Tuesday, April 30, 2019

End of Summer & Giveaway


End of Summer
by Michael Potts
Genre: Coming of Age

A young boy. An old man. And a journey of the heart.


A middle aged man, Jeffrey Conley, has obsessive interests, including a fascination with death and the process of dying and a fetish for the sound of a woman's heartbeat. His wife, Lisa, encourages him to get help. His psychologist diagnoses him as having Asperger's Syndrome, a mild condition on the Autism spectrum. When his granny dies, Jeffrey returns to Tennessee for her funeral, and then walks the same field he walked with his granddaddy as a child. On that cold, late November day, Jeffrey walks toward The Thicket, an outcropping of trees and vines from the woods adjoining the field that crossed the fence and are invading the field. In that special place he and Granddaddy would sit and talk as Jeffrey swung on vines or sipped cola. The middle aged Jeffrey looks back to that time, to the summer of his ninth year, an idyllic year and a terrible year, a year of joy, a year of loss and grief. Will Jeffrey Conley be able to discover and understand his struggles by this journey back into his past. While remembering Sunday dinners with relatives, hunting rabbits with his granddaddy, or visiting the town square, Jeffrey rediscovers pain and the worst loss of his life. Will he be able to make sense of his life, his past, his obsessions, his faith? Or will he sink into despair, The Thicket becoming a place of pain rather than redemption? That is the fundamental problem of the book.





Michael Potts has taught philosophy at Methodist University since 1994. A native of Smyrna, Tenn., he received a B.A. in Biblical languages from David Lipscomb University in 1983, a M.Th. from Harding School of Theology in 1987, a M.A. in religion from Vanderbilt University in 1987, and a Ph.D. in philosophy from the University of Georgia in 1992. He is the author of Aerobics for the Mind: Practical Exercises in Philosophy that Anybody Can Do(Tullahoma, TN: WordCrafts Press, 2014) and has co-edited an anthology, Beyond Brain Death: The Case Against Brain Based Criteria for Human Death, published by Kluwer Academic Publishers in 2000. He has twenty-five articles in refereed scholarly journals, nine book chapters, six encyclopedia articles, nine book reviews, and ten letters, including one published in the New England Journal of Medicine. He also has over fifty scholarly presentations, including an invited presentation at The Vatican in 2005. He has written three novels, End of Summer (2011), Unpardonable Sin (2014), and Obedience (2016), all published by WordCrafts Press. His poetry chapbook, From Field to Thicket, won the 2006 Mary Belle Campbell Poetry Book Award of the North Carolina Writers’ Network, and his creative nonfiction essay, “Haunted,” won the Rose Post Creative Nonfiction Contest the same year. He has also authored Hiding from the Reaper and Other Horror Poems. He enjoys reading, creative writing, vegetable gardening, and canning. Potts, his wife, Karen, and their eight cats live in Coats, N.C.




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Monday, April 29, 2019

Calendar Men Series & Giveaway


Welcome to the Calendar Men Collection.
12 Books.
12 Authors.
Each book references a particular month.
All books are stand alone and independent of each other.


January
by Jude Ouvrard

Defeated.

That’s how Evan Keeler feels. His last tour overseas ended with personal injuries and the loss of his best friend, Fynn Parker. Evan has become broody and gets lost in the darkness of his thoughts more often. Which is no surprise, when he doesn’t see an end to his therapy appointments and can’t seem to get out of his parents’ basement.

At her wit’s end, his mother decides it’s enough. Little by little, Mrs. Keeler convinces Evan to try and get better. To get back to living.
The catch is, because he’s suffering from memory loss, Evan can’t put all the pieces back together. He doesn’t think his history with Jane was all that perfect so it would help if he could remember where they left things off before this last tour.
Although confused by his feelings and reality, Evan does know one thing—he can’t let Jane Parker go.





February
by Scarlett J. Rose 

Shift's life took a dramatic turn in February. After being sentenced to six years in prison for his part in a liquor store robbery, he discovers he's gotten one of the club girls pregnant.

Six years later, he's released. Now, he's got to balance his life with being a great single dad to Lilly, keeping up with his MC brothers, and figuring out his feelings for his neighbour, Cass.

It's a long and winding road. Will he make it to the end intact? Or will he forever be just another loser.






March
by Susan Horsnell

At 38 years old, Jarrod Turner has everything - literally.

A successful chain of hotels in five countries.

Private 727 jet.

Fleet of cars - Rolls Royce, Bentley and Mercedes Sports.
A Harley Davidson Softail.
And, a cruising yacht berthed at the bottom of the garden of his waterfront home.
Yep, he has everything.
So, why is he so unhappy with his life?
What is it about the month of March which brings back bitter memories, year after year?
Will he ever learn to live in the present instead of the past?






April
by Aleisha Maree

Kaden was groomed to be tough, take whatever was thrown his way, to bury his feelings.

