#BlogTour #RandRBookTours @RRBookTours1 @Shanannigans81 / #PromoPost : Winter Dawn – Alex Callister @CallisterAuthor

– ‘The Magic of Wor(l)ds’ blog is a hobby, reviews and other bookish stuff on this site are done for free. –

Today I’m on the ‘Winter Dawn’ blogtour, organized by R&R Book Tours.
To promote this book I have some ‘basic’ information.

About the Author :

Alex has spent her career charting the rise of the internet and is fascinated by the dark web and its potential to facilitate crime. An action movie fan, her books are full of cult references. Her kick-ass heroine, Winter, was inspired by Bond, Bourne, John Wick, Vin Diesel, Jack Reacher and many others.
Alex has a history degree, a certificate in creative writing and a murderous imagination. She writes when she gets a chance, which is mainly at night between 10pm and 2am at home in London, with her three Bengal tigers.
WINTER DARK was the Audible Thriller of the Year 2019.

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Synopsis :

Title: Winter Dawn (Winter #3)
Publication Date: January 24th, 2022
Genre: Thriller / Spy Thriller / Strong Female Lead

From the author of the #1 Bestselling Audible Thriller of the Year comes a terrifying high stakes hunt to the death…
It is the winter solstice, the longest night of the year.
When a New York Senator is chosen as an assassination target by Colosseum, the chilling online game, she faces a terrible choice; to run or to hide.
No-where is safe. No-one can be trusted.
But just when the Senator’s brutal death seems inevitable, a young agent called Winter arrives from London to protect her. Now Winter is all that stands between the Senator and Colosseum’s deadly hunt. As dawn creeps in, time is running out for Winter to unravel the mystery at the heart of this sinister game: who is the shadowy head of Colosseum, and what is his ultimate purpose?
It is darkest before the dawn.
As Winter and the Senator journey together into the dark heart of the longest night, they soon discover that nothing about Colosseum is what it seems. There are rules, and there is a purpose, if only they can solve the riddle in time. Colosseum is more than a hunt: it’s a challenge.
Targets must face their deepest fear, or die at dawn.

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The Magic of Wor(l)ds

#BlogTour #ZooloosBookTours @zooloo2008 / #QandAs : Hangman’s End (DI Jack MacIntosh #5) – Michelle Kidd @AuthorKidd @QuestionPress

– ‘The Magic of Wor(l)ds’ blog is a hobby, reviews and other bookish stuff on this site are done for free. –

Today I’m on the ‘Hangman’s End’ blogtour, organized by Zooloo’s Book Tours.
To promote this book I have a Q&As post, but before I let you read it first some ‘basic’ information.

About the Author :

Michelle Kidd is a self-published author best known for the Detective Inspector Jack MacIntosh series of novels set in London. She has also recently begun a new series which is set in her home town of Bury St Edmunds in Suffolk – starring Detective Inspector Nicki Hardcastle.
Michelle qualified as a lawyer in the early 1990s and spent the best part of ten years practising civil and criminal litigation.
But the dream to write books was never far from her mind and in 2008 she began writing the manuscript that would become the first DI Jack MacIntosh novel – The Phoenix Project. The book took eighteen months to write, but spent the next eight years gathering dust underneath the bed.
In 2018 Michelle self-published The Phoenix Project and has not looked back since. There are currently four DI Jack MacIntosh novels, with a fifth in progress, and the first DI Nicki Hardcastle novel is due for release in August 2021.
Michelle now works full time for the NHS and lives in Bury St Edmunds, Suffolk. She enjoys reading, wine and cats – not necessarily in that order.

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Synopsis :

Two bodies.
One bridge.
Twenty years apart.
The discovery of two bodies beneath London Bridge plunges DI Jack MacIntosh and his team at the Metropolitan Police into two of the most complex investigations they’ve ever had to deal with.
With two decades separating them, can the cases really be linked?
Having an intense dislike for coincidences, Jack can’t let it go.
And when evidence then emerges pointing to a 1989 cold case, Jack is transported back in time to a miscarriage of justice that has haunted him for quarter of a century – and back to a little girl he vowed never to forget.
As two cases turn into three, becoming more and more entwined, will the river finally give up its secrets?
Maybe.
Because sometimes the dead can speak.

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Q&A :

Hi

First of all thank you very much for taking the time to answer my questions, I really appreciate it. Here we go! 🙂

Can you, for those who don’t know you already, tell something about yourself and how you became an author?
Hi! I’m Michelle, and I currently live in Suffolk – although I was born and brought up not far away in Cambridge. I live with my daughter and my tabby cat, Livi. Those that are familiar with my DI Jack MacIntosh books will know that Livi features in that series as a rescue tabby cat (much like Livi was!). She loves being in my books and will always have a nose at what I am writing, just to be sure she’s still in there! I work full time for the NHS at my local hospital – I dream of being a fulltime author one day! I have always written, ever since I knew how to hold a pen – but I didn’t publish my first book until 2018.

Which books did/do you love to read as a child/now as a grown-up?
As a child I always had my head in a book! I grew up on Enid Blyton. I loved reading the Famous Five books, and then the Mallory Towers and St Clare’s books. When I was about nine I was pony mad so I would read anything that had a picture of a horse on the front! But if it was a book, I would read it! I also read The Hobbit and the Lord of the Rings trilogy in my early teens, and those are books that I will still go back and read now. I also got into Stephen King in my early teens and he is an author I still look forward to reading now.
As an adult I mostly read crime fiction and crime thrillers – with the occasional chick lit thrown in! I love Harry Potter, though, and can read those books time and time again.

