling memoir recounting one woman’s
journey through grief and a profound feeling of unworthiness to
wholeness and healing. It begins with the chillingly sudden death of
Rice’s mother, and is followed by her foray into the center of
mourning. <br />
<br />
With wisdom, grace, and humor, Rice recounts the grief games she plays in an effort to resurrect her mother; her efforts to get her therapist, who
she falls desperately in love with, to run away with her; and the
transformation of her husband from fantasy man to ordinary guy to
superhero. In the process, she experiences aching revelations about her
family and her past—and realizes what she must leave behind, and what
she can carry forward with her.</div>
<div style="text-align: center;">
<br />
Bu<span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-family: inherit;">y Now @ <a data-mce-href="http://www.amazon.com/Where-Have-Been-All-Life/dp/163152917X/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1405965204&sr=8-1&keywords=where+have+i+been+all+my+life%3F" href="http://www.amazon.com/Where-Have-Been-All-Life/dp/163152917X/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1405965204&sr=8-1&keywords=where+have+i+been+all+my+life%3F" target="_blank">Amazon</a></span></span></div>
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<span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-family: inherit;"><i>Genre – Memoir</i></span></span></div>
<div align="center" data-mce-style="color: #000000; text-align: center;" style="font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; letter-spacing: normal; line-height: 19px; text-align: center; text-indent: 0px; text-transform: none; white-space: normal; word-spacing: 0px;">
<span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-family: inherit;"><i>Rating – PG-13</i></span></span></div>
<div align="center" data-mce-style="color: #000000; text-align: center;" style="font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; letter-spacing: normal; line-height: 19px; text-align: center; text-indent: 0px; text-transform: none; white-space: normal; word-spacing: 0px;">
<span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-family: inherit;"><i>More details about <a data-mce-href="http://www.amazon.com/Cheryl-Rice/e/B00J5OWIGQ/ref=dp_byline_cont_book_1" href="http://www.amazon.com/Cheryl-Rice/e/B00J5OWIGQ/ref=dp_byline_cont_book_1" target="_blank">the author</a></i></span></span></div>
<div align="center" data-mce-style="color: #000000; text-align: center;" style="font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; letter-spacing: normal; line-height: 19px; text-align: center; text-indent: 0px; text-transform: none; white-space: normal; word-spacing: 0px;">
<span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-family: inherit;">Connect with Cheryl Rice through<span class="Apple-converted-space"> </span><a data-mce-href="%20https://www.facebook.com/yourvoiceyourvision " href="http://www.orangeberrybooktours.com/wp-admin/%20https://www.facebook.com/yourvoiceyourvision" target="_blank">Facebook</a><span class="Apple-converted-space"> </span>&<span class="Apple-converted-space"> </span><a data-mce-href="https://twitter.com/RiceOnLife" href="https://twitter.com/RiceOnLife" target="_blank">Twitter</a></span></span></div>
<div align="center" data-mce-style="color: #000000; text-align: center;" style="font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; letter-spacing: normal; line-height: 19px; text-align: center; text-indent: 0px; text-transform: none; white-space: normal; word-spacing: 0px;">
<span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-family: inherit;"><b style="font-weight: bold ! important;">Website <a class="in-cell-link" data-mce-href="https://www.google.com/url?q=http://www.yourvoiceyourvision.com&usd=2&usg=ALhdy2-KsIroKPbTLpqZOg7K5rhGXAchzg" href="https://www.google.com/url?q=http://www.yourvoiceyourvision.com&usd=2&usg=ALhdy2-KsIroKPbTLpqZOg7K5rhGXAchzg" target="_blank">www.yourvoiceyourvision.com</a></b></span></span></div>
<div style="-webkit-text-stroke-width: 0px; color: #333333; font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', 'Bitstream Charter', Times, serif; font-size: 13.3333339691162px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; letter-spacing: normal; line-height: 19px; orphans: auto; text-align: start; text-indent: 0px; text-transform: none; white-space: normal; widows: auto; word-spacing: 0px;">
<br /></div>
Quality Reads UKhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/03216387289293473067noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2539817974459763701.post-80421230385965828902014-09-30T08:30:00.000+01:002014-10-09T14:23:00.256+01:00THE GIRL WHO CAME BACK TO LIFE by Craig Staufenberg @YouMakeArtDumb #MG #MustRead<br />
At the train’s next stop, a different child came to Sophie
and handed her another gift of food, and at the next stop a different
child still. At each stop, another mother stood behind her child and
insisted on the gift, and thanked Sophie for wearing her child out.<br />
<br />
When
the train moved forward, the children scrambled down the aisle and
handed her a little of whatever their families were eating amongst
themselves. Sophie felt embarrassed by the generosity the other
passengers showed to her and, increasingly, to her grandmother, who also
received small gifts of bread and cheese or whatever else the families
brought with them. The old woman never pushed the children away, but
simply thanked them with a touch of sweetness Sophie had never heard
from her before.<br />
<br />
Now, when their train stopped at a
station or broke down altogether, the old woman produced a deck of cards
from her bag and played games with the other women while Sophie
continued to occupy the children with her runs.<br />
<br />
As the
days grew longer and rain fell and the smell of spring flowers drifted
into the air, the two travelers slowly found themselves enfolded into
the life of their train. During boisterous moments Sophie and her
grandmother began to speak and laugh with the others. During quiet
moments the two remained still and peaceful, sometimes smiling,
sometimes sober, moods in tune with the warming air that thickened those
afternoons when children slept and adults enjoyed temporary peace.<br />
<br />
Gradually,
as the days passed and spring brought the world back to life, something
melted a touch between Sophie and her grandmother. They still rarely
spoke, and when they did they never said any word of consequence, but
the old woman began to comment whenever they received something
especially delicious, and after a stray question or two about the day’s
games escaped Sophie’s lips, the old woman began to teach her
granddaughter how to play cards—quietly, privately, lest the train’s
other women learned her secrets.<br />
<br />
<div data-mce-style="text-align: center;" style="font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; letter-spacing: normal; line-height: 19px; text-align: center; text-indent: 0px; text-transform: none; white-space: normal; word-spacing: 0px;">
<span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-family: inherit;"><a data-mce-href="http://www.orangeberrybooktours.com/wp-content/uploads/2014/07/The-Girl-Who-Came-Back-to-Life.jpg" href="http://www.orangeberrybooktours.com/wp-content/uploads/2014/07/The-Girl-Who-Came-Back-to-Life.jpg"><img alt="The Girl Who Came Back to Life" class="alignnone size-full wp-image-40597" data-mce-src="http://www.orangeberrybooktours.com/wp-content/uploads/2014/07/The-Girl-Who-Came-Back-to-Life.jpg" src="http://www.orangeberrybooktours.com/wp-content/uploads/2014/07/The-Girl-Who-Came-Back-to-Life.jpg" height="200" width="130" /></a></span></span></div>
<div data-mce-style="text-align: center;" style="font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; letter-spacing: normal; line-height: 19px; text-align: center; text-indent: 0px; text-transform: none; white-space: normal; word-spacing: 0px;">
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<span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-family: inherit;">When
you die, your spirit wakes in the north, in the City of the Dead.
There, you wander the cold until one of your living loved ones finds
you, says "Goodbye," and Sends you to the next world. <br data-mce-style="color: #000000;" /><br data-mce-style="color: #000000;" />After
her parents die, 12-year-old Sophie refuses to release their spirits.
Instead, she resolves to travel to the City of the Dead to bring her
mother and father’s spirits back home with her. <br data-mce-style="color: #000000;" /><br data-mce-style="color: #000000;" />Taking
the long pilgrimage north with her gruff & distant grandmother—by
train, by foot, by boat; over ruined mountains and plains and
oceans—Sophie struggles to return what death stole from her. Yet the
journey offers her many hard, unexpected lessons—what to hold on to,
when to let go, and who she must truly bring back to life.</span></span></div>
<div data-mce-style="text-align: center;" style="font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; letter-spacing: normal; line-height: 19px; text-align: center; text-indent: 0px; text-transform: none; white-space: normal; word-spacing: 0px;">
<br /></div>
<div align="center" data-mce-style="color: #000000;" style="font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; letter-spacing: normal; line-height: 19px; text-indent: 0px; text-transform: none; white-space: normal; word-spacing: 0px;">
<span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-family: inherit;">Buy Now @ <a data-mce-href="http://www.amazon.com/Girl-Who-Came-Back-Life-ebook/dp/B00JQRR0JM/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1402517344&sr=8-1&keywords=craig+staufenberg" href="http://www.amazon.com/Girl-Who-Came-Back-Life-ebook/dp/B00JQRR0JM/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1402517344&sr=8-1&keywords=craig+staufenberg" target="_blank">Amazon</a></span></span></div>
<div align="center" data-mce-style="color: #000000;" style="font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; letter-spacing: normal; line-height: 19px; text-indent: 0px; text-transform: none; white-space: normal; word-spacing: 0px;">
<span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-family: inherit;"><i>Genre – Middle Grade</i></span></span></div>
<div align="center" data-mce-style="color: #000000;" style="font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; letter-spacing: normal; line-height: 19px; text-indent: 0px; text-transform: none; white-space: normal; word-spacing: 0px;">
<span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-family: inherit;"><i>Rating – PG-13</i></span></span></div>
<div align="center" data-mce-style="color: #000000;" style="font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; letter-spacing: normal; line-height: 19px; text-indent: 0px; text-transform: none; white-space: normal; word-spacing: 0px;">
<span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-family: inherit;"><i>More details about <a data-mce-href="http://www.amazon.com/Craig-Staufenberg/e/B00J4CHMX8/ref=ntt_athr_dp_pel_1" href="http://www.amazon.com/Craig-Staufenberg/e/B00J4CHMX8/ref=ntt_athr_dp_pel_1" target="_blank">the author</a></i></span></span></div>
<div align="center" data-mce-style="color: #000000;" style="font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; letter-spacing: normal; line-height: 19px; text-indent: 0px; text-transform: none; white-space: normal; word-spacing: 0px;">
<span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-family: inherit;"><b>Connect</b><span class="Apple-converted-space"> </span>with Craig Staufenberg through<span class="Apple-converted-space"> </span><a data-mce-href="https://www.facebook.com/YouMakeArtDumb?ref=hl" href="https://www.facebook.com/YouMakeArtDumb?ref=hl" target="_blank">Facebook</a><span class="Apple-converted-space"> </span>and<span class="Apple-converted-space"> </span><a data-mce-href="https://twitter.com/YouMakeArtDumb" href="https://twitter.com/YouMakeArtDumb" target="_blank">Twitter</a></span></span></div>
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<span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-family: inherit;"><b>Website <a class="in-cell-link" data-mce-href="https://www.google.com/url?q=http://craigstaufenberg.com/&usd=2&usg=ALhdy2-DrQ3iDj9YlxIz66ffrjCdBEDC8Q" href="https://www.google.com/url?q=http://craigstaufenberg.com/&usd=2&usg=ALhdy2-DrQ3iDj9YlxIz66ffrjCdBEDC8Q" target="_blank">http://craigstaufenberg.com/</a></b></span></span></div>
Quality Reads UKhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/03216387289293473067noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2539817974459763701.post-81693700039059565392014-09-27T09:30:00.000+01:002014-09-27T09:30:01.368+01:00#Excerpt from BIRTH OF AN ASSASSIN @Stone_Rik #AmReading #Thriller #Suspense <div style="background-color: white; line-height: 21px; margin-bottom: 10px;">
<span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-family: inherit;"><b>Otto’s mind takes him back to finding his mother at the Serbsky Institute</b></span></span></div>
<div style="background-color: white; line-height: 21px; margin-bottom: 10px;">
<span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-family: inherit;">Inmates
had jittered and made signs at him as he made his way through the
corridors. “Please help me,” he heard from some and, “They have me here
because of my political beliefs,” from others. They’d reached out to him
as he passed, and his insides had quaked. With the stench of piss and
shit everywhere, revulsion filled him. But he’d felt no compassion for
these people. He hadn’t given a fuck about them. Only his mother
mattered.</span></span></div>
<div style="background-color: white; line-height: 21px; margin-bottom: 10px;">
<span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-family: inherit;">“This way,” the nurse had said. “She’s through here.”</span></span></div>
<div style="background-color: white; line-height: 21px; margin-bottom: 10px;">
<span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-family: inherit;">He
found her in a large open room. She sat on the only piece of furniture
in it. The chair was pushed back against the wall and she rocked
slightly, staring blankly into nothingness. Spittle leaked from her
mouth and she was barely recognizable as the woman he loved. Her long,
luxurious, oily-black hair had been shaven to the skin. Her teeth had
somehow been removed and her formerly full face had caved in because of
it. Like a corpse, she was yellowed and sunken. Only 47 years old and
she looked twice that. He’d wished he hadn’t found her and cried
bitterly – in front of those sadistic bastards that called themselves
nurses.</span></span></div>
<div style="background-color: white; line-height: 21px; margin-bottom: 10px;">
<span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-family: inherit;">More
like prison guards. And in reality, that’s what they were. Soviet
dissidents ended up in places like Serbsky, out of harm’s way. In mental
hospitals where they could be abused and broken. Somewhere to
extinguish credibility. He’d seen those inmates beaten, teeth punched or
kicked from their faces. And if they still didn’t bow to the might of
the people, enforced lobotomy wasn’t unheard of as a final step.</span></span></div>
<div style="background-color: white; line-height: 21px; margin-bottom: 10px;">
<span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-family: inherit;">With desperation, he’d hoped his mother hadn’t suffered such cruelty.</span></span></div>
<div align="center" style="background-color: white; line-height: 21px; margin-bottom: 10px;">
<span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-family: inherit;">*</span></span></div>
<div style="background-color: white; line-height: 21px; margin-bottom: 10px;">
<span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-family: inherit;">And
now, somehow, she’d made it through to 60. Why, oh why had she lasted
this long? All those years, and still she rocked on that old wooden
chair and stared at nothing. How could life be this cruel?</span></span></div>
<div style="background-color: white; line-height: 21px; margin-bottom: 10px;">
<span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-family: inherit;">He
remembered the first time he’d visited the asylum in full Spetsnaz
uniform. After calling several of the nurses together, he said, “I know
you all have military connections. On that basis, I won’t explain this
uniform. Each of you has some sort of responsibility to my mother. The
good news is you’re about to receive an extra income. The bad news: if
you don’t look after my mother properly and see she gets the kind of
care and nourishment she needs, I may have to call on my KGB colleagues.
I hope we all understand what that could mean.”</span></span></div>
<div style="background-color: white; line-height: 21px; margin-bottom: 10px;">
<span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-family: inherit;">Memories dissolved as he entered the large open room. On his instructions, her hair had been left to grow. But now it was <i>too</i> long and no one had shown it a comb. Still she rocked, gazing into nothingness with the expression of a lunatic on her face.</span></span></div>
<div style="background-color: white; line-height: 21px; margin-bottom: 10px;">
<span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-family: inherit;">The
burly warder turned to leave but Otto grabbed his arm. “We have an
agreement. Next time I come here, I expect my mother to be presentable.
Look at her, her hair hasn’t had attention for who knows how long. She
needs a bath and a change of clothes. She looks like she’s just puked
down them.”</span></span></div>
<div style="background-color: white; line-height: 21px; margin-bottom: 10px;">
<span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-family: inherit;">“I err…,” the nurse spluttered with a voice too high for his size.</span></span></div>
<div style="background-color: white; line-height: 21px; margin-bottom: 10px;">
<span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-family: inherit;">“Fuck
you and your errs. Why do I pay you people so much? I’ll say this once.
If I’m not satisfied with the way she looks next time I come, I’ll
personally see to it that you have teeth to match hers. And each time
after that, I’ll take you a step further down that road. Clear enough?”</span></span></div>
<div style="background-color: white; line-height: 21px; margin-bottom: 10px;">
<span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-family: inherit;">“Yes, Captain. I’ll see to it myself.”</span></span></div>
<div style="background-color: white; line-height: 21px; margin-bottom: 10px;">
<span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-family: inherit;">The
nurse left and Otto looked at his mother. His heart brimmed. The only
woman he’d ever loved – could ever love. He got down on his honkers, and
took her hand. No sign of recognition, but at least she didn’t pull
away.</span></span></div>
<div style="background-color: white; line-height: 21px; margin-bottom: 10px;">
<span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-family: inherit;">“Hello, Mother, how are you today?”</span></span></div>
<div style="background-color: white; line-height: 21px; margin-bottom: 10px;">
<span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-family: inherit;"><br /></span></span></div>
<div style="background-color: white; line-height: 21px; margin-bottom: 10px; text-align: center;">
<span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-family: inherit;"><img src="http://www.orangeberrybooktours.com/wp-content/uploads/2013/10/Birth-of-an-Assassin.jpg" /></span></span></div>
<div style="background-color: white; line-height: 21px; margin-bottom: 10px; text-align: center;">
<span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-family: inherit;">Set
against the backdrop of Soviet, post-war Russia, Birth of an Assassin
follows the transformation of Jez Kornfeld from wide-eyed recruit to
avenging outlaw. Amidst a murky underworld of flesh-trafficking,
prostitution and institutionalized corruption, the elite Jewish soldier
is thrown into a world where nothing is what it seems, nobody can be
trusted, and everything can be violently torn from him.</span></span></div>
<div style="background-color: white; line-height: 21px; margin-bottom: 10px; text-align: center;">
<span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-family: inherit;">Buy Now @ <a href="http://www.amazon.com/Birth-of-an-Assassin-ebook/dp/B00DIFVC3S/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1382547441&sr=8-1&keywords=rik+stone" style="text-decoration: none;" target="_blank">Amazon</a>, <a href="http://www.barnesandnoble.com/w/birth-of-an-assassin-rik-stone/1115953870?ean=9781783010998" style="text-decoration: none;">B&N</a>, <a href="http://store.kobobooks.com/en-gb/books/birth-of-an-assassin/-ykZ9LomEEqWVVtGlJrG-A" style="text-decoration: none;">Kobo</a> & <a href="http://www.waterstones.com/waterstonesweb/products/rik+stone/birth+of+an+assassin+28ebook29/9960214/" style="text-decoration: none;">Waterstones</a></span></span></div>
<div align="center" style="background-color: white; line-height: 21px; margin-bottom: 10px; text-align: center;">
<span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-family: inherit;"><i>Genre - Thriller, Crime, Suspense</i></span></span></div>
<div align="center" style="background-color: white; line-height: 21px; margin-bottom: 10px; text-align: center;">
<span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-family: inherit;"><i>Rating – R</i></span></span></div>
<div align="center" style="background-color: white; line-height: 21px; margin-bottom: 10px; text-align: center;">
<span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-family: inherit;"><i>More details about <a href="http://www.amazon.com/Rik-Stone/e/B00DP4R3OY/ref=ntt_athr_dp_pel_pop_1" style="text-decoration: none;" target="_blank">the author</a></i></span></span></div>
<div align="center" style="background-color: white; line-height: 21px; margin-bottom: 10px; text-align: center;">
<span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-family: inherit;"><b>Connect</b> with Rik Stone on <a href="https://www.facebook.com/pages/Rik-Stone/602289653148840" style="text-decoration: none;" target="_blank">Facebook</a> & <a href="https://twitter.com/stone_rik" style="text-decoration: none;" target="_blank">Twitter</a></span></span></div>
<div align="center" style="background-color: white; line-height: 21px; margin-bottom: 10px; text-align: center;">
<span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-family: inherit;"><b>Website <a href="http://rik-stone.simdif.com/" itemprop="url" style="text-decoration: none;" target="_blank">http://rik-stone.simdif.com</a></b></span></span></div>
Quality Reads UKhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/03216387289293473067noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2539817974459763701.post-47101305367698126992014-09-26T12:00:00.000+01:002014-09-26T12:00:03.495+01:00#Excerpt from THE ROAD TO KEY WEST by Michael Reisig #AmReading #Adventure #Humor<div style="background-color: white; line-height: 21px; margin-bottom: 10px;">
<span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-family: inherit;">The
place wasn’t quite as packed as The Bull and Whistle, but there was a
good crowd gathering in the back around a long, narrow table. It had a
fluorescent light above it, with a notice that read:</span></span></div>
<h2 style="background-color: white; line-height: 40px; margin: 10px 0px; text-align: center; text-rendering: optimizelegibility;">
<span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-family: inherit;">
Touch a crab during a race, get “The Hook” for 10 minutes</span></span></h2>
<div align="center" style="background-color: white; line-height: 21px; margin-bottom: 10px;">
<span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-family: inherit;"><b>(And you buy all runners a drink<i>)</i></b></span></span></div>
<div style="background-color: white; line-height: 21px; margin-bottom: 10px;">
<span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-family: inherit;">I
noticed that in one corner of the bar there was a huge gaff hook
attached about six feet up the wall, and there, sure enough, was a guy
dangling by his collar. I took another look around and realized the
clientele was distinctly different from the last bar. There were a lot
of burly-looking bikers, and biker chicks with that hard sensuousness
that says <i>I can suck the chrome off a handle bar, but when I’m finished with you, I’ll sacrifice you to the god of Harleys.</i> I
felt like I should instantly go get a tattoo and come back later.
