Monday, December 12, 2022

Holiday Indie Reads Tour and Giveaway Dec 13-19

 


I’m so excited to be a part of @NNP_W_Light’s Indie Reads Bookish Event. Check out all the featured books and enter the giveaway to win a $35 Amazon gift card: https://www.nnlightsbookheaven.com/indie-authors-bookish-event 

#mustread #books #bookish #giveaway

Below is a complete list of authors participating. Find new reads!

On Tuesday, December 13, my mystery, Meow Missing, will be featured.

On Friday, Secember 16, my suspense, UnderCut, will be featured.

Enter to win a $35 Amazon gift card: a Rafflecopter giveaway Open Internationally. You must have a valid Amazon US or Amazon Canada account to win.

Runs December 13 – December 21, 2022.

Winner will be drawn on December 22, 2022.

Tuesday 12/13

Regina Jeffers

Lucinda Race

Ellis Summers (Smuggler)

Susan Payne (Harrison)

Lisa Lickel (Meow)

Joyce Reynolds-Ward (Pledges)

Barbara Barrett (Dragon)

Karen Doctor (Cop)


Wednesday 12/14

Kathleen Lawless

Norm Harris (Deception)

Veronica Scott (Kyden)

Chrysteen Braun

K.L. Doctor

Joyce Reynolds-Ward (Netwalk)

Marilyn Barr

N. Christine Samuelson

Thursday 12/15

Louis Ambrosio

Dania Voss

Ellis Summers (Quinn)

Susan Payne (Midwife)

P.L. Parker

Friday 12/16

Linda McLaughlin

Veronica Scott (Dancer)

Lisa Lickel

Saturday 12/17

Susan Payne (Jeremy)

Park Cooper (Talking)

Barbara Barrett (Drywall)

Karen Doctor (Satin)

Sunday 12/18

Norm Harris (Girl)

Don Meyer

Lloyd Jeffries

Monday 12/19

Ellis Summers (Granted)

Susan Payne (New Banker)

Park Cooper (Song)

Diane Bay

Joyce Reynolds-Ward (Enduring)

Suzanne Winslow

Tuesday, November 15, 2022

The Hope Raisers by Nihar Suthar

 


The Hope Raisers: How a Group of Young Kenyans Fought to Transform Their Slum and Inspire a Community

Nihar Suthar 

Rowman & Littlefield Publishers, November 15, 2022
Nonfiction, Cultural and Heritage Biographies, 174 pp.
Ebook $26.50, hardcover $28

Buy on Amazon 

Barnes and Noble 

About the Book
The poignant and inspiring true story of three young Kenyans who fought to transform their slum and improve the lives of those around them.

Korogocho is one of Kenya’s darkest slums, plagued by gang violence, food and water shortages, and rampant pollution. Most children have no future except for scavenging through trash piles or resorting to lives of crime. One day, a boy named Daniel Onyango decided to do more, creating a band called the Hope Raisers to inspire the kids of Korogocho. His friend, Mutura Kuria, quickly joined in.

In The Hope Raisers: How a Group of Young Kenyans Fought to Transform Their Slum and Inspire a Community, Nihar Suthar tells the amazing story of how Daniel and Mutura turned the band into a platform for change. They started teaching children on the streets how to express themselves through art and established a skating team after finding a pair of rollerblades in the dump. Suthar closely follows the story of one rebellious girl, Lucy Achieng, who refused to get married off at a young age and instead used competitive rollerblading to reach for her dreams. Lucy continues to inspire girls to stand up for themselves and challenge the longstanding practices in Korogocho of early marriage and prostitution.

The Hope Raisers is an eye-opening look into a world of poverty and violence where children receive only a basic education and are left with little to no means to get out. Yet it also reveals the remarkable impact that a few determined individuals can have on their community, even in the most challenging of conditions.

Part of the proceeds from all book sales will be donated to the Hope Raisers and toward improving the slum of Korogocho.

My Review
Fourteen short chapters and an Epilogue are barely enough to contain the story of a little community that could. The book rose from an intriguing article about a group of skaters in Kenya, and proceeds will help support Hope Raisers initiatives.