When a woman stepped into his life, one glance and he was gone. Like every other man in the room.

He won his woman, but the time they spent together would prove to be the worst of his life.

Gracie-May was married to Ben - a returned Vet who'd had his leg blown apart in a battle.
He was a drunkard, abusive and bitter about life.
When Kaden returned from war, broken and battered on Anzac Day - 25th April 2018, Gracie-May, the charge nurse on duty, found herself instantly drawn to him.
Could Gracie-May and Kaden be each others' saviors or is the past too hard to overcome?






May
by Cheryl Wright

She left to start a new career ten years ago, and his heart shattered. Now she's back, and the sparks have reignited.

But she’s set to leave again in a matter of weeks. How do two friends reconcile when nothing is promised?

After Sierra West suddenly left town, Braxton Chalmers tried to move on with his life. But thoughts of her always taunted him, to the point no other woman could ever live up to her standards.

Sierra West returned to the outback town of Oakdale after the death of her beloved grandmother. Seeing Braxton again has reignited past emotions. She can’t allow these feelings to surface again – she must return to the city once her business in Oakdale is done.
Can they just remain friends? Or will fate step in and show them they were meant to be together?

Author's Promise: This is a heartwarming Christmas novella with a happily ever after ending and no cliffhangers. It is a clean and wholesome story with nothing more than hugs, kisses, and holding hands.




June
by C. Renee

Jake Kennedy was twenty-one when his life imploded.

Needing money for his teaching degree, he fell into stripping in nightclubs and becoming an escort to get the cash needed.

Now a fully qualified teacher, he’s finding it hard to let go of his wild stripping ways—that is—until he meets his new principal, Anna Skilton.
Anna isn’t impressed with his double life, and he now needs to decide what’s more important, Anna and teaching? Or stripping?




July
by Sonya Jesus


I don’t do love.

Or hearts.

Or anything that can get broken…

I’m already broken enough.

If you’re looking for the perfect guy, with imperfect actions and an undamaged heart…Stop! Keep scrolling…because I’m not effing good at being good. I’m not boyfriend material. I fill my loveless heart with sex-filled nights and distance myself from any type of commitment—while I still have the power to. Soon, I’ll relinquish my freedom to adulthood and take over Cohen Enterprises, but until then, I own my independence. I breathe bad decisions, blink away my flaws, and enjoy the detached life I’ll never have again. 

At least I try to. My guilt-free mornings and shameless nights abruptly stop when I make my next mistake with my brother’s girlfriend. Now, I can’t stop thinking about Delilah. She triggered my heart alive, and I’m torn between the girl I might be falling for and the only person I respect. 





August
by Cari Robe

Thomas Gable has only loved one girl his whole life, Ella.

When the woman of his dreams marries his best friend, Mike, he vows to stand by them both.

When Mike loses his life in a tragic accident Thomas breaks his own promise leaving Ella on her own with no intention of ever seeing her again.

Fate steps in and brings the two back together and Ella needs answers.
Can Thomas find a way to forgive himself and have a second chance with his lifelong love or will the secrets he carries ruin his chance forever?
Take a second chance on love in August, a Calendar Men Series novel.






September
by Heather Osborne

Being a teacher is often a thankless profession, but I love my job—even if it does mean herding around twenty kindergartners. I know how the moms look at me, but it wasn’t until I met Selene Adler that I actually began to look back. However, there’s some reluctance behind those captivating brown eyes, a past she doesn’t want to reveal or relive. Still, I’ve never been one to give up on a challenge. What could be worse than snotty noses and scraped knees?





October
by RaeAnne Hadley 

Divorce was never in his plans; a new chance at happiness wasn't either but true love never gives up.






November
by Margaret Tanner

Hell bent on revenge against the man who had him wrongfully kicked out of the army, Matt Page wants to destroy everything his enemy holds dear.

Even his daughter, Jo.

What will Matt do when his plan backfires?

After he banishes Jo from his life he realizes he loves her.
Can he forget past injustices and win her back?
Or is he doomed to a life of regret for what he could have had - a loving wife and family.






December
by DL Gallie


They call me the Grinch, and they’re right; I hate Christmas. So why am I volunteering to help with the charity toy drive? I’ll tell you why, Marlee “Oh so sexy” Adams

As soon as we crashed into each other, I was done for. Her ass. Her eyes. Legs that go on and on.

Did I mention her ass?

She’s the perfect present for this Christmas Grinch...
I can’t wait to unwrap her.
Little did I know, unwrapping Marlee would also unwrap this grinch's heart.






**Click through the slideshow to view all the amazing authors!!**






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The Last Day For Rob Rhino


The Last Day for Rob Rhino
by Kathleen O'Donnell
Genre: Psychological Thriller, Mystery

Claire’s a rich widow on a mission, who partakes with abandon from the pharmacy stored in her Prada purse. Rob’s an aging, hygiene-challenged porn star and reality show celebrity.