Actually, I was on my way out when Will grabbed me. “Crab races, man!
Let’s watch the crab races!” He was already stumbling in that direction.</span></span></div>
<div style="background-color: white; line-height: 21px; margin-bottom: 10px;">
<span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-family: inherit;">A
race was just about to begin and all the “runners” (guys and girls with
crabs—wait, let me clarify that—all the guys and girls who had entered
crabs in the race, regardless of their present hygienic afflictions)
were gathered around the track. Will was almost to the table when he
stepped on a piece of discarded lime and stumbled into a long-haired
girl in a saffron halter top and white bellbottoms. Her crab went
flying, hit the ground, and Will stepped squarely on it. There was a
crackling, squishy sound, followed by a collective gasp and the room
went totally quiet. The only sound was the jukebox in the back, playing a
Creedence Clearwater Revival tune.</span></span></div>
<div style="background-color: white; line-height: 21px; margin-bottom: 10px;">
<span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-family: inherit;"><b><i>I see the bad moon rising.</i></b></span></span></div>
<div style="background-color: white; line-height: 21px; margin-bottom: 10px;">
<span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-family: inherit;"><b><i>I see trouble on the way…</i></b></span></span></div>
<div style="background-color: white; line-height: 21px; margin-bottom: 10px;">
<span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-family: inherit;">Someone in the background whispered, “That was Little Mike’s crab.”</span></span></div>
<div style="background-color: white; line-height: 21px; margin-bottom: 10px;">
<span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-family: inherit;">I thought, <i>No, that was the cute little girl’s crab, and besides, if it’s Little Mike’s he’ll just have to accept an apology.</i> Suddenly,
the men’s room door swung open and all eyes riveted on it. Silhouetted
in the doorway was this little guy in Dockers and a T-shirt, curly hair,
somewhat frightened eyes. <i>Ahhh, Little Mike. I’ll take care of this.</i></span></span></div>
<div style="background-color: white; line-height: 21px; margin-bottom: 10px;">
<span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-family: inherit;"><b><i>I see earthquakes and lightnin’</i></b></span></span></div>
<h5 style="background-color: white; line-height: 20px; margin: 10px 0px; text-rendering: optimizelegibility;">
<span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-family: inherit;">
I see bad times today…</span></span></h5>
<div style="background-color: white; line-height: 21px; margin-bottom: 10px;">
<span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-family: inherit;">All
of a sudden, a huge hand from behind the door swatted the little fellow
in the back of the head, knocking him halfway across the bar. Then this
“thing” stepped out—much like a shaved gorilla on steroids—hair pulled
tight and braided in a long pigtail down his back, one really
fierce-looking eye (the other gazing upward, glazed, and
indifferent—very spooky), ice pick acne, dressed in blue jeans, chains,
and tattoos, roughly six and a half feet tall.</span></span></div>
<div style="background-color: white; line-height: 21px; margin-bottom: 10px;">
<span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-family: inherit;">The
crowd opened up, the little girl put her hands together. “I didn’t do
it, Mike!” She swung around fiercely, and pointed at Will, who held the
broken remnants of his future. “He did it! He knocked Little Charlie out
of my hand and stepped on him!”</span></span></div>
<div style="background-color: white; line-height: 21px; margin-bottom: 10px;">
<span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-family: inherit;"><b><i>Don’t go around tonight</i></b></span></span></div>
<div style="background-color: white; line-height: 21px; margin-bottom: 10px;">
<span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-family: inherit;"><b><i>Well, it’s bound to take your life…</i></b></span></span></div>
<div style="background-color: white; line-height: 21px; margin-bottom: 10px;">
<span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-family: inherit;">I thought, <i>Oh my God, the damned thing had a name! Sweet Lord, we’re in trouble—or Will’s in trouble, </i>which
made me feel guilty, but better. Will, being a sensible, intelligent
person, did the only thing he could; he began pleading for his life,
babbling about buying Little Mike a new crab, several new, larger crabs,
or a new Harley, then lapsing into “Please don’t hurt me! I loved
Little Charlie!”—then back to a new crab with a tattoo of his choice, or
a dog—a dog would be good. Suddenly I found my feet moving toward them.
I don’t know why. I was telling them to stop, but they just weren’t
listening. Little Mike picked up a pool cue with no intention of playing
billiards, and I was suddenly facing him, standing in front of Will.</span></span></div>
<br />
<span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-family: inherit;"><br /></span></span>
<br />
<div data-mce-style="text-align: center;" style="font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; letter-spacing: normal; line-height: 19px; text-align: center; text-indent: 0px; text-transform: none; white-space: normal; word-spacing: 0px;">
<span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-family: inherit;"><a data-mce-href="http://www.orangeberrybooktours.com/wp-content/uploads/2014/02/road_to_key_west.jpg" href="http://www.orangeberrybooktours.com/wp-content/uploads/2014/02/road_to_key_west.jpg"><img alt="road_to_key_west" data-mce-src="http://www.orangeberrybooktours.com/wp-content/uploads/2014/02/road_to_key_west.jpg" src="http://www.orangeberrybooktours.com/wp-content/uploads/2014/02/road_to_key_west.jpg" height="200" width="130" /></a></span></span></div>
<div data-mce-style="text-align: center;" style="font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; letter-spacing: normal; line-height: 19px; text-align: center; text-indent: 0px; text-transform: none; white-space: normal; word-spacing: 0px;">
<br /></div>
<div data-mce-style="text-align: center;" style="font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; letter-spacing: normal; line-height: 19px; text-align: center; text-indent: 0px; text-transform: none; white-space: normal; word-spacing: 0px;">
<span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-family: inherit;">The
Road to Key West is an adventurous/humorous sojourn that cavorts its
way through the 1970s Caribbean, from Key West and the Bahamas, to Cuba
and Central America.</span></span></div>
<div data-mce-style="text-align: center;" style="font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; letter-spacing: normal; line-height: 19px; text-align: center; text-indent: 0px; text-transform: none; white-space: normal; word-spacing: 0px;">
<br /></div>
<div data-mce-style="text-align: center;" style="font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; letter-spacing: normal; line-height: 19px; text-align: center; text-indent: 0px; text-transform: none; white-space: normal; word-spacing: 0px;">
<span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-family: inherit;">In
August of 1971, Kansas Stamps and Will Bell set out to become nothing
more than commercial divers in the Florida Keys, but adventure, or
misadventure, seems to dog them at every turn. They encounter a parade
of bizarre characters, from part-time pirates and heartless larcenists,
to Voodoo bokors, a wacky Jamaican soothsayer, and a handful of drug
smugglers. Adding even more flavor to this Caribbean brew is a
complicated romance, a lost Spanish treasure, and a pre antediluvian
artifact created by a distant congregation who truly understood the
term, “pyramid power.”</span></span></div>
<div data-mce-style="text-align: center;" style="font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; letter-spacing: normal; line-height: 19px; text-align: center; text-indent: 0px; text-transform: none; white-space: normal; word-spacing: 0px;">
<span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-family: inherit;"><br />Pour
yourself a margarita, sit back, and slide into the ‘70s for a while as
you follow Kansas and Will through this cocktail of madcap adventures –
on The Road To Key West.</span></span></div>
<div data-mce-style="text-align: center;" style="font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; letter-spacing: normal; line-height: 19px; text-align: center; text-indent: 0px; text-transform: none; white-space: normal; word-spacing: 0px;">
<br /></div>
<div data-mce-style="text-align: center;" style="font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; letter-spacing: normal; line-height: 19px; text-align: center; text-indent: 0px; text-transform: none; white-space: normal; word-spacing: 0px;">
<span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-family: inherit;">IF
YOU ENJOY THIS NOVEL BE SURE TO READ THE SEQUEL, "BACK ON THE ROAD TO
KEY WEST" (To be released in late August or early September, 2013)</span></span></div>
<div data-mce-style="text-align: center;" style="font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; letter-spacing: normal; line-height: 19px; text-align: center; text-indent: 0px; text-transform: none; white-space: normal; word-spacing: 0px;">
<span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-family: inherit;">"Jimmy
Buffett should set this tropical tale to music! The best Key West
stories can only be written by those who have lived here, and Reisig
expertly captures the steamy, seedy, beautiful allure of the islands.
“The Road to Key West” takes readers on a hysterical journey through the
humidity and humanity that only exists in the lower latitudes. And much
like the Keys in the 1970s, it’s a hell of a trip.<br />—Mandy Bolen, The Key West Citizen</span></span></div>
<div data-mce-style="text-align: center;" style="font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; letter-spacing: normal; line-height: 19px; text-align: center; text-indent: 0px; text-transform: none; white-space: normal; word-spacing: 0px;">
<br /></div>
<div data-mce-style="text-align: center;" style="font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; letter-spacing: normal; line-height: 19px; text-align: center; text-indent: 0px; text-transform: none; white-space: normal; word-spacing: 0px;">
<span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-family: inherit;">"The
Road to Key West" combines the dry cleverness of Lewis Grizzard, the
wit of Dave Barry, and Reisig's impeccable sense of timing. It's an
action-packed, romantic, charming, hilarious take on the ‘70s and its
generation. A must-read!<br />—John Archibald, Ouachita Life Magazine</span></span></div>
<div align="center" data-mce-style="text-align: center;" style="font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; letter-spacing: normal; line-height: 19px; text-align: center; text-indent: 0px; text-transform: none; white-space: normal; word-spacing: 0px;">
<br /></div>
<div align="center" data-mce-style="text-align: center;" style="font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; letter-spacing: normal; line-height: 19px; text-align: center; text-indent: 0px; text-transform: none; white-space: normal; word-spacing: 0px;">
<span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-family: inherit;">Buy Now @ <a data-mce-href="http://www.amazon.com/The-Road-West-Michael-Reisig-ebook/dp/B004RPMYF8/ref=pd_sim_kstore_3" href="http://www.amazon.com/The-Road-West-Michael-Reisig-ebook/dp/B004RPMYF8/ref=pd_sim_kstore_3" target="_blank">Amazon</a></span></span></div>
<div align="center" data-mce-style="text-align: center;" style="font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; letter-spacing: normal; line-height: 19px; text-align: center; text-indent: 0px; text-transform: none; white-space: normal; word-spacing: 0px;">
<span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-family: inherit;"><br /></span></span></div>
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<span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-family: inherit;"><a data-mce-href="http://www.orangeberrybooktours.com/wp-content/uploads/2014/02/back_to_key_west.jpg" href="http://www.orangeberrybooktours.com/wp-content/uploads/2014/02/back_to_key_west.jpg"><img alt="back_to_key_west" class="alignnone size-full wp-image-31190" data-mce-src="http://www.orangeberrybooktours.com/wp-content/uploads/2014/02/back_to_key_west.jpg" src="http://www.orangeberrybooktours.com/wp-content/uploads/2014/02/back_to_key_west.jpg" height="200" width="130" /></a></span></span></div>
<div align="center" data-mce-style="text-align: center;" style="font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; letter-spacing: normal; line-height: 19px; text-align: center; text-indent: 0px; text-transform: none; white-space: normal; word-spacing: 0px;">
<br /></div>
<div align="center" data-mce-style="text-align: center;" style="font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; letter-spacing: normal; line-height: 19px; text-align: center; text-indent: 0px; text-transform: none; white-space: normal; word-spacing: 0px;">
<span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-family: inherit;">From
the best-selling author of “The Road To Key West” comes a sequel
guaranteed to take the reader even higher – another rollicking,
hilarious Caribbean adventure that will have you ripping at the pages
and laughing out loud.</span></span></div>
<div align="center" data-mce-style="text-align: center;" style="font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; letter-spacing: normal; line-height: 19px; text-align: center; text-indent: 0px; text-transform: none; white-space: normal; word-spacing: 0px;">
<br /></div>
<div data-mce-style="text-align: center;" style="font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; letter-spacing: normal; line-height: 19px; text-align: center; text-indent: 0px; text-transform: none; white-space: normal; word-spacing: 0px;">
<span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-family: inherit;">“Back
On The Road To Key West” reintroduces the somewhat reluctant
adventurers Kansas Stamps and Will Bell, casting them into one bizarre
situation after another while capturing the true flavor and feel of Key
West and the Caribbean in the early 1980s.</span></span></div>
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<span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-family: inherit;">An
ancient map and a lost pirate treasure, a larcenous Bahamian scoundrel
and his gang of cutthroats, a wild and crazy journey into South America
in search of a magical antediluvian device, and perilous/hilarious
encounters with outlandish villains and zany friends will keep you
locked to your seat and giggling maniacally. (Not to mention
headhunters, smugglers, and beautiful women with poisonous pet spiders.)