It’s always a challenge to read about other cultures from our American standpoint, but at least we have a chance to learn. Too many other people around the world do not.

The author describes life in an African neighborhood slum where gang wars over garbage dumping rights at a place that also provides means for the lucky who find food and things to sell. It is a life of so little that treating others viciously is their main method of coping. Depravity is the law of the land, and I cannot help but wonder how that could possibly change in a culture so dry of dignity and respect across gender and class.

Readers follow Mama Bonie and her family as she makes the best of life and raises her children in a faith-based community for the first few chapters. At church, son Mutura meets a friend, Daniel, who makes music and learns about world government. They form a group, Hope Raisers, with a goal to encourage awareness of the poverty and violence and find help to renovate the area and maybe even build a school. They learn of opportunities to get involved in movements that could offer a chance to rise from abject lack. Their music video raises attention to their plight and gets them funding, but unfortunately gang and tribal violence in 2008 set back their efforts. Beset with a lack of understanding and connectivity between greater government and their Slum Upgrading Programme, efforts to improve life for those in the slums moved forward and back in herky-jerky pace.

When Daniel and Mutura learned about roller-blading, they brought the sport back to their neighborhood, and along with their friend Lucy, a star soccer player, form competitive skating leagues. Who would have thought that team skating provides a great change than a pile of money to fund ineffective programs?

Using dialog in this work of creative nonfiction, Suthar shares this unique story of raising hopes for children of the slums. Included is a discussion guide and extensive bibliography. Recommended for readers who want to learn of other cultures and are looking for involvement opportunities.

About the Author

Nihar Suthar is an award-winning writer living in Tampa, Florida, covering inspirational stories around the world. Learn more about him, his work, and his mission at www.niharsuthar.com.

 

Saturday, October 15, 2022

New lovely kids story from Tim Fox

 


A Place to Grow, book 2 in the Place series
Tim Fox
Journeys Publications
Oct 5, 2022
Children’s fiction

$2.99 ebook
Buy on Amazon

About the Book 
Big Mama has a family of active cubs to raise, even as a new threat emerges. Twelve-year-old Tracy has places to explore, things to discover, and her first 5K race to run. Aunt Lynette, Mallory, and Jamie provide guidance, love, and support, helping Tracy to thrive. And Tracy's wonderful friend, Kitty, is there watching over them all. A Place to Grow picks up where A Place For You left off and will leave readers cheering for this uniquely blended family of humans and cats! A Place to Grow is joyful, appealing to cat lovers, and empowering for girls.

My Review
The second book in this series can be read as a standalone. This sweet story explores how a young girl is adapting to her new life in her great-aunt’s home. Aunt Lynette has a wonderful neighbor, artist Mallory, whose boyfriend, Jamie, is a game warden who also runs amateur races. Together, these four learn and grow with each other, along with a pet rescue kitten, and a local mountain lion mama raising her cubs. As the author says, this series blends a wonderful group of people and critters into a unique blended family. Set in lovely Wisconsin, Tracy is determined to learn more about her environment with Jamie’s help and encouragement, training and running in race events with the support of everyone, developing observational, gardening, and artistic skills with Mallory, and a love of cooking and sense of kindness and responsibility from Aunt Lynette.

There’s a bear involved, too, but you’ll want to read about that for yourself.

Recommended for the tween set girl, though any reader would enjoy this series.

About the Author
Tim Fox is a Wisconsin writer who loves hiking in Wisconsin's state parks and natural areas. He has been a teacher and coach and now does personal fitness training.

His author website is timfoxauthor.com.


Tuesday, October 11, 2022

Shadows Rising from Amanda Berthault

 


Shadows Rising by Amanda Berthault
EdenEcho Publishing, 295 pp
July 5, 2022
Contemporary Action
Ebook $3.99
buy on Amazon

About the Book
Music has the power to bring unexpected soul mates together. But their dark pasts collide—with deadly results. An evil force will stop at nothing to end it all. There is nowhere to hide.