Stuck on the same flight, bound for the same eccentric town, she hates him on sight. She thinks she knows all there is to know about him but is dying to find out more. He’s disinterested but somehow still sees right through her. But they’ve both got big problems. Hers is in the Louis Vuitton carryon in the overhead. His is in his pants.

To Claire’s dismay, Rob turns up everywhere she goes, yet they form the unlikeliest of friendships. He cares for her in ways she’s never known before. He could be the best thing in her life—or the worst.

In a place full of secrets, including their own, they help each other find answers they didn’t even know they were looking for, yet some questions linger. What happened to Rob’s first wife? What happened to Claire’s husband? Will they live through the answers?

The Last Day for Rob Rhino is a dark, tragic, and funny novel about the bonds of family and friendship. If you’d love a Gillian Flynn, Paula Hawkins, or Stieg Larsson novel with a humorous twist, this would be it. 





Kathleen O’Donnell is a wife, mom, grandmother and a recovering blogger. She currently lives in Nevada with her husband. She is a two time Book of the Year finalist for her debut novel The Last Day for Rob Rhino. You can find short stories and blog posts on her website.



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Sunday, April 28, 2019

Mamma's Moon & Giveaway


Mamma's Moon
The Hoodoo of Peckerwood Finch
by Jerome Mark Antil
Genre: Thriller 

"Jerome Mark Antil's Mamma's Moon does for Acadiana what Truman Capote did for Tiffany's or Tennessee Williams did for streetcars. This is a novel about a lot of things, including sex, crime, life, and death. But most of all, it's a novel about hope and about love.
Mamma's Moon gives the reader a dramatic and insightful glimpse into the very special world of today's Louisiana French Acadians, whose early tragic history was immortalized by Henry Wadsworth Longfellow in his classic poem, Evangeline, even before the heartless bayou's more contemporary history was buried deep and forgotten." Tom Hyman (LA Times bestselling author: writer for LIFEmagazine, The Saturday Evening PostArgosyWashington Post Book World and New York Magazine.)
This novel, Mamma's Moon, is a sequel to the novel, One More Last Dance. It stands alone as an entirely self-contained story, but for those of you who may not have read the earlier novel, I include here a brief description of the main characters and of the events that preceded this story.
A bond that can only happen on a dance floor happened in a cafe off Frenchman Street among four unlikely characters: a man who was about to die; his friend, an illiterate Cajun French yardman; and two of the most successful women in New Orleans.
Aging Captain Gabriel Jordan, retired, was given two months to live, three months before he met "Peck"--Boudreau Clemont Finch--a groundskeeper on the back lawn of his hospice on Bayou Carencro, Louisiana. It was at the hospice that Gabe told Peck his dream of seeing the Newport Jazz Festival before he died. They became friends, and Peck offered to help grant his wish by taking him there.
And they began their journey.
It quickly became a journey with complications and setbacks. They saved each other many times, but they were in turn saved by two extraordinary women: Sasha (Michelle Lissette), a real estate agent in New Orleans's posh Garden District, and her best friend, Lily Cup (Lily Cup Lorelei Tarleton), a criminal attorney.
Less than a year before the events in Mamma's Moon, Gabe and Peck wandered into Charlie's Blue Note, a small jazz bar in a side alley just off Frenchman Street, where the music was live and mellow and the dancing warm and sensual.
Here they encountered Sasha and Lily Cup, and amid the music, the dancing, the food, the flirting, and the cigar smoke, the four formed an unusual and lasting friendship that would see them each through a series of crises, disappointments, life-threatening situations, and moments of great joy and satisfaction.






JEROME MARK ANTIL writes in several genres. He has been called a “greatest generation’s Mark Twain,” a “write what you know Ernest Hemingway,” and “a sensitive Henry Wadsworth Longfellow.” It’s been said his work reads like a Norman Rockwell painting. Among his writing accomplishments, several titles in his The Pompey Hollow Book Club historical fiction series about growing up in the shadows of WWII have been honored. An ‘Authors and Writers’ Book of the Year Award and ‘Writer of the Year’ at Syracuse University for The Pompey Hollow Book Club novel; Hemingway, Three Angels, and Me, won SILVER in the UK as second-best novel.

Foreword’s Book of the Year Finalist for The Book of Charlie – historical fiction and The Long Stem is in the Lobby – nonfiction humor. Library Journal selected Hemingway, Three Angels and Me for best reads during Black History Month.

Before picking up the pen, Antil spent his professional career writing and marketing for the business world. In this role, he lectured at universities - Cornell, St. Edward’s, and Southern Methodist. His inspirations have been John Steinbeck, Mark Twain, and Ernest Hemingway.




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