You’ll also welcome back Rufus, the wacky, mystical Jamaican Rastaman,
and be captivated by another “complicated romance” as Kansas and Will
struggle with finding and keeping “the girls of their dreams.”</span></span></div>
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<span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-family: inherit;">So
pour yourself a margarita, and get comfortable. You’re in for another
rousing medley of madcap adventures in paradise, with “Back On The Road
To Key West.”</span></span></div>
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<span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-family: inherit;"><br />IF YOU ENJOY THIS BOOK BE SURE TO GET THE THIRD IN MICHAEL’S SERIES; “ALONG THE ROAD TO KEY WEST”!<br />______________________________________________________</span></span></div>
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<b><span style="font-size: large;"><span style="font-family: inherit;">EDITORIAL REVIEWS</span></span></b></div>
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<span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-family: inherit;">Michael
Reisig takes us back once again to the Key West I wish I had known –
and that others wish they remembered more clearly. Kansas and Will are
back in “Back on the Road to Key West,” with their trademark penchant
for sultry sarcasm and sun-drenched excitement. Once again Reisig
captures the character of the Keys in a way that proves he’s been here –
and perhaps done that. No one wraps us in humidity and surrounds us
with saltwater like this guy, whose tales of the tropics draw us
constantly back to their welcoming, yet provocative shores. -- Mandy
Miles, The Key West Citizen</span></span></div>
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<span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-family: inherit;">Having
lived in Key West in the late '70's and early '80's, at a time when Mel
Fisher still hunted the Atocha, shrimp boats filled the harbors, and
‘square grouper’ were still an abundant species, Michael Reisig's Back
on the Road to Key West, transports me back in time. Will Bell and
Kansas Stamps face an assortment of ruthless antagonists and chase
adventure with the abandon of the era, and whether you lived it or not,
don't miss the chance to now. Vivid imagery, strong prose and an
exciting plot make this trip with the boys worth taking. Enjoy the
ride!"<br />-- John H. Cunningham, author of the Buck Reilly Adventure Series</span></span></div>
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<span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-family: inherit;">Stumbling
their way in and out of trouble and fortune, Kansas Stamps and Will
Bell continue to be the idols of what every true Parrot Head imagines
real life in The Keys would be -- full of spontaneous adventure. What a
great read!<br />– Bryan Crews, former president, Tampa Parrot Head Club</span></span></div>
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<span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-family: inherit;">Buy @<span class="Apple-converted-space"> </span><a data-mce-href="http://www.amazon.com/Back-Road-West-Michael-Reisig-ebook/dp/B00FC9D94I/ref=la_B003ZL2SBU_1_2?s=books&ie=UTF8&qid=1391255880&sr=1-2" href="http://www.amazon.com/Back-Road-West-Michael-Reisig-ebook/dp/B00FC9D94I/ref=la_B003ZL2SBU_1_2?s=books&ie=UTF8&qid=1391255880&sr=1-2">Amazon</a></span></span></div>
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<span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-family: inherit;"><a data-mce-href="http://www.orangeberrybooktours.com/wp-content/uploads/2014/02/along_key_west.jpg" href="http://www.orangeberrybooktours.com/wp-content/uploads/2014/02/along_key_west.jpg"><img alt="along_key_west" class="alignnone size-full wp-image-31191" data-mce-src="http://www.orangeberrybooktours.com/wp-content/uploads/2014/02/along_key_west.jpg" src="http://www.orangeberrybooktours.com/wp-content/uploads/2014/02/along_key_west.jpg" height="200" width="130" /></a></span></span></div>
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<span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-family: inherit;">WHAT IF YOU DISCOVERED A DEVICE THAT MADE PEOPLE TELL THE TRUTH?<br />Fast-paced humor-adventure with wacky pilots, quirky con men, bold women, mad villains, and a gadget to die for…</span></span></div>
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<span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-family: inherit;">In the third book of Michael Reisig’s captivating series, Florida Keys adventurers Kansas Stamps and<br />Will
Bell find their lives turned upside down when they discover a truth
device hidden in the temple of an ancient civilization. Enthralled by
the virtue (and entertainment value) of personally dispensing truth and
justice with this unique tool, they take it all a step too far and
discover that everyone wants what they have.</span></span></div>
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<span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-family: inherit;">Seasoned
with outrageous humor and sultry romances, Along The Road To Key West
carries you through one wild adventure after another. This time, Kansas
and Will are forced to wrest veracity and lies from con artists, divine
hustlers, and political power brokers while trying to stay one step
ahead of a persistent assembly of very bad guys with guns.<br /> </span></span></div>
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<span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-family: inherit;">In
the process, from Key West, into the Caribbean, and back to America’s
heartland, our inadvertent heroes gather a bizarre collage of friends
and enemies – from a whacked-out, one-eyed pilot, and a mystical
Rastaman, to a ruthless problem-solver for a prominent religious sect, a
zany flimflamming sociopath, and a Cuban intelligence agent. In the
end, it all comes down to a frantic gamble – to save far more than the
truth. So pour yourself a margarita and settle back. You’re in for a
high intensity Caribbean carnival ride!</span></span></div>
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<span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-family: inherit;">NOTE:
Much of this book was originally published as a novel of mine called,
“The Truthmaker.” But with the growing popularity of my “Road To Key
West” series, I decided to rewrite it and publish it as “Along The Road
To Key West.” – Michael Reisig</span></span></div>
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<span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-family: inherit;">Buy @<span class="Apple-converted-space"> </span><a data-mce-href="http://www.amazon.com/Along-Road-West-Michael-Reisig-ebook/dp/B00G5B3HEY/ref=la_B003ZL2SBU_1_3?s=books&ie=UTF8&qid=1391255880&sr=1-3" href="http://www.amazon.com/Along-Road-West-Michael-Reisig-ebook/dp/B00G5B3HEY/ref=la_B003ZL2SBU_1_3?s=books&ie=UTF8&qid=1391255880&sr=1-3">Amazon</a></span></span></div>
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<span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-family: inherit;"><i>Genre - Caribbean Humor, Adventure</i></span></span></div>
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<span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-family: inherit;"><i>Rating – PG</i></span></span></div>
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<span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-family: inherit;"><i>More details about <a data-mce-href="http://www.amazon.com/Michael-Reisig/e/B003ZL2SBU/ref=ntt_athr_dp_pel_pop_1" href="http://www.amazon.com/Michael-Reisig/e/B003ZL2SBU/ref=ntt_athr_dp_pel_pop_1" target="_blank">the author</a></i></span></span></div>
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<span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-family: inherit;">Connect with Michael Reisig through<span class="Apple-converted-space"> </span><a data-mce-href="https://www.facebook.com/TheWriterMike" href="https://www.facebook.com/TheWriterMike" target="_blank">Facebook</a></span></span></div>
Quality Reads UKhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/03216387289293473067noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2539817974459763701.post-87395652804249675182014-09-26T08:00:00.000+01:002014-10-08T17:12:13.079+01:00Touching Madness (River Madden Series) by K S Ferguson #UrbanFantasy #Contemporary #TBRI cowered at the hooves of the eight-foot tall demon, wallowing in
the soot and debris of the apocalyptic cityscape. He frowned at me, and
his mouth formed words, but I couldn't understand him. Hoards of
translucent black cloud nightmares rose and fell through cracks in the
scarred ground, widening the fissures with each pass. They roiled around
us, cutting off light coming from a source that I couldn't identify. I
opened my mouth to scream, and one of the nightmare clouds poured in,
clogging my throat, filling my lungs with ash, and shooting burning
cinders up through my brain. I thrashed, trying to get to my feet so I
could run, but I no longer had legs.<br />
<br />
I jerked awake,
thoroughly tangled in the space blanket, my legs numb, and looked into a
pair of amber eyes that stared back at me along the blade of a big,
scary military-type knife pointed at my throat. I swallowed hard. Boy,
had I screwed up.<br />
<br />
"Hi," I said.<br />
<br />
She
didn't blink. My God, she was beautiful in the pre-dawn light glowing
through the windows. No human looked that perfect. Was she real? I freed
my right hand and ever so slowly raised my index finger to the tip of
the blade while she watched. When I pressed lightly against the point,
it pricked my skin. I pulled my hand back. Blood welled from the tiny
cut. Yep, real. Shit. She'd taken me prisoner.<br />
<br />
"We're surrounded by cops," I said. "If you stick me, I'll scream like a girl."<br />
<br />
Ah,
crap, why'd I used that expression? She probably screamed like an
Amazon warrior. How'd she even lift a knife that big? She was such a
tiny thing. All the cops I'd met were big louts. But she had the drop on
me, and the knife was a lot more threatening than her wand thingy.<br />
<br />
"Who
are you? Where are we? How'd I get here?" she asked. The taut muscles
around her eyes telegraphed fear, and the knife trembled in her hand.<br />
<br />
I
rubbed my prickling wrist tattoos against my jeans and caught a whiff
of something burnt. I glanced around the kiosk. Up near the ceiling, a
trace of shapeless sooty cloud leaked out through the crack around the
door. My mouth opened, closed.<br />
<br />
"Do you smoke?" I asked,
hoping she'd tell me she did. The cloud could have been cigarette smoke
even if it didn't smell like tobacco… purposeful cigarette smoke, on
the dark side. A hallucination. Not real.<br />
<br />
A frown
joined her stare. Oops. I'd wandered off topic. What had she asked? Who
are you? But her team had that tracking device that reacted to me. How
could she be looking for me but not recognize me?<br />
<br />
"I
brought you here so they wouldn't shoot you. I had to hide you while I
led him away." I gave her a tentative smile and waited for her to gush
her thanks for saving her life. Maybe she'd be so grateful, she'd tell
me about the tracking device—and point that big knife some other
direction. Then I could get away before she figured out who I was.<br />
<br />
She
added narrowed eyes to the stare and the frown. I chewed my lower lip.
Maybe I wasn't communicating as well as I'd hoped. I felt woefully
inadequate talking to someone as lovely as her, especially someone
carrying a dangerous weapon. It could have been worse—at least I hadn't
degenerated into word salad or spoken in rhymes.<br />
<br />
<br />
<br />
<br />
<br />
<br />
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<span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-family: inherit;"><a data-mce-href="http://www.orangeberrybooktours.com/wp-content/uploads/2014/09/Touching-Madness.jpg" href="http://www.orangeberrybooktours.com/wp-content/uploads/2014/09/Touching-Madness.jpg"><img alt="Touching Madness" class="alignnone size-full wp-image-41637" data-mce-src="http://www.orangeberrybooktours.com/wp-content/uploads/2014/09/Touching-Madness.jpg" src="http://www.orangeberrybooktours.com/wp-content/uploads/2014/09/Touching-Madness.jpg" height="200" width="130" /></a></span></span></div>
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<span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-family: inherit;">Light
bulbs talk to River Madden; God doesn't. When the homeless
schizophrenic unintentionally fractures a dimensional barrier and
accidentally steals a gym bag containing a million dollars, everyone
from the multiverse police to the local crime boss—and an eight-foot
tall demon—are after him. Can he dodge them long enough to correct his
mistakes and prevent the destruction of three separate dimensions? If he
succeeds, will the light bulbs stop singing off-key?</span></span></div>
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<span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-family: inherit;">Buy Now @ <a data-mce-href="http://www.amazon.com/dp/B007H9QPLA" href="http://www.amazon.com/dp/B007H9QPLA" target="_blank">Amazon</a></span></span></div>
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<span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-family: inherit;"><i>Genre – Contemporary, Urban fantasy</i></span></span></div>
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<span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-family: inherit;"><i>Rating – R</i></span></span></div>
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<span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-family: inherit;"><i>More details about <a data-mce-href="http://www.amazon.com/s/ref=ntt_athr_dp_sr_1?_encoding=UTF8&field-author=K%20S%20Ferguson&search-alias=digital-text&sort=relevancerank" href="http://www.amazon.com/s/ref=ntt_athr_dp_sr_1?_encoding=UTF8&field-author=K%20S%20Ferguson&search-alias=digital-text&sort=relevancerank" target="_blank">the author</a></i></span></span></div>
<div align="center" data-mce-style="color: #000000; text-align: center;" style="font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; letter-spacing: normal; line-height: 19px; text-align: center; text-indent: 0px; text-transform: none; white-space: normal; word-spacing: 0px;">
<span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-family: inherit;"><b>Website <a class="in-cell-link" data-mce-href="https://www.google.com/url?q=http://www.ksferguson.net&usd=2&usg=ALhdy28uYLnWK2puPbkhz-G_C7dYRTpoBw" href="https://www.google.com/url?q=http://www.ksferguson.net&usd=2&usg=ALhdy28uYLnWK2puPbkhz-G_C7dYRTpoBw" target="_blank">http://www.ksferguson.net</a></b></span></span></div>
Quality Reads UKhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/03216387289293473067noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2539817974459763701.post-85036698608389690262014-09-25T09:00:00.000+01:002014-12-09T13:17:57.457+00:00Madi Brown on the Reason for Her Life & Importance of Friends @Madithe1brown #WWED #Women<div style="font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; letter-spacing: normal; line-height: 19px; text-align: start; text-indent: 0px; text-transform: none; white-space: normal; word-spacing: 0px;">
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<span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-family: inherit;"><b style="font-weight: bold ! important;">Are you a city slicker or a country lover?<span class="Apple-converted-space"> </span></b>I’m
a city slicker all day---a New Yorker. And it’s not that I’m slick. I
just like the idea of finding ways to make things happen.</span></span></div>
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<span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-family: inherit;"><b style="font-weight: bold ! important;">How do you think people perceive writers?<span class="Apple-converted-space"> </span></b>As artsy people in white tunic tops and flouncy pants who say profound things all of the time.</span></span></div>
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<span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-family: inherit;"><b style="font-weight: bold ! important;">What’s your next project?</b><span class="Apple-converted-space"> </span>Oh, it’s another novel that will become a part of a series.<span class="Apple-converted-space"> </span><b style="font-weight: bold ! important;">The Truth About Emily<span class="Apple-converted-space"> </span></b>can’t be summed up in one book. Boorring. We’re women; we can be as complicated as we want to be.</span></span></div>
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<span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-family: inherit;"><b style="font-weight: bold ! important;">What would you love to produce in your life?<span class="Apple-converted-space"> </span></b>A feature film based on my books, of course. It’ll be better than the Kim K sex tape.</span></span></div>
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<span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-family: inherit;"><b style="font-weight: bold ! important;">What’s the reason for your life? Have you figured out your reason for being here yet?</b><span class="Apple-converted-space"> </span>That question is way too deep for me. Is your purpose to ask thought-provoking questions that make authors feel uncomfortable?</span></span></div>
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<span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-family: inherit;"><b style="font-weight: bold ! important;">Do you know your neighbors?</b><span class="Apple-converted-space"> </span>Yes.
One is an older married couple. You never see one without the other and
it’s such a beautiful thing. The other, is a gentleman who I believe is
a pothead. I can smell it whenever I walk past his door.</span></span></div>
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<span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-family: inherit;"><b style="font-weight: bold ! important;">How important are friends in your life?</b><span class="Apple-converted-space"> </span>Very. You need someone around to celebrate your highs, and be there for you to get you through your lows.</span></span></div>
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<span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-family: inherit;"><b style="font-weight: bold ! important;">What does love mean to you?</b><span class="Apple-converted-space"> </span>Being open and unconditional.</span></span></div>
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<span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-family: inherit;"><b style="font-weight: bold ! important;">When you get free time on the internet, or you go to the library - what do you want to read about?</b><span class="Apple-converted-space"> </span>Light-hearted things; love, shopping, funny reads.</span></span></div>
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<span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-family: inherit;"><b style="font-weight: bold ! important;">Do you find the time to read?</b><span class="Apple-converted-space"> </span>Yes. During my commute on the way to the 9-5.</span></span></div>
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<span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-family: inherit;"><a data-mce-href="http://www.orangeberrybooktours.com/wp-content/uploads/2014/09/truthaboutemily.jpg" href="http://www.orangeberrybooktours.com/wp-content/uploads/2014/09/truthaboutemily.jpg"><img alt="truthaboutemily" class="alignnone size-full wp-image-41632" data-mce-src="http://www.orangeberrybooktours.com/wp-content/uploads/2014/09/truthaboutemily.jpg" src="http://www.orangeberrybooktours.com/wp-content/uploads/2014/09/truthaboutemily.jpg" height="200" width="130" /></a></span></span></div>
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<span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-family: inherit;">"If you LOVE New York, if you’re a
name-dropping, fashion fiend careerist; fed up with serial dating,
plagued with a thirst for sex, then you’ll totally stalk me for what
I've penned.” - Author, Madi Brown</span></span></h2>
<h3>
<span style="font-size: large;"><span style="font-family: inherit;"><i>Description</i></span></span></h3>
<span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-family: inherit;">29-year-old
Emily Greene looks the part, but she’s still working on becoming a
modern-day woman. Not that she’s one to back down from a challenge, but
living as an eternal work-in-progress wasn't exactly the goal that she
had in mind. It’s a harsh but true realization---the idea that that time
isn't on her side, and the notion that wanting to have it all, doesn't
mean getting it. The verdict is in; with zero prospects for a
relationship and a stalled blogging career, Emily has every reason to
believe that she’s been living a life too humdrum for her own good.</span></span><br />
<br />
<span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-family: inherit;">Making
the change won’t be easy. She’ll have to do whatever it takes; start
dating like a man, become more selective about which RSVP's she accepts,
and work even harder at getting her dream job.The payoff’s huge; a
modern twist on a storybook ending, but gains don’t often come without
risks. In the here and now Emily just may be forced to choose...It’s got
to be one or the other----the profession that she’s always wanted, or
the love that she’s never had.</span></span><br />
<h3>
<span style="font-family: inherit; font-size: small;">˃˃˃ Praise for Madi Brown & her debut novel, The Truth About Emily</span></h3>
<span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-family: inherit;">"The
added depth of character promises complexity but wraps everything in
the saucy cloak of Emily's evolving personality and newfound beliefs
about life, love, and the real nature of happiness. And this is where
The Truth About Emily outshines many competitors, making it a
recommended read for those seeking more than a standard romance novel." <i>- D. Donovan, eBook Reviewer, Midwest Book Reviews</i></span></span><br />
<br />
<span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-family: inherit;">"This
book has just about anything a girl would love to read about. If
there's anything Emily Greene has is ISH and lots of it, oh the
ending... This book is a total keeper, just anything about fashion to
relationships to friends and family." <i>- Y. Sanchez, Goodreads</i></span></span></div>
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<span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-family: inherit;">Buy Now @ <a data-mce-href="http://www.amazon.com/Truth-About-Emily-Madi-Brown-ebook/dp/B00MNIL5TW" href="http://www.amazon.com/Truth-About-Emily-Madi-Brown-ebook/dp/B00MNIL5TW" target="_blank">Amazon</a></span></span></div>
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<span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-family: inherit;"><i>Genre – Contemporary Women's Fiction</i></span></span></div>
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<span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-family: inherit;"><i>Rating – PG18</i></span></span></div>
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<span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-family: inherit;"><i>More details about <a data-mce-href="http://www.amazon.com/Madi-Brown/e/B00MNMD2ZS/ref=ntt_athr_dp_pel_1" href="http://www.amazon.com/Madi-Brown/e/B00MNMD2ZS/ref=ntt_athr_dp_pel_1" target="_blank">the author</a></i></span></span></div>
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<span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-family: inherit;"><b>Connect</b> with Madi Brown on <a data-mce-href="https://www.facebook.com/Madibrown.combooksandblog" href="https://www.facebook.com/Madibrown.combooksandblog" target="_blank">Facebook</a> & <a data-mce-href="https://twitter.com/Madithe1brown" href="https://twitter.com/Madithe1brown" target="_blank">Twitter</a></span></span></div>
<br />Quality Reads UKhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/03216387289293473067noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2539817974459763701.post-63244430257253165602014-09-13T07:30:00.000+01:002014-09-17T22:39:53.480+01:00Marilyn Holdsworth on #Writing, Inspiration and Publishing More #Books @M_Holdsworth <div data-mce-style="color: #222222;" style="font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; letter-spacing: normal; line-height: 19px; text-align: center; text-indent: 0px; text-transform: none; white-space: normal; word-spacing: 0px;">
<span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-family: inherit;"><a href="http://g-ecx.images-amazon.com/images/G/01/ciu/15/97/44078a95157c0ad8986cb6.L._V393916356_.jpg" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="http://g-ecx.images-amazon.com/images/G/01/ciu/15/97/44078a95157c0ad8986cb6.L._V393916356_.jpg" /></a></span></span> </div>
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<span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-family: inherit;"><br /></span></span></div>
<div data-mce-style="color: #222222;" style="font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; letter-spacing: normal; line-height: 19px; text-align: left; text-indent: 0px; text-transform: none; white-space: normal; word-spacing: 0px;">
<span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-family: inherit;"><span data-mce-style="color: #222222;" style="background-color: white; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; letter-spacing: normal; line-height: 19px; text-align: start; text-indent: 0px; text-transform: none; white-space: normal; word-spacing: 0px;">As a novelist, I draw on many real life experiences to<span class="Apple-converted-space"> </span></span><span data-mce-style="color: #222222;" style="background-color: white; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; letter-spacing: normal; line-height: 19px; text-align: start; text-indent: 0px; text-transform: none; white-space: normal; word-spacing: 0px;">provide
background for my books. After completing studies in Literature and
History at Occidental College, I became a staff writer on a travel
magazine, and throughout my career I have traveled extensively all over
the world. </span><span data-mce-style="color: #222222;" style="background-color: white; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; letter-spacing: normal; line-height: 19px; text-align: start; text-indent: 0px; text-transform: none; white-space: normal; word-spacing: 0px;">Because
I love horses, I owned and trained them. I support horse rescue and
wild mustang preservation. Based on my experience with horses and my
research on abuse issues, I wrote Pegasus.</span></span></span></div>
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<span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-family: inherit;"><br data-mce-style="color: #222222;" style="background-color: white; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; letter-spacing: normal; line-height: 19px; text-align: start; text-indent: 0px; text-transform: none; white-space: normal; word-spacing: 0px;" /><span data-mce-style="color: #222222;" style="background-color: white; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; letter-spacing: normal; line-height: 19px; text-align: start; text-indent: 0px; text-transform: none; white-space: normal; word-spacing: 0px;">As
a descendant of James Monroe, I did extensive research at the James
Monroe Museum in Virginia about him and his wife Elizabeth Kortright
Monroe. I also visited their home, Ashlawn/Highland in Albemarle County.