Shadow McKinley has rebuilt his musical career, successfully regaining his status as one of the best heavy metal singers in the world. But with success comes the adoration and worship that had driven him away before. As he finds himself drowning once again, he meets the one person who truly understands him. A soulmate who brings as much danger as happiness.

Stunning Dutch metal singer Nicoline Aldenberg also has a dark past of bad decisions. As Shadow falls deeper under her spell, he faces the wrath of her violent ex-husband who will stop at nothing to kill him. Onstage and off, from Atlanta to Tilburg, nowhere is safe. Can Shadow survive the most impassioned—and deadliest—choice he’s ever made?

My review: 
Shadow McKinley has never known love or acceptance for who he was. A touch feels like fire; meeting someone’s eyes is a struggle, and talking to strangers physically painful. So how can he figure out how to handle love when it runs into him like a tidal wave?
 
Something strange and brutally frightening overwhelms Shadow, a heavy metal rock star. He’s returned to his career after a brief hiatus on the run and serving time for a past mistake. His fans have forgiven him, and now he must forgive himself. With the help of his best friends and bandmates, he works out his extreme fear of crowds to accept an invitation to perform with heavy metal stars from around the world at a concert in the Netherlands. The overwhelming part comes in when he’s paired with a stunning Dutch singer. Waves of emotion cause him to make an unusual gaffe during rehearsals. It takes Shadow’s friend Tommy to talk him down from his strange euphoria and help him navigate this strange landscape of not only accepting romantic love, but learning how to return it. Trouble is, the stunning Dutch singer Nica comes with more baggage than Shadow in the form of a lovely young daughter and a savage ex-husband out for more than revenge.
 
Once again Berthault explores unusual relationships and the concept of family and the devastation of abuse, set across continents at concert venues, hotels, and the sanctity of home. Once Nica’s ex learns of her budding romance with Shadow, and his daughter’s adoration for Shadow, he goes berserk and schemes to take back by any means what is his, and remove any obstacle in his way. As Shadow’s bandmates surround him with encouragement, advice, and support, Shadow begins to enjoy his music and his life in a way he’d never imagined possible—all because of a special woman and her daughter.
 
The threat escalates with each move until mortal danger becomes a terrifying reality. Shadow takes control of his life by working out his fear and anger through physical fitness, worrying Nica further that he’ll put himself in harm’s way to protect her, should her ex grow more violent. But Shadow needs to do something to channel his rage at the thought of the danger Nica is in, and continues to build physical strength as well as self-esteem. As their relationship deepens, Shadow and Nica must learn to trust each other even during the worst moments of their lives.
 
This second installment of a planned trilogy is well-paced and page-turning.
Berthault, a native Chicagoan with a passion for music, gives readers of contemporary romantic suspense and action a thought-provoking novel about self-acceptance, sacrifice and the depth of passion. I have one wish, that the f-bombs be cut back and used as shockers rather than part of everyday speech. Told through Shadow’s viewpoint, the story unfolds in crisp and honest real time as he begins to come to terms with his self-worth. Hopefully Berthault will get her wish that Heavy Metal Fiction will become a shelf label.
 
About the Author:
Amanda Berthault is an author, editor, and music lover who wants to make “Heavy Metal Fiction” a real genre. She has a BA in creative writing from Columbia College Chicago and has had multiple musically themed short stories published over the past two decades. She lives in the Chicago suburbs where she runs a freelance editing business helping other independent and self-publishing authors.


Friday, October 7, 2022

holiday story from Barbara Britton

 


Christmas at Whispering Creek (Christmas Holiday Extravaganza) 

Barbara M Britton

White Rose Publishing
October, 2022
$5.99 ebook
$15.99 print
264 pp


About the Book
All Samantha Williams wants to do is to use her teaching degree to instruct a classroom of second graders. But, after a breast cancer diagnosis at the age of twenty-three, and failed reconstruction surgery, Sam finds herself without a job and temporarily living with her parents. This isn’t the life Sam expected. When a family friend dies and leaves Sam a house and land in Whispering Creek, Tennessee, Sam must decide if leaving Wisconsin for Southern living is in her lesson plans.