This resulted in my novel, The Beautiful American. </span><span data-mce-style="color: #222222;" style="background-color: white; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; letter-spacing: normal; line-height: 19px; text-align: start; text-indent: 0px; text-transform: none; white-space: normal; word-spacing: 0px;">Making Wishes, was based partly on my experiences as creator, owner and operator of a greeting card company.</span></span></span></div>
<br />
<span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-family: inherit;"><b>Have you always enjoyed writing?</b><br />Yes. I have enjoyed writing since I was a little girl.</span></span><br />
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<span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-family: inherit;"><b>What are you most proud of in your personal life?</b><br />My family.</span></span><br />
<br />
<span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-family: inherit;"><b>What books did you love growing up?</b><br />I
loved horse stories like The Black Stallion by Walter Farley and all
the books by Margarite Henry. I also loved the Nancy Drew Mysteries.</span></span><br />
<br />
<span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-family: inherit;"><b>Where do you get your inspiration from?</b><br />I observe people and situations everywhere I go and I keep files of ideas from articles in newspapers and magazines.</span></span><br />
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<span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-family: inherit;"><b>Do you plan to publish more books?</b><br />Yes. I plan to continue writing and publishing. I am currently writing another novel.</span></span><br />
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<span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-family: inherit;"><b>How do you write?</b><br />I
keep a tablet and pen with me always. And I keep paper and pen next to
my bed. I often wake up with ideas. Also, I work on my computer.</span></span><br />
<br />
<span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-family: inherit;"><b>What is the last book you purchased? Tell us about it.</b><br />The Countess and the King by Susan Holloway Scott.<br />It's
the story of Katherine Sedley, the Countess of Dorchester and King
James II of England. It's an interesting historical novel about a lady
who was ahead of her time and lived by her own rules. It gives a much
more sympathetic portrayal of James II than I had always thought of him.</span></span><br />
<br />
<span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-family: inherit;"><b>What is your favorite quote and why?</b><br />"There
is nothing good or bad but thinking makes it so." William Shakespeare. I
am a firm believer that attitude and how you look at things makes all
the difference.</span></span><br />
<br />
<span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-family: inherit;"><b>What are you most proud of accomplishing so far in your life?</b><br />Raising my two wonderful children.</span></span><br />
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<span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-family: inherit;"><img src="http://www.orangeberrybooktours.com/wp-content/uploads/2013/09/Making-Wishes.jpg" /></span></span></div>
<div style="background-color: white; line-height: 21px; margin-bottom: 10px; text-align: center;">
<span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-family: inherit;">Elloree
Prince is an attractive, creative young woman who marries a wealthy
businessman, Tom Randall. After courting his bride with unrelenting
determination, Tom moves her into old-moneyed Oak View, where
generations of Randalls have lived for years. Outwardly, Elloree appears
to settle into raising their two sons within Oak View’s stifling social
structure, but inwardly, she yearns for her artistic work. An
unexpected phone call from Mark Williams, her former employer, offers
her the career opportunity of a lifetime, and she must make a choice.
She is torn between her devotion to her sons and her love for her work.
Her decision to return to Wishes, Inc. brings dramatic life changes to
her and the people she loves.</span></span></div>
<div style="background-color: white; line-height: 21px; margin-bottom: 10px; text-align: center;">
<span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-family: inherit;">Buy Now @ <a href="http://www.amazon.com/Making-Wishes-Marilyn-Holdsworth/dp/1481707523/ref=sr_1_3_title_2_pap?s=books&ie=UTF8&qid=1369262924&sr=1-3&keywords=Marilyn.+Holdsworth" style="text-decoration: none;" target="_blank">Amazon</a></span></span></div>
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<span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-family: inherit;"><i>Genre - Women’s fiction</i></span></span></div>
<div align="center" style="background-color: white; line-height: 21px; margin-bottom: 10px; text-align: center;">
<span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-family: inherit;"><i>Rating – PG-13</i></span></span></div>
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<span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-family: inherit;"><img src="http://www.orangeberrybooktours.com/wp-content/uploads/2014/07/beautifulAmerican.jpg" /></span></span></div>
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<span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-family: inherit;">“Abby
Long is thrilled when she offers the winning bid for an antique desk at
an auction. With its intricately inlaid woods and elegant style, the
desk is perfect for Abby; it is the gift she promised herself to finally
celebrate her thriving antique business. She has no idea that the
antique desk holds a secret that will lead her on a fascinating,
life-changing journey back in time.</span></span><br />
<br />
<span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-family: inherit;">When Abby discovers a hidden diary
stuffed inside a secret compartment in the desk, she can hardly wait to
read the spidery, faded script. As she carefully turns the tattered
pages, she reads the captivating story of two remarkable women from
opposite backgrounds who somehow manage to form an unforgettable bond
against the backdrop of a fledgling America struggling to find its place
in the world. Elizabeth Kortright Monroe, the wife of James Monroe, and
Jasmine, a young slave girl, develop an extraordinary relationship as
they are united by pivotal historic events, political intrigues, and
personal tragedies.</span></span><br />
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<div style="margin-bottom: 10px;">
<span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-family: inherit;">From
a bucolic Virginia plantation to the bloodied, starving streets of
post-revolutionary Paris, this powerful tale follows the lives of two
courageous women from the past as they quietly influence—and inspire—a
woman of today’s world.”</span></span></div>
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</div>
<div style="background-color: white; line-height: 21px; margin-bottom: 10px; text-align: center;">
<span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-family: inherit;">Buy Now @ <a href="http://www.amazon.com/Beautiful-American-Marilyn-Holdsworth-ebook/dp/B0080D41BI/ref=tmm_kin_swatch_0?_encoding=UTF8&sr=1-4&qid=1402430694" style="text-decoration: none;" target="_blank">Amazon</a></span></span></div>
<div align="center" style="background-color: white; line-height: 21px; margin-bottom: 10px; text-align: center;">
<span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-family: inherit;"><i>Genre - Historical fiction</i></span></span></div>
<div align="center" style="background-color: white; line-height: 21px; margin-bottom: 10px; text-align: center;">
<span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-family: inherit;"><i>Rating – G</i></span></span></div>
<div align="center" style="background-color: white; line-height: 21px; margin-bottom: 10px; text-align: center;">
<span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-family: inherit;"><img src="http://www.orangeberrybooktours.com/wp-content/uploads/2014/07/pegasus.jpg" /></span></span></div>
<div id="outer_postBodyPS" style="background-color: white; line-height: 21px; text-align: center;">
<div id="postBodyPS">
<span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-family: inherit;">Widowed
at thirty, Hannah Bradley is a successful journalist focusing on animal
abuse issues. An accidental meeting introduces her to lawyer, Winston
Caughfield III. Drawn to Hannah’s gentle beauty and fierce commitment to
her work, Win joins her in a fight to save wild mustangs from
slaughter. Together they rescue a badly injured horse with a mysterious
background. </span></span><br />
<br />
<span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-family: inherit;">Hannah’s search to discover the animal’s true identity leads
them into a web of black marketeering and international intrigue.
Action packed with crisp colorful dialogue the story propels the reader
to a race against time conclusion. Marilyn Holdsworth delivers a
gripping tale of mystery, adventure and romance guaranteed to hold the
interest and capture the heart. She brings true-life characters together
with real-life issues to create a fast-paced irresistible story.</span></span></div>
</div>
<div style="background-color: white; line-height: 21px; margin-bottom: 10px; text-align: center;">
<br />
<span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-family: inherit;">Buy Now @ <a href="http://www.amazon.com/Pegasus-Marilyn-Holdsworth-ebook/dp/B004S2LVYA/ref=la_B006LTHMZK_1_2?s=books&ie=UTF8&qid=1405682556&sr=1-2" style="text-decoration: none;" target="_blank">Amazon</a></span></span></div>
<div align="center" style="background-color: white; line-height: 21px; margin-bottom: 10px; text-align: center;">
<span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-family: inherit;"><i>Genre – Contemporary fiction</i></span></span></div>
<div align="center" style="background-color: white; line-height: 21px; margin-bottom: 10px; text-align: center;">
<span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-family: inherit;"><i>Rating – PG</i></span></span></div>
<div align="center" style="background-color: white; line-height: 21px; margin-bottom: 10px; text-align: center;">
<span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-family: inherit;"><i>More details about <a href="http://www.amazon.com/Marilyn-Holdsworth/e/B006LTHMZK/ref=ntt_athr_dp_pel_pop_1" style="text-decoration: none;" target="_blank">the author</a></i></span></span></div>
<div align="center" style="background-color: white; line-height: 21px; margin-bottom: 10px; text-align: center;">
<span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-family: inherit;"> <b>Connect</b> with Marilyn Holdsworth on <a href="https://www.facebook.com/marilyn.holdsworth.7" style="text-decoration: none;" target="_blank">Facebook</a> & <a href="http://twitter.com/m_holdsworth" style="text-decoration: none;" target="_blank">Twitter</a></span></span></div>
<div align="center" style="background-color: white; line-height: 21px; margin-bottom: 10px;">
<span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-family: inherit;"><b><b>Website </b> </b><a href="http://marilynholdsworth.com/" style="text-decoration: none;" target="_blank">http://marilynholdsworth.com/</a></span></span></div>
<div align="center" style="background-color: white; line-height: 21px; margin-bottom: 10px;">
<span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-family: inherit;"><b>Blog</b> <a href="http://marilynholdsworth.com/blog/" style="text-decoration: none;" target="_blank">http://marilynholdsworth.com/blog/</a></span></span></div>
Quality Reads UKhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/03216387289293473067noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2539817974459763701.post-61970468344012795832014-09-09T11:00:00.000+01:002014-11-25T16:47:43.700+00:00#Excerpt from A LIFE LESS ORDINARY by @VicBernadine #AmReading #Fiction #ChickLit<div style="background-color: white; line-height: 21px; margin-bottom: 10px;">
<span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-family: inherit;">The
coffee shop wasn’t very busy. Only a couple of tables were occupied,
with several more people standing in line. Manny sat rather nervously at
her table sipping her third vanilla latte and wondering if she was as
crazy as Rebecca and Daisy claimed. This would be her fourth interview
today of a potential travelling companion and she hoped this guy would
be more of a possibility than the other three she’d already met. Oh,
they all seemed nice enough, but Olive had been jittery and they’d
quickly realized their personalities would never mesh well enough to
travel together for six months. Isaac had had a predatory, speculative
gleam in his eyes as he looked her over–and she hadn’t needed Harvey to
tell her to stay as far away from <i>him</i> as possible.</span></span></div>
<div style="background-color: white; line-height: 21px; margin-bottom: 10px;">
<span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-family: inherit;">Darius
was very sweet and charming, just eighteen, but he couldn’t pay his own
way, and Manny wasn’t about to support him for six months. He’d
shrugged and accepted her decision with an adorable smile and she
offered to call Daisy’s boss, Max, to see if he had any work that Darius
could do. Darius had thanked her and even paid for their lattes, and
they’d chatted for a good forty-five minutes before he’d finally gone on
his way. Yes, he would have been a good choice–and she might change her
mind if she didn’t find anyone before she left in two weeks.</span></span></div>
<div style="background-color: white; line-height: 21px; margin-bottom: 10px;">
<span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-family: inherit;"><b>You can always go by yourself.</b></span></span></div>
<div style="background-color: white; line-height: 21px; margin-bottom: 10px;">
<span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-family: inherit;"><b><i>I know. But it would be more fun with someone else.</i></b></span></span></div>
<div style="background-color: white; line-height: 21px; margin-bottom: 10px;">
<span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-family: inherit;"><b>You’ll have me.</b></span></span></div>
<div style="background-color: white; line-height: 21px; margin-bottom: 10px;">
<span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-family: inherit;">Manny
glanced at Harvey sitting in the chair across from her. He was dressed
casually in jeans and a button down shirt open at the throat to show the
strong lines of his neck and chest.</span></span></div>
<div style="background-color: white; line-height: 21px; margin-bottom: 10px;">
<span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-family: inherit;"><b><i>You’re not real.</i></b></span></span></div>
<div style="background-color: white; line-height: 21px; margin-bottom: 10px;">
<span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-family: inherit;">Harvey winked at her.<b> Just checking.</b></span></span></div>
<div style="background-color: white; line-height: 21px; margin-bottom: 10px;">
<span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-family: inherit;">She
shook her head and Harvey blinked out of existence as the door opened
and a darkly handsome man walked in. He paused in the doorway and
removed his sunglasses as he glanced around the small room. Securely
hidden in her corner, Manny considered him.</span></span></div>
<div style="background-color: white; line-height: 21px; margin-bottom: 10px;">
<span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-family: inherit;">Tall;
over six feet. Dark. Handsome, with large, dark eyes and full pouty
lips. His black, tousled hair and dark stubble on his face gave him a
sexy, scruffy appearance. He was slim, with broad shoulders, narrow hips
and long legs encased in jeans.</span></span></div>
<div style="background-color: white; line-height: 21px; margin-bottom: 10px;">
<span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-family: inherit;"><b>I’ll bet he has a great ass.</b></span></span></div>
<div style="background-color: white; line-height: 21px; margin-bottom: 10px;">
<span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-family: inherit;"><b><i>I’ll bet you’re right.</i></b></span></span></div>
<div style="background-color: white; line-height: 21px; margin-bottom: 10px;">
<span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-family: inherit;"><b>He’s like a younger version of me.</b></span></span></div>
<div style="background-color: white; line-height: 21px; margin-bottom: 10px;">
<span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-family: inherit;">Manny
blinked at the man standing in the doorway and realized Harvey was
right. Oh, they didn’t exactly look alike, but they had similar
colouring, and a similar underlying confidence and arrogance in their
stance. Probably something natural when you’re that naturally gorgeous,
Manny thought ruefully, or, in Harvey’s case, that<i>unnaturally</i> perfect.</span></span></div>
<div style="background-color: white; line-height: 21px; margin-bottom: 10px;">
<span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-family: inherit;"><b>I’d almost be jealous…if I was real.</b></span></span></div>
<div style="background-color: white; line-height: 21px; margin-bottom: 10px;">
<span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-family: inherit;"><b><i>But you’re not–and he’s quite something. I wonder who he’s here to me…eeet.</i></b></span></span></div>
<div style="background-color: white; line-height: 21px; margin-bottom: 10px;">
<span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-family: inherit;">Her internal dialogue trailed off as the stranger’s gaze met hers. He gave a half smile and headed towards her.</span></span></div>
<div style="background-color: white; line-height: 21px; margin-bottom: 10px;">
<span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-family: inherit;"><br /></span></span></div>
<div style="background-color: white; line-height: 21px; margin-bottom: 10px; text-align: center;">
<span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-family: inherit;"><img src="http://www.orangeberrybooktours.com/wp-content/uploads/2014/05/ALifeLessOrdinary.jpg" /></span></span></div>
<div id="postBodyPS" style="background-color: white; line-height: 21px; text-align: center;">
<div style="margin-bottom: 10px;">
<span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-family: inherit;">For
the last fifteen years, Rose “Manny” Mankowski has been a very good
girl. She turned her back on her youthful fancies and focused on her
career. But now, at the age of 45, she’s questioning her choices and
feeling more and more disconnected from her own life. When she’s passed
over for promotion and her much younger new boss implies Manny’s life
will never change, something snaps. In the blink of an eye, she’s quit
her job, sold her house and cashed in her pension, and she’s leaving
town on a six month road trip.</span></span></div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 10px;">
<span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-family: inherit;">After
placing a personal ad for a travelling companion, she’s joined in her
mid-life crisis by Zeke Powell, the cynical, satirical, most-read – and
most controversial – blogger for the e-magazine, What Women Want. Zeke’s
true goal is to expose Manny’s journey as a pitiful and desperate
attempt to reclaim her lost youth – and increase his readership at the
same time. Leaving it all behind for six months is just an added bonus.</span></span></div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 10px;">
<span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-family: inherit;">Now,
armed with a bagful of destinations, a fistful of maps, and an
out-spoken imaginary friend named Harvey, Manny’s on a quest to
rediscover herself – and taking Zeke along for the ride.</span></span></div>
</div>
<div align="center" style="background-color: white; line-height: 21px; margin-bottom: 10px;">
<span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-family: inherit;">Buy Now @ <a href="http://www.amazon.com/dp/B00AMJBOSQ" style="text-decoration: none;" target="_blank">Amazon</a> & <a href="http://www.smashwords.com/books/view/299257" style="text-decoration: none;" target="_blank">Smashwords</a></span></span></div>
<div align="center" style="background-color: white; line-height: 21px; margin-bottom: 10px;">
<span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-family: inherit;"><i>Genre – ChickLit, Contemporary Fiction</i></span></span></div>
<div align="center" style="background-color: white; line-height: 21px; margin-bottom: 10px;">
<span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-family: inherit;"><i>Rating – PG-13</i></span></span></div>
<div align="center" style="background-color: white; line-height: 21px; margin-bottom: 10px;">
<span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-family: inherit;"><i>More details about <a href="http://www.amazon.com/Victoria-Bernadine/e/B00AN2VS5G/ref=ntt_athr_dp_pel_1" style="text-decoration: none;" target="_blank">the author</a></i></span></span></div>
<div align="center" style="background-color: white; line-height: 21px; margin-bottom: 10px;">
<span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-family: inherit;"> <b>Connect</b> with Victoria Bernadine on <a href="https://twitter.com/VicBernadine" style="text-decoration: none;" target="_blank">Twitter</a></span></span></div>
<div align="center" style="background-color: white; line-height: 21px; margin-bottom: 10px;">
<span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-family: inherit;"><b>Blog <a class="in-cell-link" href="https://www.google.com/url?q=http://victoriabernadine.wordpress.com&usd=2&usg=ALhdy2_NZu0iup6n2vJwBd--NRvslbSPnw" style="text-decoration: none;" target="_blank">victoriabernadine.wordpress.com</a></b></span></span></div>
Quality Reads UKhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/03216387289293473067noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2539817974459763701.post-37543821716402449482014-09-06T07:00:00.000+01:002014-09-10T16:46:54.325+01:00S.A. Snow on Any Job She Would Like to Do @BooksBySnow #AmReading #AmWriting #Erotica <div style="font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; letter-spacing: normal; line-height: 19px; text-align: start; text-indent: 0px; text-transform: none; white-space: normal; word-spacing: 0px;">
<span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-family: inherit;"><b>When you are not writing, how do you like to relax?</b></span></span></div>
<div style="font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; letter-spacing: normal; line-height: 19px; text-align: start; text-indent: 0px; text-transform: none; white-space: normal; word-spacing: 0px;">
<span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-family: inherit;"><i>When
not writing, I watch a lot of television. I find it easy to slip into a
world that is not my own and lose time that way. I also find it very
inspiring to watch and participate in the creation of others. I tend to
read a lot as well. The novels I read range across the genre board, from
erotica to YA.</i></span></span></div>
<div style="font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; letter-spacing: normal; line-height: 19px; text-align: start; text-indent: 0px; text-transform: none; white-space: normal; word-spacing: 0px;">
<br /></div>
<span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-family: inherit;"><b>If you could do any job in the world what would you do?</b></span></span><br />
<div style="font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; letter-spacing: normal; line-height: 19px; text-align: start; text-indent: 0px; text-transform: none; white-space: normal; word-spacing: 0px;">
<span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-family: inherit;"><i>I
want to have Mike Rowe’s job on Dirty Jobs. He gets to do everything!
Each week he gets to do a different job. It’s amazing, and it looks like
a great experience. I love the idea of being so well-rounded in
knowledge.</i></span></span></div>
<div style="font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; letter-spacing: normal; line-height: 19px; text-align: start; text-indent: 0px; text-transform: none; white-space: normal; word-spacing: 0px;">
<br /></div>
<div style="font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; letter-spacing: normal; line-height: 19px; text-align: start; text-indent: 0px; text-transform: none; white-space: normal; word-spacing: 0px;">
<span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-family: inherit;"><b>What’s your next project?</b></span></span></div>
<div style="font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; letter-spacing: normal; line-height: 19px; text-align: start; text-indent: 0px; text-transform: none; white-space: normal; word-spacing: 0px;">
<span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-family: inherit;"><i>My
next project is a short story, actually. I’m working on a
paranormal/supernatural romance erotica short for an anthology
submission. I’ve chosen sirens for the topic! It’s so exciting. They’re
very interesting creatures. I plan on writing a few more short stories
in between novels, but I do have a second novel planned and in the
works.</i></span></span></div>
<div style="font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; letter-spacing: normal; line-height: 19px; text-align: start; text-indent: 0px; text-transform: none; white-space: normal; word-spacing: 0px;">
<br /></div>
<div style="font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; letter-spacing: normal; line-height: 19px; text-align: start; text-indent: 0px; text-transform: none; white-space: normal; word-spacing: 0px;">
<span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-family: inherit;"><b>How do you write – lap top, pen, paper, in bed, at a desk?</b></span></span></div>
<div style="font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; letter-spacing: normal; line-height: 19px; text-align: start; text-indent: 0px; text-transform: none; white-space: normal; word-spacing: 0px;">
<span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-family: inherit;"><i>I
wrote on my laptop in google docs. It’s a rather amazing thing
actually, and I like that I can access it from anywhere so long as I
have internet. I write sometimes on my couch, at a desk, in bed, on the
floor, at a bar, in a coffee shop, over lunch--I’ve been known to access
it anywhere and everywhere just to get the story written.</i></span></span></div>
<div style="font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; letter-spacing: normal; line-height: 19px; text-align: start; text-indent: 0px; text-transform: none; white-space: normal; word-spacing: 0px;">
<br /></div>
<div style="font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; letter-spacing: normal; line-height: 19px; text-align: start; text-indent: 0px; text-transform: none; white-space: normal; word-spacing: 0px;">
<span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-family: inherit;"><b>Is your family supportive? Do your friends support you?</b></span></span></div>
<div style="font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; letter-spacing: normal; line-height: 19px; text-align: start; text-indent: 0px; text-transform: none; white-space: normal; word-spacing: 0px;">
<span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-family: inherit;"><i>My
family is supportive of my writing but not my necessarily my topic of
writing. They’re not too keen on the idea of erotica, or sex-shifting
aliens for that matter. However, I have a few wonderful friends who I’ve
met through the great wide interwebs, and they have been very
supportive of all my crazy ideas.</i></span></span></div>
<div style="font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; letter-spacing: normal; line-height: 19px; text-align: start; text-indent: 0px; text-transform: none; white-space: normal; word-spacing: 0px;">
<br /></div>
<div style="font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; letter-spacing: normal; line-height: 19px; text-align: start; text-indent: 0px; text-transform: none; white-space: normal; word-spacing: 0px;">
<span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-family: inherit;"><b>Every writer has their own idea of what a successful career in writing is, what does success in writing look like to you?</b></span></span></div>
<div style="font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; letter-spacing: normal; line-height: 19px; text-align: start; text-indent: 0px; text-transform: none; white-space: normal; word-spacing: 0px;">
<span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-family: inherit;"><i>Success
for me is simple. I just need to be having fun and enjoying myself. If
that is happening, then whatever I’m doing is a success.</i></span></span></div>
<div style="font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; letter-spacing: normal; line-height: 19px; text-align: start; text-indent: 0px; text-transform: none; white-space: normal; word-spacing: 0px;">
<br /></div>
<div style="font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; letter-spacing: normal; line-height: 19px; text-align: start; text-indent: 0px; text-transform: none; white-space: normal; word-spacing: 0px;">
<span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-family: inherit;"><b>Where do you get your inspiration from?</b></span></span></div>
<div style="font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; letter-spacing: normal; line-height: 19px; text-align: start; text-indent: 0px; text-transform: none; white-space: normal; word-spacing: 0px;">
<span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-family: inherit;"><i>I
get my inspiration from the world around me and from asking a lot of
questions. The premise for Across Worlds: Collision came when there was a
mistake in a friends book an an alien accidentally shifted sex because
of an editing error. I asked, what if an alien actually did shift their
sex? And thus...this book came forth.</i></span></span></div>
<div style="font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; letter-spacing: normal; line-height: 19px; text-align: start; text-indent: 0px; text-transform: none; white-space: normal; word-spacing: 0px;">
<br /></div>
<div style="font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; letter-spacing: normal; line-height: 19px; text-align: start; text-indent: 0px; text-transform: none; white-space: normal; word-spacing: 0px;">
<span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-family: inherit;"><b>If you could study any subject at university what would you pick?</b></span></span></div>
<div style="font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; letter-spacing: normal; line-height: 19px; text-align: start; text-indent: 0px; text-transform: none; white-space: normal; word-spacing: 0px;">
<span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-family: inherit;"><i>I
would love to take at least one class in every area of topic. I think
it’s very important to keep well-rounded in our knowledge, especially as
an author. We need to know things about everything and the internet can
only get us so far. There’s just not a manual to explain the technique
of scraping plates, pipetting chemicals and solutions in an Eppendorf
tube, or running column after column to get answers to some scientific
question we have asked.</i></span></span></div>
<div style="font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; letter-spacing: normal; line-height: 19px; text-align: start; text-indent: 0px; text-transform: none; white-space: normal; word-spacing: 0px;">
<br /></div>
<div style="font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; letter-spacing: normal; line-height: 19px; text-align: start; text-indent: 0px; text-transform: none; white-space: normal; word-spacing: 0px;">
<span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-family: inherit;"><b>If you could live anywhere in the world where would it be?</b></span></span></div>
<div style="font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; letter-spacing: normal; line-height: 19px; text-align: start; text-indent: 0px; text-transform: none; white-space: normal; word-spacing: 0px;">
<span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-family: inherit;"><i>Right
where I do live, high in the Andes Mountains on a farm. It’s beautiful,
lovely, quiet and very serene. The perfect backdrop to a writer’s life.</i></span></span></div>
<div style="font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; letter-spacing: normal; line-height: 19px; text-align: start; text-indent: 0px; text-transform: none; white-space: normal; word-spacing: 0px;">
<br /></div>
<div style="font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; letter-spacing: normal; line-height: 19px; text-align: start; text-indent: 0px; text-transform: none; white-space: normal; word-spacing: 0px;">
<span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-family: inherit;"><b>How do you feel about social media websites such as Facebook and Twitter? Are they a good thing?</b></span></span></div>
<div style="font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; letter-spacing: normal; line-height: 19px; text-align: start; text-indent: 0px; text-transform: none; white-space: normal; word-spacing: 0px;">
<span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-family: inherit;"><i>I
think they are a good thing and a bad thing. I find that there is a lot
of unnecessary drama on both social media platforms, and if you
couldn’t already tell, I’m not a fan of drama. Authors and writers tend
to go at it like we’re back in elementary school and little Bobby pulled
Rhonda-Sue’s hair because he likes her, and Rhonda-Sue cried to Kelly
because Bobby was being mean. It’s honestly not something I like to
watch.</i></span></span></div>
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<span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-family: inherit;"><i>However,
there are good reasons to have Facebook and Twitter. The best of which
is connecting with people. There is no way I would have found my
publisher without Twitter, and there’s no way I would have found my
beta’s without Twitter or Facebook, or my editors. In the grand scheme, I
think they do more good than bad, at least for now.</i></span></span></div>
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<span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-family: inherit;"><a data-mce-href="http://www.orangeberrybooktours.com/wp-content/uploads/2014/08/AcrossWorldsCollision.jpg" href="http://www.orangeberrybooktours.com/wp-content/uploads/2014/08/AcrossWorldsCollision.jpg"><img alt="AcrossWorldsCollision" class="alignnone size-full wp-image-40725" data-mce-src="http://www.orangeberrybooktours.com/wp-content/uploads/2014/08/AcrossWorldsCollision.jpg" src="http://www.orangeberrybooktours.com/wp-content/uploads/2014/08/AcrossWorldsCollision.jpg" height="200" width="130" /></a></span></span></div>
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<span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-family: inherit;">Jane expected six months undercover to be hard; she expected it to be lonely and bleak. She didn’t expect to find love. <br data-mce-style="color: #000000;" /><br data-mce-style="color: #000000;" />Jane
Butler, a CIA operative, is assigned the task of infiltrating the
Xanthians and determining if they’re a threat to humanity. Going
undercover as a Xanthian mate, she boards the transport ship and meets
Usnavi—her new mate. After spending six days traveling through space,
Jane is ecstatic to explore the Xanthian station and soon sets out to
complete her mission. The only problem? Usnavi—and the feelings she is
quickly developing. <br data-mce-style="color: #000000;" /><br data-mce-style="color: #000000;" />Fumbling
their way through varying sexual expectations, cooking catastrophes,
and cultural differences, they soon discover life together is never
boring. As Jane and Usnavi careen into a relationship neither of them
expected, Jane uncovers dark secrets about the Xanthians and realizes
she may no longer be safe. When it becomes clear she’s on her own, Jane
is forced to trust and rely on Usnavi. Simultaneously struggling with
her mission, her feelings for Usnavi, and homesickness, Jane faces
questions she never imagined she would have to answer.</span></span></div>
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<span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-family: inherit;">Buy Now @ <a data-mce-href="http://www.amazon.com/Across-Worlds-Collision-S-Snow-ebook/dp/B00MANJM2M" href="http://www.amazon.com/Across-Worlds-Collision-S-Snow-ebook/dp/B00MANJM2M" target="_blank">Amazon</a> &<span class="Apple-converted-space"> </span><a data-mce-href="https://www.smashwords.com/books/view/435337" href="https://www.smashwords.com/books/view/435337" target="_blank">Smashwords</a></span></span></div>
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<span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-family: inherit;"><i>Genre – Blended Science Fiction, Erotica</i></span></span></div>
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<span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-family: inherit;"><i>Rating – NC17</i></span></span></div>
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<span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-family: inherit;"><i>More details about <a data-mce-href="http://www.amazon.com/S.-A.-Snow/e/B00MARDKL2/ref=ntt_athr_dp_pel_pop_1" href="http://www.amazon.com/S.-A.-Snow/e/B00MARDKL2/ref=ntt_athr_dp_pel_pop_1" target="_blank">the author</a></i></span></span></div>
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<span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-family: inherit;"><b>Connect</b> with S. A. Snow on <a data-mce-href="http://www.facebook.com/booksbysnow" href="http://www.facebook.com/booksbysnow" target="_blank">Facebook</a></span></span></div>
Quality Reads UKhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/03216387289293473067noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2539817974459763701.post-48162122656892993972014-09-04T12:30:00.000+01:002014-09-19T19:36:50.685+01:00#SagaoftheNine by Mikey DB Was Originally Going to be a Musical @mikeydbii #Thriller #AmReading<div style="font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; letter-spacing: normal; line-height: 19px; text-align: start; text-indent: 0px; text-transform: none; white-space: normal; word-spacing: 0px;">
<span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-family: inherit;"><b>Ten things you didn’t know about<span class="Apple-converted-space"> </span><i>Saga of the Nine: Area 38</i></b></span></span></div>
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<span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-family: inherit;">1) It was originally going to be a musical. The album that inspired it,<span class="Apple-converted-space"> </span><i>This is War</i><span class="Apple-converted-space"> </span>by
30 Seconds to Mars, was intended not only as the frame work of the
story, but the bulk of the songs as well. I thought about seeking out
Jared Leto’s help/permission to use his music and possibly add more, but
things ended up turning a different direction. It really came down to
the fact that I didn’t think a musical would do the story justice. I
still listened to the album probably a couple hundred times while
writing it, but the story is much different now than the original
musical.</span></span></div>
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<span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-family: inherit;">2)
Mica and the USA Division were inspired by a date I took a girl on. My
date and I doubled with my roommate and his date, each got some
masquerade masks, and then went to dinner at a fancy restaurant while we
wore them. Like I said, bizarre, but hey, something worked because my
date that night is now my wife.</span></span></div>
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<span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-family: inherit;">3) Area 38 is actually a reference to the 38<sup>th</sup><span class="Apple-converted-space"> </span>state of the United States of America.</span></span></div>
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<span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-family: inherit;">4)
The opening setting was inspired by the cold winter mornings in Utah.
I’ve been working the six am shift for as long as I can remember, and
one of the joys about having to wake up so early in order to get to work
on time, is it’s around the time that the sun rises. The fog that
covered the fields outside the industrial park were some of the most
beautiful mornings I’ve seen.</span></span></div>
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<span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-family: inherit;">5) Benedict Cumberbatch, the actor who played Sherlock Holmes in BBC’s<span class="Apple-converted-space"> </span><i>Sherlock</i>,
is the person I pictured as I wrote and fine tuned Christopher Stone,
the sadistic Area Leader of Area 38. If he reads this, I hope he
doesn’t get offended. The way he talks in<span class="Apple-converted-space"> </span><i>Star Trek: Into Darkness<span class="Apple-converted-space"> </span></i>as Kahn is exactly how I imagine Christopher saying his lines.</span></span></div>
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<span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-family: inherit;">6)
I wrote the entire novel on the floor of my 500 square foot
apartment--right at the foot of my bed. I could only right for a few
hours at a time though. Any longer than three and my butt and legs
would begin to go numb.</span></span></div>
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<span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-family: inherit;">7)<span class="Apple-converted-space"> </span><i>Saga of the Nine: Area 38<span class="Apple-converted-space"> </span></i>is
actually a hybrid. The entire plot began as two different stories.
Both of them were going nowhere, and one day I had the epiphany to
combine the two.</span></span></div>
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<span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-family: inherit;">8) Most, if not all, of my research for<span class="Apple-converted-space"> </span><i>Area 38<span class="Apple-converted-space"> </span></i>came from listening to history podcasts I would listen to at my day job in the warehouse.</span></span></div>
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<span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-family: inherit;">9)
The flag on the cover was the brain child of my cousin, the cover
designer. The entire premise is that anything that is evil and corrupt
usually isn’t original. Evil simply takes originality and tweaks it.
That’s what the Nine did with the U.S. flag.</span></span></div>
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<span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-family: inherit;">10) The foreign language in the novel is based off of Tahitian, which I picked up on my LDS mission in French Polynesia.</span></span></div>
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<div style="text-align: center;">
<span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-family: inherit;"><a data-mce-href="http://www.orangeberrybooktours.com/wp-content/uploads/2014/08/Saga-of-the-Nine.jpg" href="http://www.orangeberrybooktours.com/wp-content/uploads/2014/08/Saga-of-the-Nine.jpg"><img alt="Saga of the Nine" class="alignnone size-full wp-image-41059" data-mce-src="http://www.orangeberrybooktours.com/wp-content/uploads/2014/08/Saga-of-the-Nine.jpg" src="http://www.orangeberrybooktours.com/wp-content/uploads/2014/08/Saga-of-the-Nine.jpg" height="200" width="130" /></a></span></span></div>
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<span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-family: inherit;">Change
affects everyone and it is no different for Jackson. Living in Area 38
for as long as he can remember, he knows of no better way to exist than
under the tyrannical rule of Christopher Stone, son of Stewart Stone
from The Nine of The United Governmental Areas, aka The UGA. This all
takes a dramatic turn when Jackson finds a red, metal box buried in his
yard, filled with illegal artifacts—journals, a Bible, CDs, etc.—that
are from a man of whom he has no recollection of: Mica Rouge.</span></span></div>
<div id="postBodyPS">
<br />
<span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-family: inherit;"> The
year is 2036 and Mica, unlike Jackson, does know of a better way of
life but is torn apart as he sees his country, The United States of
America, crumbling from within by group known as The Political Mafia.
The Mafia has infiltrated levels upon levels of governmental resources
and it is up to Mica and a vigilante group known as The USA Division to
stop them and their dark Utopian vision. To their demise, and at the
country's expense, The Division fails and has no choice but to watch The
Constitution dissolve and transform into The UGA.</span></span><br />
<span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-family: inherit;"><br /></span></span>
<span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-family: inherit;">In
a final stand, having not given up hope, Mica and what is left of The
Division, give one final fight in Colorado, or better known as Area 38.
However, all is lost as The Division is betrayed by one of their own,
Stewart Stone. Mica is left with no choice but to hide in exile, leaving
what little history he can of himself and the great United States of
America, with his wife, long time friends, and newly born son in hopes
that they will one day finish what he could not.</span></span><br />
<span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-family: inherit;"><br /></span></span>
<span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-family: inherit;">Jackson,
having found this legacy twenty-seven years later, decides to start the
war that will end The Nine, and he with an outcast group known as The
Raiders, begins his fight with Christopher Stone in Area 38. Filled with
betrayal, unity, despair, hope, hate and love Area 38 follows both Mica
and Jackson in their attempts to restore what they believe to be true
freedom, and where one fails, the other rises to the seemingly
impossible challenge.</span></span></div>
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<br />
<span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-family: inherit;">Buy Now @ <a data-mce-href="http://www.amazon.com/Saga-Nine-Mikey-D-B-ebook/dp/B00I3I8R9W/ref=sr_1_1?s=digital-text&ie=UTF8&qid=1391036693&sr=1-1&keywords=mikey+d.+b." href="http://www.amazon.com/Saga-Nine-Mikey-D-B-ebook/dp/B00I3I8R9W/ref=sr_1_1?s=digital-text&ie=UTF8&qid=1391036693&sr=1-1&keywords=mikey+d.+b." target="_blank">Amazon</a></span></span></div>
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<span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-family: inherit;"><i>Genre – Dystopian Thriller</i></span></span></div>
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<span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-family: inherit;"><i>Rating – PG13</i></span></span></div>
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<span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-family: inherit;"><i>More details about <a data-mce-href="http://www.amazon.com/s/ref=ntt_athr_dp_sr_1?_encoding=UTF8&field-author=Mikey%20D.%20B.&search-alias=digital-text&sort=relevancerank" href="http://www.amazon.com/s/ref=ntt_athr_dp_sr_1?_encoding=UTF8&field-author=Mikey%20D.%20B.&search-alias=digital-text&sort=relevancerank" target="_blank">the author</a></i></span></span></div>
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<span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-family: inherit;"><b>Connect</b> with Mikey D. B. on <a data-mce-href="https://www.facebook.com/pages/Mikey-D-B/193122724228568?ref=hl" href="https://www.facebook.com/pages/Mikey-D-B/193122724228568?ref=hl" target="_blank">Facebook</a> &<span class="Apple-converted-space"> </span><a data-mce-href="https://twitter.com/mikeydbii" href="https://twitter.com/mikeydbii" target="_blank">Twitter</a></span></span></div>
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<span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-family: inherit;"><b>Website <a class="in-cell-link" data-mce-href="https://www.google.com/url?q=http://www.mikeydb.com&usd=2&usg=ALhdy29rFXKoKCy5nHRPTeDOI1JD41dROQ" href="https://www.google.com/url?q=http://www.mikeydb.com&usd=2&usg=ALhdy29rFXKoKCy5nHRPTeDOI1JD41dROQ" target="_blank">www.mikeydb.com</a></b></span></span></div>
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Quality Reads UKhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/03216387289293473067noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2539817974459763701.post-46215019269477959232014-09-04T11:30:00.001+01:002014-10-14T17:27:02.507+01:00Host Chronicles: The Devil's Offspring (Vol. 1) by D.L. Cox #AmReading #Fantasy #Excerpt <div style="font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; letter-spacing: normal; line-height: 21px; margin-bottom: 1.3em; text-align: start; text-indent: 0px; text-transform: none; white-space: normal; word-spacing: 0px;">
<span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-family: inherit;">Ben
was in a room on the fourth floor of Simon’s building. It was known as
the concentration room. There was no furniture and the room was lit by
candles that were mounted on the walls. Ben sat on the middle of the
floor Indian-style, completely naked surrounded by a circle of fire with
four-foot high flames that appeared to be coming out the floor. Two
headless chickens lay in front of him and his face and chest were
covered with the chickens’ blood. His eyes were closed and he mumbled
something unintelligible. The entire scene screamed satanic ritual.