Nashville native, Cole Donoven, left his family’s electrical business to write country music. When Cole’s song-writing partner and girlfriend dumps him for a country music star, Cole abandons Nashville to hole up in Whispering Creek and compose one more song. The last thing Cole expects to find in the sleepy small town is a deceased friend, estate squabbles, and a Northern beauty. Will the chaos in Whispering Creek help create a bestselling song for Cole and possibly help him find a life-long collaborator?

My Review
Echoing an achy country song, Britton’s latest contemporary inspirational holiday romance is a sweet twang of a hurting-and-healing stoked ballad set in rural Tennessee. When a down-and-out too-young cancer survivor is crushed by the loss of her beloved teaching job, and gets two more jolts in one day with the creepingly suspicious loss of her boyfriend and news of the death of Ted, a beloved influential friend, Samantha heads out for an adventure to learn the details of her inheritance. To her surprise, it comes with a house, cranky neighbors, and another handsome, hurting stray friend of Ted’s, the ultra-handsome and helpful songwriter Cole. Cole happens to be recovering from an unceremonious dumping of his glamorous partner, and appears at Ted’s country home to finish a contractual obligation for one last song. It’s chaos when he happens upon a furious contender for Ted’s estate, a beautiful damsel, and a tornado, all of which work to remind him that he’s never been the one in charge of his fate—God is, and he’d better re-learn that trust and faith practice.

Filled with lots of natural angst, a steady measure of faith, and delicious sweet romance, fans of Britton and clean romance will enjoy this loving holiday story.

About the Author
Barbara M. Britton lives in Wisconsin and loves the snow—when it accumulates under three inches. Barb writes romantic adventures from Ancient Israel to Modern Day USA and especially enjoys bringing little-known Bible characters to light. She has a nutrition degree from Baylor University but loves to dip healthy strawberries in chocolate. Barb is a member of the Society of Children’s Book Writers and Illustrators, Romance Writers of America and American Christian Fiction Writers. You can visit Barb online at www. barbarambritton.com or follow her on Facebook and Twitter.


Tuesday, October 4, 2022

new holiday story from Keeley Brooke Keith

 


Uncharted Christmas by Keeley Brooke Keith

Inspirational holiday novella

October 4, 2022 Edenbrooke Press, 58 pp

$4.99
$12.99
Buy on Amazon 
Buy on Barnes and Noble

About the Book

As Dr. Lydia Bradshaw makes her rounds in the village of Good Springs this Christmas season, each family she visits seems to be blessed in ways she is not. All the homes are beautifully decorated for the holiday, and every woman is expecting another baby.

Every woman but her, that is.

While the haze from the volcanic ash cloud outside the Land looms on the horizon, calls for the doctor force Lydia to work around the clock. Torn between fighting for the home life she craves and the career that defines her, Lydia needs a Christmas miracle.

Meanwhile, at Falls Creek…

Philip Roberts spends his lonely nights in the parsonage next to the humble chapel. Pastoring the church across from the Land’s only inn means encouraging many a road-worn traveler to carry on, whatever their journey might be. Philip also watches the ever-changing rotation of guests for the one person he prays will stay at Falls Creek forever.

Only he doesn’t know her name.

When the Vestal siblings break their journey to Good Springs at the inn for a much needed respite over Christmas, Philip is fascinated with the demure Lena Vestal. As he tries to get to know her, she stirs in him more questions than answers.

Can he discover who this intriguing woman truly is in such a short time, and is she the one he’s been waiting for?

My Review

With so much on her plate, Dr. Lydia Bradshaw, the first female doctor in the unmapped island Land’s unofficial capital city of Good Springs, an anomaly of a twenty-first near future isolated culture stagnated in nineteenth century traditional religious mores, has fallen into a routine of nearly 24/7 medical care. A strange haze has entangled the Land for the past few months, and Lydia is certain that murkiness and unusual weather has peaked worries and unnatural fears in elders and children alike. She is working herself to an exhausted frenzy yet resents the help sent by the elders and approved by her husband without even consulting her. As Christmas approaches, Lydia is hard put to be thankful, especially after she believes she’s found a new treatment and a new potential hazard to the Land and no one believes her. A parallel story to Lydia’s takes place at our favorite inn in Fall Creek hinting at answered prayers for their overseer pastor’s desire to cure his singleness.