Simon walked in the room carrying a photo of Sheba printed from the
conference room footage.</span></span></div>
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<span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-family: inherit;">Ben
opened his eyes and the circle of fire slowly withered away. He climbed
to one knee and bowed to Simon. “Is there something you want me to do?”</span></span></div>
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<span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-family: inherit;">“Yes,” Simon said and handed Ben the photo. “I need you to track this woman.”</span></span></div>
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<span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-family: inherit;">Ben eyed the photo. “You do not wish me to engage?”</span></span></div>
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<span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-family: inherit;">“No,” Simon insisted. “I believe she is working with Tess. Follow her and see if she leads you to anyone interesting.”</span></span></div>
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<span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-family: inherit;">“If she does?” Ben asked.</span></span></div>
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<span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-family: inherit;">“Report back to me.</span></span></div>
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<span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-family: inherit;"><a data-mce-href="http://www.orangeberrybooktours.com/wp-content/uploads/2014/03/HostChronicles.jpg" href="http://www.orangeberrybooktours.com/wp-content/uploads/2014/03/HostChronicles.jpg"><img alt="HostChronicles" class="alignnone size-full wp-image-33287" data-mce-src="http://www.orangeberrybooktours.com/wp-content/uploads/2014/03/HostChronicles.jpg" src="http://www.orangeberrybooktours.com/wp-content/uploads/2014/03/HostChronicles.jpg" height="200" style="border: 0px none; cursor: default;" width="130" /></a></span></span></div>
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<span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-family: inherit;">In
this Urban Fantasy, the devil’s daughter, SALEENA, and her reaper
boyfriend, IZZY, elope to earth and seek to overthrow her estranged
brother, SIMON CLASH, as the devil’s heir apparent on earth, but Simon
is head of a powerful conglomerate, and he’s not going out without a
fight. As the rivalry turns bloody, the warring siblings discover the
devil has been manipulating their feud to advance his secret agenda and
is using them as decoys to draw out a sword-wielding champion of
humanity called the HOST, whom must be slain before the devil can
unleash a reign of terror on earth.</span></span></div>
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<span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-family: inherit;">Legend
says the Host will emerge when humanity plunges into hopelessness and
despair, and NATHANIEL BRENNER, the young man responsible for delivering
a magic sword to the Host, hopes that is soon. Nathaniel has spent the
last six years searching for the Host to no avail and has recently seen a
drastic rise in demon activity on earth, which he knows could only mean
one thing: humanity is running out of time. Saleena and Simon unite to
save their own hides, but it may be too late—not only for the devil’s
offspring, but for humanity too! The future of humanity hangs in the
balance, and Nathaniel is determined to thwart the devil’s plans and
find the Host.</span></span></div>
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<span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-family: inherit;">Buy Now @ <a data-mce-href="http://www.amazon.com/Host-Chronicles-Devils-Offspring-Volume/dp/1490916571?tag=booaremag-20" href="http://www.amazon.com/Host-Chronicles-Devils-Offspring-Volume/dp/1490916571?tag=booaremag-20" target="_blank">Amazon</a></span></span></div>
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<span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-family: inherit;"><i>Genre - Urban Fantasy</i></span></span></div>
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<span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-family: inherit;"><i>Rating - PG-13</i></span></span></div>
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<span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-family: inherit;"><i>More details about <a data-mce-href="http://www.amazon.com/D-L-Cox/e/B0081GNVWE/ref=ntt_athr_dp_pel_pop_1" href="http://www.amazon.com/D-L-Cox/e/B0081GNVWE/ref=ntt_athr_dp_pel_pop_1" target="_blank">the author</a></i></span></span></div>
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<span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-family: inherit;"><b>Connect</b> with D L Cox on <a data-mce-href="https://www.facebook.com/pages/Host-Chronicles/229105260585809?ref=hl" href="https://www.facebook.com/pages/Host-Chronicles/229105260585809?ref=hl" target="_blank">Facebook</a> &<span class="Apple-converted-space"> </span><a data-mce-href="iamsalihisrail@gmail.com" href="http://www.orangeberrybooktours.com/wp-admin/iamsalihisrail@gmail.com" target="_blank">Email</a></span></span></div>
Quality Reads UKhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/03216387289293473067noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2539817974459763701.post-72725742302061934092014-09-04T11:30:00.000+01:002014-09-04T21:13:16.058+01:00Lori Lesko on Books She Loved & Writing @LeskoLori #AmReading #AmWriting #Thriller <div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="http://g-ecx.images-amazon.com/images/G/01/ciu/2d/25/ec61708b75c90a82390a09.L._V368365570_SY470_.jpg" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="http://g-ecx.images-amazon.com/images/G/01/ciu/2d/25/ec61708b75c90a82390a09.L._V368365570_SY470_.jpg" height="320" width="192" /></a></div>
<br />
Lori Lesko was born and raised in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania. She began
dancing when she was five and acting at 13. She studied Photography for
a year at the Art Institute of Pittsburgh. Then, she traveled the whole
way to Arkansas for college. There she graduated with a degree in
Psychology and Theatre. She directed, acted, choreographed and stage
managed several plays while attending college.<br />
<br />
She loves to travel
and has been to France and Ireland. She adapted her first book, a
Novella called Our Daughters, into a Screenplay now titled Diamond City.
She lives in Florida with her two dogs.<br />
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<span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-family: inherit;"><b>How do you work through self-doubts and fear?</b></span></span></div>
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<span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-family: inherit;">I ask for help, especially from the people I admire. Also, I keep writing through the fear.</span></span></div>
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<span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-family: inherit;"><b>What makes you happiest?</b></span></span></div>
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<span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-family: inherit;">Always finishing the first draft of a book, or when someone tells me they really enjoyed what I wrote.</span></span></div>
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<span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-family: inherit;"><b>What’s your greatest character strength?</b></span></span></div>
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<span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-family: inherit;">I’m very stubborn, especially when someone tells me that I can’t do something.</span></span></div>
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<span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-family: inherit;"><b>What’s your weakest character trait?</b></span></span></div>
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<span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-family: inherit;">I constantly compare myself to other writers.</span></span></div>
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<span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-family: inherit;"><b>Why do you write?</b></span></span></div>
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<span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-family: inherit;">It’s
a form of therapy for me. I get to tell all the crazy stuff that’s in
my head and leave it on the page. I find that once I write about
something that’s bothering me, it no longer upsets me.</span></span></div>
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<span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-family: inherit;"><b>What are you most proud of in your personal life?</b></span></span></div>
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<span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-family: inherit;">I completed my first novel and wrote a screenplay.</span></span></div>
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<span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-family: inherit;"><b>What books did you love growing up?</b></span></span></div>
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<span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-family: inherit;">I loved<span class="Apple-converted-space"> </span><i>Stranger in a Strange Land, Dune, and Fahrenheit 451</i>- Lots of Science Fiction books.</span></span></div>
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<span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-family: inherit;"><b>Who is your favorite author?</b></span></span></div>
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<span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-family: inherit;">I have two, Stephen king and Gillian Flynn</span></span></div>
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<span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-family: inherit;"><b>What book genre of books do you adore?</b></span></span></div>
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<span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-family: inherit;">Psychological Thrillers</span></span><br />
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<span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-family: inherit;"><b>What book should everybody read at least once?</b></span></span></div>
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<span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-family: inherit;"><i>To Kill a Mockingbird</i><b> </b></span></span></div>
<span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-family: inherit;"><br /></span></span>
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<span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-family: inherit;"><a data-mce-href="http://www.orangeberrybooktours.com/wp-content/uploads/2014/06/copyright.jpg" href="http://www.orangeberrybooktours.com/wp-content/uploads/2014/06/copyright.jpg"><img alt="copyright" class="alignnone size-full wp-image-39015" data-mce-src="http://www.orangeberrybooktours.com/wp-content/uploads/2014/06/copyright.jpg" src="http://www.orangeberrybooktours.com/wp-content/uploads/2014/06/copyright.jpg" height="200" width="130" /></a></span></span></div>
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<span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-family: inherit;">Amber
Tyler is living every author’s dream: her books are all best sellers
and she writes full time. She has worked hard and is well-accomplished
in her career, and she has the support and love of her beautiful
children and girlfriend. <br data-mce-style="color: #000000;" /><br data-mce-style="color: #000000;" />But
the dream soon turns into a terrible nightmare when her latest
manuscript is stolen. She decides to fight for what is rightfully hers,
only to find that the harder she tries, the easier it all slips through
her fingers, putting her career, her family, and her life in jeopardy.</span></span></div>
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<span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-family: inherit;">Buy Now @ <a data-mce-href="http://mybook.to/Copyright_A_Novel" href="http://mybook.to/Copyright_A_Novel" target="_blank">Amazon</a></span></span></div>
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<span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-family: inherit;"><i>Genre – Thriller</i></span></span></div>
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<span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-family: inherit;"><i>Rating – PG-13</i></span></span></div>
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<span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-family: inherit;"><i>More details about <a data-mce-href="http://www.amazon.in/s?_encoding=UTF8&field-author=Lori%20Lesko&search-alias=digital-text" href="http://www.amazon.in/s?_encoding=UTF8&field-author=Lori%20Lesko&search-alias=digital-text" target="_blank">the author</a></i></span></span></div>
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<span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-family: inherit;"><b>Connect</b> with Lori Lesko on <a data-mce-href="https://www.facebook.com/lori.lesko.7" href="https://www.facebook.com/lori.lesko.7" target="_blank">Facebook</a> & <a data-mce-href="https://twitter.com/LeskoLori" href="https://twitter.com/LeskoLori" target="_blank">Twitter</a></span></span></div>
Quality Reads UKhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/03216387289293473067noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2539817974459763701.post-36989602778788950502014-08-29T09:00:00.000+01:002014-09-08T13:38:41.773+01:00#Excerpt from John Smith: Microsoft Wars by Roland Hughes #Dystopian #AmReading<div style="background-color: white; line-height: 21px; margin-bottom: 10px;">
<i><b><span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-family: inherit;">SK: Can we talk about the Microsoft Wars now?</span></span></b></i></div>
<div style="background-color: white; line-height: 21px; margin-bottom: 10px;">
<span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-family: inherit;">JS:
Orwell was right. Everyone was forced to read his book and yet, it
still happened. In reality, that is all anybody needs to know.</span></span></div>
<div style="background-color: white; line-height: 21px; margin-bottom: 10px;">
<i><b><span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-family: inherit;">SK: Orwell?</span></span></b></i></div>
<div style="background-color: white; line-height: 21px; margin-bottom: 10px;">
<span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-family: inherit;">JS:
<sighs> Back in 1949, an author by the name of George Orwell
published a novel titled 1984. It was a look into the future and
basically created the concept in society of Big Brother. This Big
Brother was a government, any government really, which would watch over
you like a child. Your life would be monitored and controlled 24 hours
per day. The dictionary would not grow in size, but shrink, as words
and thoughts were continually restricted. Anyone who possessed a
thought against the government, system or the way things were being run
would be turned in by friends/family/neighbors as a thought criminal.</span></span></div>
<div style="background-color: white; line-height: 21px; margin-bottom: 10px;">
<span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-family: inherit;">One
by one, various ministries were set up to control every aspect of life,
all for the betterment of society, and most had some plausible excuse
bringing them into existence. There would be monitors installed
everywhere, so you were continually watched and controlled. It was one
of the best- selling and most widely talked-about books of all time.
Many movies were created showing various flavors of the book.</span></span></div>
<div style="background-color: white; line-height: 21px; margin-bottom: 10px;">
<i><b><span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-family: inherit;">SK: Well, if everybody knew about it, then it surely didn’t happen.</span></span></b></i></div>
<div style="background-color: white; line-height: 21px; margin-bottom: 10px;">
<span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-family: inherit;">JS:
Not in 1984, no. The final vehicle for control wasn’t chosen until
the early 1990s and it took a while to roll out globally. Sometime
during 2010, the governments around the world achieved 95 percent of
what they wanted. The vast majority of citizens carried with them a
24-hour monitoring device, which could be accessed remotely and would,
via GPS, give a complete picture of their travels. Each one had a
unique ID. Best of all, the devices were marketed in such a way as to
make people think they were nothing unless they had one and kept it with
them at all times.</span></span></div>
<div style="background-color: white; line-height: 21px; margin-bottom: 10px;">
<span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-family: inherit;">When
it became apparent that some portions of society simply couldn’t afford
the devices—yes, each citizen paid for their own, and gladly…they even
paid to customize them—most governments came up with some kind of
ministry or program to ensure each and every person falling into the
“cannot afford” category was issued one under some plausible story as
“medical need” or “neighborhood watch.” This removed the
poor-person-rejection-of-charity problem. Nobody felt insulted to
receive the devices, since the devices allowed them to communicate with
anyone at any time, as long as they knew the other person’s unique ID.</span></span></div>
<div style="background-color: white; line-height: 21px; margin-bottom: 10px;">
<i><b><span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-family: inherit;">SK:
Do you honestly expect me to believe that everybody stood in line to
get a unique ID for the government to monitor them 24 hours per day,
seven days per week?</span></span></b></i></div>
<div style="background-color: white; line-height: 21px; margin-bottom: 10px;">
<span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-family: inherit;">JS:
No. They didn’t see it like that. They stood in line to get the latest
and greatest cellphone with video camera, GPS, speaker phone, Internet
access, and every other buzz phrase marketing could think of. If you
don’t know what any of that is, it doesn’t matter. All you need to know
is the more applications, called apps, it had, the more people wanted
it.</span></span></div>
<div style="background-color: white; line-height: 21px; margin-bottom: 10px;">
<span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-family: inherit;">Each
phone had to have a phone number, which was globally unique so anyone
in the world could call anybody else in the world, no matter where they
were at the time. It was that “anywhere, anytime” communications
capability that was a major selling point. A system of assigning phone
numbers to allow for international calling had been in place for many
years due to the older land line system, so it was simply leveraged.</span></span></div>
<div style="background-color: white; line-height: 21px; margin-bottom: 10px;">
<span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-family: inherit;">Everyone
proudly carried and used their government monitoring device. There
were even crime shows on television showing how law enforcement agencies
could track a cellphone as long as it was turned on. What they didn’t
tell you was that the phone would periodically report in even when
turned off, and if certain instructions were waiting, it would turn
itself back on, silently, so full monitoring could continue without the
owner being aware.</span></span></div>
<div style="background-color: white; line-height: 21px; margin-bottom: 10px;">
<span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-family: inherit;">The
only thing that could truly stop monitoring was to remove the battery,
then turn the cellphone on to drain the hidden reserve. When you did
that, however, the phone was of no use.</span></span></div>
<div style="background-color: white; line-height: 21px; margin-bottom: 10px;">
<i><b><span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-family: inherit;">SK:
So let me get this straight—you’re saying that there was a
communications network that could monitor every person in the country?</span></span></b></i></div>
<div style="background-color: white; line-height: 21px; margin-bottom: 10px;">
<span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-family: inherit;">JS:
No. Before the middle of 2011, thanks to some production cost
reductions, it was every person on the planet living in any civilized
country and even many third world countries. A basic cellphone could be
manufactured and sold for under $20 retail, which put the actual
production cost at about $6. Those countries too poor or with terrain
too rough used the satellite phones, which cost a bit more, but
leveraged cellphone components to reduce costs. Both networks were
monitored by government agencies, even though commercial companies were
providing the services to the cellphone owners. Even children in third
world countries who didn’t have food to eat or a bank account in their
name had a phone so they could be tracked.</span></span></div>
<div style="background-color: white; line-height: 21px; margin-bottom: 10px;">
<span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-family: inherit;"><br /></span></span></div>
<div style="background-color: white; line-height: 21px; margin-bottom: 10px; text-align: center;">
<span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-family: inherit;"><img src="http://www.orangeberrybooktours.com/wp-content/uploads/2014/06/johnSmith.jpg" /></span></span></div>
<div style="background-color: white; line-height: 21px; margin-bottom: 10px; text-align: center;">
<span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-family: inherit;">“John
Smith: Last Known Survivor of the Microsoft Wars” is one big interview.
It is a transcript of a dialogue between “John Smith” (who, as the
title of the book implies is the last known survivor of the Microsoft
wars) and the interviewer for a prominent news organization.</span></span></div>
<div align="center" style="background-color: white; line-height: 21px; margin-bottom: 10px;">
<span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-family: inherit;">Buy Now @ <a href="http://www.amazon.com/John-Smith-Known-Survivor-Microsoft/dp/193973200X/ref=tmm_pap_swatch_0?_encoding=UTF8&sr=&qid=" style="text-decoration: none;" target="_blank">Amazon</a> & <a href="http://www.barnesandnoble.com/w/john-smith-roland-hughes/1102176003?ean=9781939732002" style="text-decoration: none;" target="_blank">B&N</a></span></span></div>
<div align="center" style="background-color: white; line-height: 21px; margin-bottom: 10px;">
<span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-family: inherit;"><i>Genre – Dystopian Fiction</i></span></span></div>
<div align="center" style="background-color: white; line-height: 21px; margin-bottom: 10px;">
<span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-family: inherit;"><i>Rating – PG</i></span></span></div>
<div align="center" style="background-color: white; line-height: 21px; margin-bottom: 10px;">
<span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-family: inherit;"><i>More details about <a href="http://www.amazon.com/s/ref=dp_byline_sr_book_1?ie=UTF8&field-author=Roland+Hughes&search-alias=books&text=Roland+Hughes&sort=relevancerank" style="text-decoration: none;" target="_blank">the author</a></i></span></span></div>
<div align="center" style="background-color: white; line-height: 21px; margin-bottom: 10px;">
<span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-family: inherit;"><b>Website <a class="in-cell-link" href="https://www.google.com/url?q=http://johnsmith-book.com/&usd=2&usg=ALhdy2-70oxuHXvWgcvombsi9GJmpfL5eA" style="text-decoration: none;" target="_blank">http://johnsmith-book.com/</a></b></span></span></div>
Quality Reads UKhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/03216387289293473067noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2539817974459763701.post-62793369661896507622014-08-28T09:30:00.000+01:002014-10-02T07:43:08.765+01:00Confessions of a Time Traveler by Erin Sands @TheDunesBook #AmReading #Relationships <div style="font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; letter-spacing: normal; line-height: 19px; text-align: start; text-indent: 0px; text-transform: none; white-space: normal; word-spacing: 0px;">
<span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-family: inherit;"><b>Confessions of a Time Traveler</b></span></span><br />
<div style="font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; letter-spacing: normal; line-height: 19px; text-align: start; text-indent: 0px; text-transform: none; white-space: normal; word-spacing: 0px;">
<span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-family: inherit;"><br /></span></span></div>
<div style="font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; letter-spacing: normal; line-height: 19px; text-align: start; text-indent: 0px; text-transform: none; white-space: normal; word-spacing: 0px;">
<span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-family: inherit;">What
if you had a chance to do it over again? By “it”, I mean your life.
What if you could go back in time and make a different choice? Right a
wrong. Say “yes” instead of saying “no” or vice versa. Would you do it?
I’m not offering, I don’t really have a time machine; just a very vivid
imagination and a wisdom born from lessons learned the hard way. So
indulge me for a moment while I take a ride back in time, ten years ago
to be exact and find that younger version of me, sit her down and give
myself the advice only the future me could provide.</span></span></div>
<div style="font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; letter-spacing: normal; line-height: 19px; text-align: start; text-indent: 0px; text-transform: none; white-space: normal; word-spacing: 0px;">
<span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-family: inherit;"><br /></span></span></div>
<div style="font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; letter-spacing: normal; line-height: 19px; text-align: start; text-indent: 0px; text-transform: none; white-space: normal; word-spacing: 0px;">
<span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-family: inherit;"><b>Eat Better</b></span></span></div>
<div style="font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; letter-spacing: normal; line-height: 19px; text-align: start; text-indent: 0px; text-transform: none; white-space: normal; word-spacing: 0px;">
<span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-family: inherit;">As
cliché as it may sound, the first thing I would tell myself is, “You’ve
got to eat more vegetables, preferably raw. I know, I know, you’re in a
season where you can eat a cheeseburger everyday, three times a day and
it has no affect whatsoever on your weight or immediate well-being but
trust me it will. Ten years from now when your hormones change and
things slow down you will wish like heck that you started eating
healthier sooner. So take my advice and do it today”.</span></span></div>
<div style="font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; letter-spacing: normal; line-height: 19px; text-align: start; text-indent: 0px; text-transform: none; white-space: normal; word-spacing: 0px;">
<span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-family: inherit;"><br /></span></span></div>
<div style="font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; letter-spacing: normal; line-height: 19px; text-align: start; text-indent: 0px; text-transform: none; white-space: normal; word-spacing: 0px;">
<span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-family: inherit;"><b>Save Money</b></span></span></div>
<div style="font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; letter-spacing: normal; line-height: 19px; text-align: start; text-indent: 0px; text-transform: none; white-space: normal; word-spacing: 0px;">
<span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-family: inherit;">Ten
years ago, a great pair of shoes had just as much importance as my
rent. Ten years later, I know better. The second thing I would tell
myself is to save money. “No matter how hard it seems, no matter what
budget you may be on at the moment, each week, every pay check, put away
some money. Gaining discipline over your finances will be an
immeasurable help to you in the future and for years to come”.</span></span></div>
<div style="font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; letter-spacing: normal; line-height: 19px; text-align: start; text-indent: 0px; text-transform: none; white-space: normal; word-spacing: 0px;">
<span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-family: inherit;"><br /></span></span></div>
<div style="font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; letter-spacing: normal; line-height: 19px; text-align: start; text-indent: 0px; text-transform: none; white-space: normal; word-spacing: 0px;">
<span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-family: inherit;"><b>Be Fearless</b></span></span></div>
<div style="font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; letter-spacing: normal; line-height: 19px; text-align: start; text-indent: 0px; text-transform: none; white-space: normal; word-spacing: 0px;">
<span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-family: inherit;">The
lesson that I would absolutely impart to my younger self is to never
let fear motivate any of my decisions. “Don’t say “yes” to something
just because you’re afraid you will never get the chance again. Don’t
say “no” just because you’re afraid of what might happen. Follow your
joy and let peace be your guide. When you pursue your passion and walk
in your purpose, you will not go wrong”.</span></span></div>
<div style="font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; letter-spacing: normal; line-height: 19px; text-align: start; text-indent: 0px; text-transform: none; white-space: normal; word-spacing: 0px;">
<span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-family: inherit;"><br /></span></span></div>
<div style="font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; letter-spacing: normal; line-height: 19px; text-align: start; text-indent: 0px; text-transform: none; white-space: normal; word-spacing: 0px;">
<span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-family: inherit;"><b>Seize the Day</b></span></span></div>
<div style="font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; letter-spacing: normal; line-height: 19px; text-align: start; text-indent: 0px; text-transform: none; white-space: normal; word-spacing: 0px;">
<span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-family: inherit;">Ten
years ago my goal was to be fluent in Spanish. Ten years later, I still
have that same goal. The reason why I’m not fluent in Spanish is
because I kept putting it off for some day. Some day I will have more
time, some day I will find the perfect teacher. Some day never came. I
would tell my younger self that “some day” is not a day of the week and
anything that is worth experiencing is worth making time for. Seize the
day!</span></span></div>
<div style="font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; letter-spacing: normal; line-height: 19px; text-align: start; text-indent: 0px; text-transform: none; white-space: normal; word-spacing: 0px;">
<span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-family: inherit;"><br /></span></span></div>
<div style="font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; letter-spacing: normal; line-height: 19px; text-align: start; text-indent: 0px; text-transform: none; white-space: normal; word-spacing: 0px;">
<span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-family: inherit;">Then
I would give myself a hug and say, “Hey, even though you’re learning
some lessons the hard way, your future is bright. You married a great
guy, you wrote an awesome book and that was just the beginning…”</span></span></div>
<div style="font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; letter-spacing: normal; line-height: 19px; text-align: start; text-indent: 0px; text-transform: none; white-space: normal; word-spacing: 0px;">
<span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-family: inherit;"><a data-mce-href="http://bit.ly/1pwryZK" href="http://bit.ly/1pwryZK">http://bit.ly/1pwryZK</a></span></span></div>
<div style="font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; letter-spacing: normal; line-height: 19px; text-align: start; text-indent: 0px; text-transform: none; white-space: normal; word-spacing: 0px;">
<span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-family: inherit;"><br /></span></span></div>
</div>
<div style="font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; letter-spacing: normal; line-height: 19px; text-align: start; text-indent: 0px; text-transform: none; white-space: normal; word-spacing: 0px;">
<span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-family: inherit;"><a data-mce-href="http://www.orangeberrybooktours.com/wp-content/uploads/2014/08/dunesfinalSB.jpg" href="http://www.orangeberrybooktours.com/wp-content/uploads/2014/08/dunesfinalSB.jpg"><img alt="5DmkII_2226" class="aligncenter wp-image-40866" data-mce-src="http://www.orangeberrybooktours.com/wp-content/uploads/2014/08/5DmkII_2226-198x300.jpg" src="http://www.orangeberrybooktours.com/wp-content/uploads/2014/08/5DmkII_2226-198x300.jpg" height="193" style="display: block; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;" width="127" /></a></span></span></div>
<div style="font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; letter-spacing: normal; line-height: 19px; text-align: start; text-indent: 0px; text-transform: none; white-space: normal; word-spacing: 0px;">
<span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-family: inherit;"><br /></span></span>
<span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-family: inherit;">Born
in Cincinnati, Ohio and raised in the Bay Area of Northern California,
Erin grew up with an innate love for dance, theatre and the written
word. A graduate of Loyola Marymount University, Erin began her career
in the arts as an actress and choreographer. After booking several
notable roles in television and film, Erin began to use her gift of
writing in blogs featuring political and social commentary, as well as
developing content for theatrical use.</span></span></div>
<div style="font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; letter-spacing: normal; line-height: 19px; text-align: start; text-indent: 0px; text-transform: none; white-space: normal; word-spacing: 0px;">
<span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-family: inherit;"><br /></span></span></div>
<div style="font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; letter-spacing: normal; line-height: 19px; text-align: start; text-indent: 0px; text-transform: none; white-space: normal; word-spacing: 0px;">
<span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-family: inherit;">Although<span class="Apple-converted-space"> </span><i>The Dunes</i>,
is a divine departure from Erin’s previous writings it is by far her
most cherished work to date. “I wrote The Dunes initially as self
therapy because I needed to release some painful experiences and
disappointments from my past. I had this thirst to walk in the complete
fullness of life with joy as my constant companion. I had no idea what
effect it would have on other people. But when I saw people read it and
be released from fears that had held them back for years…when I saw
people forgive and be able to walk in the freedom forgiveness
brings…when I saw people commit and serve and how those things opened up
new opportunities in their life, I was just humbled. Humbled by the
awesome power of God and humbled that I had been allowed to go along for
the ride”.</span></span></div>
<div style="font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; letter-spacing: normal; line-height: 19px; text-align: start; text-indent: 0px; text-transform: none; white-space: normal; word-spacing: 0px;">
<span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-family: inherit;"><br /></span></span></div>
<div style="font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; letter-spacing: normal; line-height: 19px; text-align: start; text-indent: 0px; text-transform: none; white-space: normal; word-spacing: 0px;">
<span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-family: inherit;">When asked<span class="Apple-converted-space"> </span><i>why</i><span class="Apple-converted-space"> </span>she
writes, Erin pauses and reflects on the truth of her heart. “I write
because although I am only now beginning to truly love the process, I
have always loved the outcome. Like a composer, words become my notes. I
string them together in song eliciting the response of my reader,
grafting a picture of my soul. Where besides the written word can you
effect change so utterly and so succinctly? What besides the written
word can pierce the universal collective mind? Everything begins with a
thought, but it isn’t until that thought is articulated in written word
and those words passed down can life changing movement happen. It must
be written, it must be expressed on tablet, and when it is, we all
become greater, whether the writing be genius or fatuity, it has evoked
thought and debate. Why wouldn’t I want to be apart of that phenomenon?
Why wouldn’t I want to share my story, give my testimony…add my paradigm
to the mix? Whether it is a novel, a poem, an essay or an article, it
is humanity visited. An insight into a new or sometimes shared truth.<span class="Apple-converted-space"> </span><b>In the beginning was the word, and the word was with God and the word was God.<span class="Apple-converted-space"> </span></b>And with that I live my life”.</span></span></div>
<div data-mce-style="text-align: center;" style="font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; letter-spacing: normal; line-height: 19px; text-align: center; text-indent: 0px; text-transform: none; white-space: normal; word-spacing: 0px;">
<span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-family: inherit;"><a data-mce-href="http://www.orangeberrybooktours.com/wp-content/uploads/2014/08/dunesfinalSB.jpg" href="http://www.orangeberrybooktours.com/wp-content/uploads/2014/08/dunesfinalSB.jpg"><br /></a></span></span></div>
<div style="font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; letter-spacing: normal; line-height: 19px; text-align: start; text-indent: 0px; text-transform: none; white-space: normal; word-spacing: 0px;">
<span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-family: inherit;"><br /></span></span></div>
<div data-mce-style="text-align: center;" style="font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; letter-spacing: normal; line-height: 19px; text-align: center; text-indent: 0px; text-transform: none; white-space: normal; word-spacing: 0px;">
<span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-family: inherit;"><a data-mce-href="http://www.orangeberrybooktours.com/wp-content/uploads/2014/08/Dune.jpg" href="http://www.orangeberrybooktours.com/wp-content/uploads/2014/08/Dune.jpg"><img alt="Dune" class="alignnone size-full wp-image-40719" data-mce-src="http://www.orangeberrybooktours.com/wp-content/uploads/2014/08/Dune.jpg" src="http://www.orangeberrybooktours.com/wp-content/uploads/2014/08/Dune.jpg" height="200" width="130" /></a></span></span></div>
<div data-mce-style="text-align: center;" style="font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; letter-spacing: normal; line-height: 19px; text-align: center; text-indent: 0px; text-transform: none; white-space: normal; word-spacing: 0px;">
<span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-family: inherit;"><br /></span></span></div>
<div data-mce-style="text-align: center;" style="font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; letter-spacing: normal; line-height: 19px; text-align: center; text-indent: 0px; text-transform: none; white-space: normal; word-spacing: 0px;">
<span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-family: inherit;">If there was a journey that could masterfully change your life in seven revelations...would you take it? <br data-mce-style="color: #000000;" /><br data-mce-style="color: #000000;" />In
life, sometimes the kernels of wisdom and the richness of revelation
can be found in the most innocent of stories; and so it is with The
Dunes. Join one man and one woman in an exquisitely simple yet
remarkably profound journey as you discover with them that the mountain
you must climb in order to live the abundant life of your dreams is
located squarely within your heart. <br data-mce-style="color: #000000;" /><br data-mce-style="color: #000000;" />Illuminated
in seven revelations; The Dunes carries the reader on a journey to not
only examine the obstacles that are holding them back in life but to
conquer and over come them as well. With each revelation The Dunes
intimately calls on the reader as the journey companion to face a
challenge…a dare if you will that requires an uncompromising commitment
to change. In the family of faith-based self help books, The Dunes
stands alone, simultaneously taking the reader from fiction to life and
back again, equipped with a tailor made journal for the readers inner
most secrets and reflections. The Dunes is part allegory, part testimony
and part journal, but the best part is the healing it offers your
heart. When you’re ready to step out of your comfort zone and step into
the miracle of your life…The Dunes awaits. <br data-mce-style="color: #000000;" /><br data-mce-style="color: #000000;" />CAUTION:
Readers of this book are subject to significant changes for the better.
Side effects may include frequent smiling and enjoying life in every
season.</span></span></div>
<div align="center" data-mce-style="color: #000000; text-align: center;" style="font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; letter-spacing: normal; line-height: 19px; text-align: center; text-indent: 0px; text-transform: none; white-space: normal; word-spacing: 0px;">
<span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-family: inherit;"><br /></span></span></div>
<div align="center" data-mce-style="color: #000000; text-align: center;" style="font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; letter-spacing: normal; line-height: 19px; text-align: center; text-indent: 0px; text-transform: none; white-space: normal; word-spacing: 0px;">
<span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-family: inherit;">Buy Now @ <a data-mce-href="http://www.amazon.com/Dunes-Release-Fears-Restore-Renew-ebook/dp/B00KO43L2Q/ref=tmm_kin_swatch_0?_encoding=UTF8&sr=8-1&qid=1403131233" href="http://www.amazon.com/Dunes-Release-Fears-Restore-Renew-ebook/dp/B00KO43L2Q/ref=tmm_kin_swatch_0?_encoding=UTF8&sr=8-1&qid=1403131233" target="_blank">Amazon</a></span></span></div>
<div align="center" data-mce-style="color: #000000; text-align: center;" style="font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; letter-spacing: normal; line-height: 19px; text-align: center; text-indent: 0px; text-transform: none; white-space: normal; word-spacing: 0px;">
<span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-family: inherit;"><i>Genre – Non-fiction</i></span></span></div>
<div align="center" data-mce-style="color: #000000; text-align: center;" style="font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; letter-spacing: normal; line-height: 19px; text-align: center; text-indent: 0px; text-transform: none; white-space: normal; word-spacing: 0px;">
<span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-family: inherit;"><i>Rating – G</i></span></span></div>
<div align="center" data-mce-style="color: #000000; text-align: center;" style="font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; letter-spacing: normal; line-height: 19px; text-align: center; text-indent: 0px; text-transform: none; white-space: normal; word-spacing: 0px;">
<span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-family: inherit;"><i>More details about <a data-mce-href="http://www.amazon.com/Erin-Sands/e/B00M5ZWIM6/ref=ntt_athr_dp_pel_pop_1" href="http://www.amazon.com/Erin-Sands/e/B00M5ZWIM6/ref=ntt_athr_dp_pel_pop_1" target="_blank">the author</a></i></span></span></div>
<div align="center" data-mce-style="color: #000000; text-align: center;" style="font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; letter-spacing: normal; line-height: 19px; text-align: center; text-indent: 0px; text-transform: none; white-space: normal; word-spacing: 0px;">
<span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-family: inherit;"><b>Connect</b> with Erin Sands on <a data-mce-href="https://www.facebook.com/thedunesbook" href="https://www.facebook.com/thedunesbook" target="_blank">Facebook</a> &<span class="Apple-converted-space"> </span><a data-mce-href="http://www.twitter.com/thedunesbook" href="http://www.twitter.com/thedunesbook" target="_blank">Twitter</a></span></span></div>
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<span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-family: inherit;"><b>Website <a class="in-cell-link" data-mce-href="https://www.google.com/url?q=http://www.thedunesbook.com&usd=2&usg=ALhdy29-Z7bqviUDISeSGG7sYWToCfcGIg" href="https://www.google.com/url?q=http://www.thedunesbook.com&usd=2&usg=ALhdy29-Z7bqviUDISeSGG7sYWToCfcGIg" target="_blank">www.thedunesbook.com</a></b></span></span></div>
Quality Reads UKhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/03216387289293473067noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2539817974459763701.post-65828855222205293732014-08-23T09:00:00.000+01:002014-09-27T09:13:10.133+01:00Pendelton Wallace Shares His Publishing Journey #AmWriting #Thriller #PubTip <div style="background-color: white; line-height: 21px; margin-bottom: 10px;">
<span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-family: inherit;">This
is a heart-breaking tale. I finished my masterpiece and was sure that
the world was clamoring to read it. I had a moment of humility and hired
an editor to take a quick look at it. After all, it was my first work
and it might need a tiny bit of polishing.</span></span></div>
<div style="background-color: white; line-height: 21px; margin-bottom: 10px;">
<span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-family: inherit;">Well,
she cut it to pieces. After I recovered from the shock that someone
might not immediately fall in love with every word I wrote, I went back
to work.</span></span></div>
<div style="background-color: white; line-height: 21px; margin-bottom: 10px;">
<span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-family: inherit;">I
cut over a hundred pages from the original manuscript, then started
writing again. My editor was much kinder to my second draft. By the way,
the first draft took me about three months to write. The second draft
took two years.</span></span></div>
<div style="background-color: white; line-height: 21px; margin-bottom: 10px;">
<span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-family: inherit;">Now that I had my masterpiece ready to unleash on the world, I needed an agent.</span></span></div>
<div style="background-color: white; line-height: 21px; margin-bottom: 10px;">
<span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-family: inherit;">Being the organized person that I am, I got a copy of 2003 Guide to Literary Agents<i>.</i> I
searched though this book for every agent that accepted memoirs. If
they also represented mysteries and thrillers, they got bonus points.</span></span></div>
<div style="background-color: white; line-height: 21px; margin-bottom: 10px;">
<span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-family: inherit;">I
then researched the agents on the Internet and ranked each one as an A,
B, or C. The A’s I needed to query today. The B’s I would query if none
of the A’s came through. I never expected to query the C’s. By the way,
I saved all of this information in an Excel spread sheet so I could
organize it anyway it needed.</span></span></div>
<div style="background-color: white; line-height: 21px; margin-bottom: 10px;">
<span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-family: inherit;">In
those days, most agents were still requiring a paper query letter, so I
wrote my first ten and shipped them off. There was one agent who
accepted electronic submissions, so I shot off an email to him.</span></span></div>
<div style="background-color: white; line-height: 21px; margin-bottom: 10px;">
<span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-family: inherit;">To my amazement, I received a return email from him the next day asking to see the first fifty pages of my manuscript.</span></span></div>
<div style="background-color: white; line-height: 21px; margin-bottom: 10px;">
<span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-family: inherit;">A
couple of weeks later, I got another email from him. He wanted to see
the whole manuscript. I hadn’t even heard back from the other agents I’d
queried yet.</span></span></div>
<div style="background-color: white; line-height: 21px; margin-bottom: 10px;">
<span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-family: inherit;">A week or so later, I was at work when my cell phone rang. It was my agent.</span></span></div>
<div style="background-color: white; line-height: 21px; margin-bottom: 10px;">
<span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-family: inherit;">“I can sell this book,” he told me. I jumped for joy.</span></span></div>
<div style="background-color: white; line-height: 21px; margin-bottom: 10px;">
<span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-family: inherit;">We
worked together for a year trying to sell the manuscript. He pitched it
to all of the publishing houses in New York. The general response was,
“This is a really nice little book, but I don’t see how it fits in our
lineup this year.”</span></span></div>
<div style="background-color: white; line-height: 21px; margin-bottom: 10px;">
<span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-family: inherit;">Finally,
an editor at one of the major publishing houses fell in love with my
book. (I think it was Random House, but my memory may be faulty here.)