It’s Christmas blessings all around, with a special reason to rejoice and a new mystery in the Land Uncharted.

Uncharted Christmas is a lovely quick holiday gem, coming home to the people we’ve come to love in Keeley Brooke Keith’s Uncharted series. Told mostly in the perspectives of Lydia and Philip, readers are drawn into their world.

About the Author

Keely Brooke Keith writes inspirational frontier-style fiction with a slight Sci-Fi twist, including The Land Uncharted (Shelf Unbound Notable Romance 2015) and Aboard Providence (2017 INSPY Awards Longlist).

Born in St. Joseph, Missouri, Keely was a tree-climbing, baseball-loving 80s kid. She grew up in a family who moved often, which fueled her dreams of faraway lands. When she isn’t writing, Keely enjoys teaching home school lessons and playing bass guitar. Keely, her husband, and their daughter live on a hilltop south of Nashville, Tennessee.


Sunday, September 18, 2022

New Mystery from Tam May

 


A Wordless Death: An Early 20th Century Mystery
(Adele Gossling Mysteries Book 2)
Tam May
July 2022

Dreambook Press

361 pages
Ebook $4.99
Print $12.99

About the Book

Is the death of a schoolteacher suicide or something more sinister?

Adele Gossling is adjusting well to small-town life after the hustle and bustle of San Francisco. Despite her progressive ideas about women and her unladylike business acumen, even Arrojo’s most prominent citizens are beginning to accept her. Provided she sticks with the business of fountain pens and letter paper and stays out of crime investigation, that is…

But that’s just what she can’t do when Millie Gibb, the new teacher at the local girl’s school, is found dead and everybody in town assumes the homely, unmarried spinster committed suicide. After all, what enemies could a harmless, middle-aged woman have?

Adele and her clairvoyant friend Nin intend to find out. But can they prove Millie’s death was foul play based on a cigar stub, a letter fragment, and a cigarette lighter before the case is closed for good?

You’ll love this turn-of-the-century whodunit where a sassy and smart New Woman gives the police a run for their money!

My Review

Adele Gossling hasn’t had much time to rest after her former neighbor and potential friend was found dead in her yard. After a strange encounter with local teacher Miss Gibb at the post office one morning, during which her impatience and the postmaster’s cantankerousness moods clash, Adele has reason to feel concern as Miss Gibb is soon dead in her boarding house room.

Adele’s brother Jackson is now a member of Arrojo’s small police force, but he’s still nursing some misgivings about this brave new century and independent women. A woman who isn’t a homemaker and mother must be unfulfilled in life, and therefore unhappy, and maybe unhappy enough to end her own misery. Lacking definitive proof of foul play. Miss Gibb’s case is put to rest. Adele isn’t sure about that, and with the urging of one of the boarding house residents eagerly sets out to learn the truth of the matter.

Adele and her friend Nin connive their way onto the scene of the crime as well as into the evidence files and begin to unravel a cruel and twisted murder mystery that can’t be ignored.

It’s time to put to rest the notion that a woman with foiled aspirations to rise in her career must be suicidal. Adele and Nin are living examples of independent and content modern women, and crusaders of justice. With snappy and acerbic dialog, May gives readers a quirky and strong female sleuth for the Modern Age. I await Adele’s next adventure.

About the Author

As soon as Tam May started writing when she was fourteen, writing became her voice. She writes engaging, fun-to-solve historical cozy mysteries. Her mysteries empower readers with detailed plots and a sense of “justice is done” at the end. Her fiction is set in and around the San Francisco Bay Area because she adores sourdough bread, Ghirardelli chocolate, and the area’s rich history. Find more at http://www.tammayauthor.com