She pitched the book to the editorial committee and they signed off on
it.</span></span></div>
<div style="background-color: white; line-height: 21px; margin-bottom: 10px;">
<span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-family: inherit;">She prepared a pro forma and took it to the publisher. He looked it over and said “Present it to Barnes and Noble.”</span></span></div>
<div style="background-color: white; line-height: 21px; margin-bottom: 10px;">
<span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-family: inherit;">In
those days, Barnes and Noble was king. Twice a year this publisher took
a list of books they were considering to Barnes and Noble buyers. The
B&N buyers gave a thumbs up or thumbs down. If it got the thumbs up,
it was published, otherwise, no.</span></span></div>
<div style="background-color: white; line-height: 21px; margin-bottom: 10px;">
<span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-family: inherit;">My editor had thirty seconds to convince the B&N buyers that <i>Blue Water & Me</i> should be published. She gave it her best shot.</span></span></div>
<div style="background-color: white; line-height: 21px; margin-bottom: 10px;">
<span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-family: inherit;">The
buyer said “This sounds like an interesting book. I like it, but I
don’t see how we’ll market it. I don’t know what shelf we will put it
on.”</span></span></div>
<div style="background-color: white; line-height: 21px; margin-bottom: 10px;">
<span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-family: inherit;">That was it. <i>Blue Water & Me </i>was dead. My agent pitched it to several Hollywood studios, but they don’t want to touch a book until it’s a best seller.</span></span></div>
<div style="background-color: white; line-height: 21px; margin-bottom: 10px;">
<span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-family: inherit;">Finally, he told me that I would just have to set it aside and write something else. It was not going to be published.</span></span></div>
<div style="background-color: white; line-height: 21px; margin-bottom: 10px;">
<span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-family: inherit;">Flash forward six years. I have written three other books and have had no luck in getting them published.</span></span></div>
<div style="background-color: white; line-height: 21px; margin-bottom: 10px;">
<span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-family: inherit;">I
was at the Write on the Sound writers conference in Edmonds,
Washington. I went to a presentation by an author who had written a
memoir. It was similar to my book. He talked glowingly about his
publisher, Aberdeen Bay Press. I decided to query Aberdeen Bay about <i>Blue Water &Me.</i></span></span></div>
<div style="background-color: white; line-height: 21px; margin-bottom: 10px;">
<span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-family: inherit;">I
sent in the query and never heard anything back. Then, over a year
later, I got an apologetic email from an editor at Aberdeen Bay Press.
She had just found my query letter under a pile of paper on her desk and
she liked what she saw. Would I like to send her the whole manuscript?</span></span></div>
<div style="background-color: white; line-height: 21px; margin-bottom: 10px;">
<span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-family: inherit;">It
was off that day. A week or so later, she contacted me again and said
she loved the book and wanted to publish it. We wrote back and forth a
few times, then she dropped off the face of the earth.</span></span></div>
<div style="background-color: white; line-height: 21px; margin-bottom: 10px;">
<span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-family: inherit;">I didn’t hear from her again. I emailed her every few weeks to see what progress she was making.</span></span></div>
<div style="background-color: white; line-height: 21px; margin-bottom: 10px;">
<span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-family: inherit;">More
than a year passed and I got an email from her. Once again, she was
very apologetic. Her brother had died and she had to go to New Mexico to
take care of his estate. She was no longer working for Aberdeen Bay
Press. I should contact the publisher and see if he was still
interested.</span></span></div>
<div style="background-color: white; line-height: 21px; margin-bottom: 10px;">
<span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-family: inherit;">But she gave me no contact information for the publisher.</span></span></div>
<div style="background-color: white; line-height: 21px; margin-bottom: 10px;">
<span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-family: inherit;">I
went to their web site and sent a query to their “contact us” address. A
couple of weeks went by and I heard back from their chief editor. She
had assigned my book to another editor and he would be back with me
shortly.</span></span></div>
<div style="background-color: white; line-height: 21px; margin-bottom: 10px;">
<span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-family: inherit;">At
this point we got back on track. It took about a year from the time the
third editor got in contact with me to the time the book was published,
but I finally had a book in my hand that I had written.</span></span></div>
<span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-family: inherit;"><br /></span></span>
<br />
<div style="background-color: white; line-height: 21px; margin-bottom: 10px; text-align: center;">
<span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-family: inherit;"><img src="http://www.orangeberrybooktours.com/wp-content/uploads/2014/07/hacker.jpg" /></span></span></div>
<div style="background-color: white; line-height: 21px; margin-bottom: 10px; text-align: center;">
<span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-family: inherit;">If Clive Cussler had written Ugly Betty, it would be Hacker for Hire. </span></span><br />
<span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-family: inherit;"><br /></span></span>
<span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-family: inherit;">Hacker for Hire, a suspense novel
about corporate greed and industrial espionage, is the second book in a
series about Latino computer security analyst Ted Higuera and his best
friend, para-legal Chris Hardwick. </span></span><br />
<span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-family: inherit;"><br /></span></span>
<span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-family: inherit;">The goofy, off-beat Ted Higuera, son
of Mexican immigrants, grew up in East LA. An unlikely football
scholarship brought him to Seattle. </span></span><br />
<span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-family: inherit;"><br /></span></span>
<span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-family: inherit;">Chris, Ted’s college roommate, grew
up with a silver spoon in his mouth. His father is the head of one of
Seattle’s most prestigious law firms. </span></span><br />
<span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-family: inherit;"><br /></span></span>
<span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-family: inherit;">Ted’s first job out of college leads
him into the world of organized crime where he faces a brutal beating.
After being rescued by beautiful private investigator Catrina Flaherty,
Ted decides to go to work for her. </span></span><br />
<span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-family: inherit;"><br /></span></span>
<span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-family: inherit;">Catrina is hired by a large computer
corporation to find a leak in their corporate boardroom when the
previous consultant is found floating in Elliot Bay. </span></span><br />
<span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-family: inherit;"><br /></span></span>
<span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-family: inherit;">Ted discovers that Chris’s firm has
been retained by their prime suspect. Now he and Chris are working
opposite sides of the same case. </span></span><br />
<span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-family: inherit;"><br /></span></span>
<span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-family: inherit;">Ted and Catrina are led deep into
Seattle’s Hi-Tech world as they stalk the killer. But the killer is also
hunting them. Can Ted find the killer before the killer finds him? </span></span></div>
<div align="center" style="background-color: white; line-height: 21px; margin-bottom: 10px; text-align: center;">
<span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-family: inherit;">Buy Now @ <a href="http://www.amazon.com/Hacker-Hire-Ted-Higuera-Book-ebook/dp/B00KH3Z53W/ref=sr_1_1?s=digital-text&ie=UTF8&qid=1405401192&sr=1-1&keywords=Hacker+for+Hire" style="text-decoration: none;" target="_blank">Amazon</a></span></span></div>
<div align="center" style="background-color: white; line-height: 21px; margin-bottom: 10px; text-align: center;">
<span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-family: inherit;"><i>Genre – Mystery, Thriller</i></span></span></div>
<div align="center" style="background-color: white; line-height: 21px; margin-bottom: 10px; text-align: center;">
<span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-family: inherit;"><i>Rating – R</i></span></span></div>
<div align="center" style="background-color: white; line-height: 21px; margin-bottom: 10px; text-align: center;">
<span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-family: inherit;"><i>More details about <a href="http://www.amazon.com/s/ref=ntt_athr_dp_sr_1?_encoding=UTF8&field-author=Pendelton%20Wallace&search-alias=digital-text&sort=relevancerank" style="text-decoration: none;" target="_blank">the author</a></i></span></span></div>
<div align="center" style="background-color: white; line-height: 21px; margin-bottom: 10px; text-align: center;">
<span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-family: inherit;"><b>Connect</b> with Pendelton Wallace on <a href="https://www.facebook.com/penn.wallace" style="text-decoration: none;" target="_blank">Facebook</a></span></span></div>
<div align="center" style="background-color: white; line-height: 21px; margin-bottom: 10px; text-align: center;">
<span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-family: inherit;"><b>Website <a class="in-cell-link" href="https://www.google.com/url?q=http://www.pennwallace.com&usd=2&usg=ALhdy2-lvi4hquGvTx3TTco7IMaVQe7wYA" style="text-decoration: none;" target="_blank">www.pennwallace.com</a></b></span></span></div>
Quality Reads UKhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/03216387289293473067noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2539817974459763701.post-496112976129040522014-08-19T08:00:00.000+01:002014-08-22T12:57:23.648+01:00Lights Over Emerald Creek by @ShelleyDavidow #SciFi #YA #AmReading<h1 data-mce-style="text-align: center;" style="font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; letter-spacing: normal; line-height: 21px; text-align: left; text-indent: 0px; text-transform: none; white-space: normal; word-spacing: 0px;">
<span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-family: inherit;">
The Invitation</span></span></h1>
<div style="font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; letter-spacing: normal; line-height: 21px; margin-bottom: 1.3em; text-align: start; text-indent: 0px; text-transform: none; white-space: normal; word-spacing: 0px;">
<span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-family: inherit;">Lucy looked down at her hands. She didn’t want to see him. Ever.</span></span></div>
<div style="font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; letter-spacing: normal; line-height: 21px; margin-bottom: 1.3em; text-align: start; text-indent: 0px; text-transform: none; white-space: normal; word-spacing: 0px;">
<span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-family: inherit;">‘You go and …’ Lucy said.</span></span></div>
<div style="font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; letter-spacing: normal; line-height: 21px; margin-bottom: 1.3em; text-align: start; text-indent: 0px; text-transform: none; white-space: normal; word-spacing: 0px;">
<span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-family: inherit;">And
then, there he was. The whole of him. Right on the ground, outside the
kitchen, in front of her. His hair had grown long over his face. He
looked slightly nervous and hitched his shorts with his big tanned
hands. His lips curved into a smile. Lucy folded her arms crossly in
front of her and met his eyes.</span></span></div>
<div style="font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; letter-spacing: normal; line-height: 21px; margin-bottom: 1.3em; text-align: start; text-indent: 0px; text-transform: none; white-space: normal; word-spacing: 0px;">
<span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-family: inherit;">‘Hi,’ he said, looking up at both girls.</span></span></div>
<div style="font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; letter-spacing: normal; line-height: 21px; margin-bottom: 1.3em; text-align: start; text-indent: 0px; text-transform: none; white-space: normal; word-spacing: 0px;">
<span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-family: inherit;">‘Well, well,’ Lucy said coldly.</span></span></div>
<div style="font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; letter-spacing: normal; line-height: 21px; margin-bottom: 1.3em; text-align: start; text-indent: 0px; text-transform: none; white-space: normal; word-spacing: 0px;">
<span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-family: inherit;">‘Hi. So, how are you?’ he said.</span></span></div>
<div style="font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; letter-spacing: normal; line-height: 21px; margin-bottom: 1.3em; text-align: start; text-indent: 0px; text-transform: none; white-space: normal; word-spacing: 0px;">
<span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-family: inherit;">‘Why
are you here?’ It took all her courage to keep her thoughts away from
the last time she’d seen him. She’d been a whole person then, and he’d
held all of her.</span></span></div>
<div style="font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; letter-spacing: normal; line-height: 21px; margin-bottom: 1.3em; text-align: start; text-indent: 0px; text-transform: none; white-space: normal; word-spacing: 0px;">
<span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-family: inherit;">‘I, um, thought I’d come say hi,’ he said. ‘It’s been a while.’</span></span></div>
<div style="font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; letter-spacing: normal; line-height: 21px; margin-bottom: 1.3em; text-align: start; text-indent: 0px; text-transform: none; white-space: normal; word-spacing: 0px;">
<span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-family: inherit;">She watched him cast his eyes nervously over her legs, her feet, the chair, the metal, the wheels.</span></span></div>
<div style="font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; letter-spacing: normal; line-height: 21px; margin-bottom: 1.3em; text-align: start; text-indent: 0px; text-transform: none; white-space: normal; word-spacing: 0px;">
<span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-family: inherit;">‘What makes you think I even want to see you?’ she said.</span></span></div>
<div style="font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; letter-spacing: normal; line-height: 21px; margin-bottom: 1.3em; text-align: start; text-indent: 0px; text-transform: none; white-space: normal; word-spacing: 0px;">
<span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-family: inherit;">‘Well, maybe you don’t, huh?’</span></span></div>
<div style="font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; letter-spacing: normal; line-height: 21px; margin-bottom: 1.3em; text-align: start; text-indent: 0px; text-transform: none; white-space: normal; word-spacing: 0px;">
<span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-family: inherit;">‘Well, maybe it would have been nice if you’d showed up, say, eight months ago.’</span></span></div>
<div style="font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; letter-spacing: normal; line-height: 21px; margin-bottom: 1.3em; text-align: start; text-indent: 0px; text-transform: none; white-space: normal; word-spacing: 0px;">
<span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-family: inherit;">‘I’m sorry, Lu, I was a bloody jerk.’</span></span></div>
<div style="font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; letter-spacing: normal; line-height: 21px; margin-bottom: 1.3em; text-align: start; text-indent: 0px; text-transform: none; white-space: normal; word-spacing: 0px;">
<span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-family: inherit;">‘Are,’ she said fiercely.</span></span></div>
<div style="font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; letter-spacing: normal; line-height: 21px; margin-bottom: 1.3em; text-align: start; text-indent: 0px; text-transform: none; white-space: normal; word-spacing: 0px;">
<span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-family: inherit;">‘I
couldn’t face the thought …’ He looked around wildly so that his eyes
didn’t rest for too long on her dirty, unmoving, bare feet.</span></span></div>
<div style="font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; letter-spacing: normal; line-height: 21px; margin-bottom: 1.3em; text-align: start; text-indent: 0px; text-transform: none; white-space: normal; word-spacing: 0px;">
<span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-family: inherit;">‘Yeah, well, fancy that. Me neither.’</span></span></div>
<div style="font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; letter-spacing: normal; line-height: 21px; margin-bottom: 1.3em; text-align: start; text-indent: 0px; text-transform: none; white-space: normal; word-spacing: 0px;">
<span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-family: inherit;">‘Come on, you two,’ Nel said. ‘Let’s move through this already. Craig, want a drink?’</span></span></div>
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<span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-family: inherit;">‘Nah,
I uh, was just popping in to invite … invite you round to my place on
Saturday week. I’m having a party. Be great if you came,’ he said to
Lucy, and she couldn’t help but notice how his eyes were fearful. ‘You,
uh, look good, Lucy. Oh shit. Listen, come if you like, and Nel, you
come too. I’ll be going,’ he said. He turned around. ‘See ya!’</span></span></div>
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<span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-family: inherit;">His
back was broad and hard beneath the flimsy cotton of his blue t-shirt.
He plunged his hands into his pockets and his head hung forward, as if
in defeat. Lucy didn’t realise that she was holding the arms of her
wheelchair so tightly that her fingers were in a cramp. Then he was
crunching along the gravel back to his truck and Lucy gave Nel a look of
dark thunder.</span></span></div>
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<span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-family: inherit;">‘What?’ said Nel.</span></span></div>
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<span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-family: inherit;">‘Nothing.
It’s nauseating, that’s what. Not a squeak from him all this time, and
then he rocks up because YOU tell him to, oozing pity and … and guilt
and obligation. Ugh, Nel. I know you meant well telling him stuff, but
honestly …’</span></span></div>
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<span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-family: inherit;">‘He still likes you, Lu.’</span></span></div>
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<span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-family: inherit;">‘No he doesn’t.’</span></span></div>
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<span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-family: inherit;">‘And you like him still.’</span></span></div>
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<span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-family: inherit;">‘I do not!’</span></span></div>
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<span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-family: inherit;">‘Sure.’</span></span></div>
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<span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-family: inherit;">‘Nel,
I’d rather be a stuffed kangaroo than go anywhere near him again. Now,
which cabin d’you want? We need to grab it before Dad gets back with the
guests so we can make sure they don’t take that one?’</span></span></div>
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<span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-family: inherit;"><a data-mce-href="http://www.orangeberrybooktours.com/wp-content/uploads/2014/03/LightsOverEmeraldCreek.jpg" href="http://www.orangeberrybooktours.com/wp-content/uploads/2014/03/LightsOverEmeraldCreek.jpg"><img alt="LightsOverEmeraldCreek" class="alignnone size-full wp-image-33708" data-mce-src="http://www.orangeberrybooktours.com/wp-content/uploads/2014/03/LightsOverEmeraldCreek.jpg" src="http://www.orangeberrybooktours.com/wp-content/uploads/2014/03/LightsOverEmeraldCreek.jpg" height="200" style="border: 0px none; cursor: default;" width="130" /></a></span></span></div>
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<span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-family: inherit;">Lucy
Wright, sixteen and a paraplegic after a recent car accident that took
her mother's life, lives in Queensland on a 10,000 acre farm with her
father. When Lucy investigates strange lights over the creek at the
bottom of the property, she discovers a mystery that links the lights to
the science of cymatics and Scotland’s ancient Rosslyn Chapel.</span></span></div>
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<span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-family: inherit;">But
beyond the chapel is an even larger mystery. One that links the music
the chapel contains to Norway’s mysterious Hessdalen lights, and beyond
that to Saturn and to the stars. Lucy’s discoveries catapult her into a
parallel universe connected to our own by means of resonance and sound,
where a newly emerging world trembles on the edge of disaster. As
realities divide, her mission in this new world is revealed and she
finds herself part of a love story that will span the galaxy.</span></span></div>
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<span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-family: inherit;">Buy Now @ <a data-mce-href="http://www.amazon.com/dp/B00IK4D2QW" href="http://www.amazon.com/dp/B00IK4D2QW" target="_blank">Amazon</a></span></span></div>
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<span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-family: inherit;"><i>Genre - Young Adult SF</i></span></span></div>
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<span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-family: inherit;"><i>Rating - PG</i></span></span></div>
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<span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-family: inherit;"><i>More details about <a data-mce-href="http://www.amazon.com/s/ref=ntt_athr_dp_sr_1?_encoding=UTF8&field-author=Shelley%20Davidow&search-alias=digital-text&sort=relevancerank" href="http://www.amazon.com/s/ref=ntt_athr_dp_sr_1?_encoding=UTF8&field-author=Shelley%20Davidow&search-alias=digital-text&sort=relevancerank" target="_blank">the author</a></i></span></span></div>
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