Is there a writer whose brain you would love to pick for advice? Who would that be and why?
I think I would pick Stephen King’s brain! He is an amazing writer. I loved his horror books when I was a teenager. He is so multi talented that he crosses over through so many different genres, not just the horror books that he started out on. He is an amazing story teller – so I would like to ask him how he gets his ideas and how he plots such amazing storylines!

If you could, which fictional character (from your own book(s) or someone else’s) would you like to invite for tea and why?
I would invite either Dumbledore or Snape from the Harry Potter books! As I mentioned, I loved the books and I also love watching the films. I think they are one of the very few examples that have made a decent film out of a book! I’d like to explore their friendship, which I think is intriguing. Throughout the books you are led to believe that Snape is a bad guy and it’s not until the final book that you discover this might not be the case and he has this friendship with Dumbledore. It was a great twist!

Do you have some rituals or habits whilst writing?
I have to have peace and quiet. And Livi sits on my legs to make sure I don’t move and go and do something else!

Where do you come up with your idea(s)? Do people in your life need to be worried? 😉
My ideas just pop int my head at random moments! I always have a notepad close by to jot things down.

Are you a plotter or do you go with the flow, as a pantser?
I generally plot – but only in stages. I don’t plot the whole book out in one go. I start with a general storyline and plot a few scenes. Once those scenes are written, other ideas come into my head so I plot a few more scenes. None of my scenes are written in order – so I may well start with the opening scene but I may move onto some scenes in the middle or towards the end next. I then fill in the gaps. It sounds quite chaotic but it works!

Can you give novice writers some tips (do’s/don’ts)?
Read! I always feel the best writers are also prolific readers. And trust your own judgement and gut insticnts. Write what you want to write, not what you think you should write.

What are your futureplans as an author?
To keep writing. And maybe give up the day job!

Last, but not least : Can you give my readers one teaser from your book, which is featured here on my blog, please?

Time: 1.00am
Date: Saturday 3rd September 1994
Location: The End of the Road Public House, London SE1

The idea came to him in the middle of the night. He knew he needed to move her – she was starting to smell – and although no one usually came up here, he was pretty sure they would when the stench reached downstairs.
Nobody had missed her yet, which had been a blessing. She’d not been due to work another shift in the pub for a few days after their brief encounter, so no one had raised the alarm as to her absence. But he knew that as soon as she didn’t turn up for work on Monday, then questions would be asked.
But he’d already thought of that.
Narelle’s keys sat on the bedside table, where she’d left them with her rucksack. He knew where her flat was – it wouldn’t take long. He could be there and back during his break.
But first of all, he needed to get rid of her.
The pub kitchen downstairs had a variety of knives, and he quickly selected the set chef used to cut the meat for the carvery on Sundays. He didn’t get it completely right, he knew that – and it was much harder than he’d thought. He’d dragged her over into the small tin bath that sat in the tiny bathroom. It had still taken him most of the night but at least the bath helped to contain much of the mess. At one point he’d had to go back down to the kitchen and find the large, butcher-style meat cleaver.
Eventually, the job was done. Wiping the blood from his brow, he let his eyes rest on Narelle’s crudely dismembered body and gave a rueful smile. Not his finest work, but it would have to do.
He hadn’t found it as stomach churning as he’d expected, instead finding himself curiously detached from the whole process. Even when he’d stared deeply into those ocean-blue eyes of hers while detaching her head from her body, he’d felt nothing.
Glancing at his watch, he noticed it was almost seven o’clock and the sky outside had lightened. Pretty soon the kitchen staff would be arriving to make preparations for the lunches – and then the bar staff would saunter in.
So he would need to be quick.
It took him several trips to bring Narelle downstairs.
The head, legs and arms had been relatively easy – once he’d got the hang of tucking a limb under each arm. But it was the torso that caused him the most trouble. Narelle didn’t look like she weighed much, and probably didn’t, but by the time he’d figured out how to carry her without dripping blood everywhere, he’d been sweating profusely.
It was a good job no one else rented any of the rooms above the pub – imagine what questions he might have faced if anyone had caught him on the stairs.
Now standing outside in the rear courtyard, he smiled at the thought. It was quite funny in an Ealing comedy kind of way.
Gerard pulled on a cigarette and inhaled the smoke deep into his lungs. He didn’t normally smoke – but today he felt like he needed one. Felt like he deserved one. Leaning up against the open kitchen door, he took another deep drag on the cigarette and gazed over at Narelle.
He’d chosen the wheelie bin closest to the exit onto the road. That would help with the final part of the plan. Looking out across the courtyard towards the bins, he couldn’t help but let his smile widen. The flies were buzzing around as usual, but even they didn’t yet know what delicacies lay within; something different to their usual offerings of rotten vegetable peelings and old meat bones.
He felt another chuckle brewing.
Poor Narelle. She just didn’t know when to keep her mouth shut. She’d been nice enough at the start – quite sweet, really – and she’d had an accent to die for. He knew he’d caught her eye when she’d first arrived; he could tell. But that night she’d overstepped the mark.
No one laughed at Gerard.

Isn’t that a great reason to pick up this book and to find out more?!
Thanks once again for this lovely interview, Michelle Kidd.

The Magic of Wor(l)ds

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P.S. Are you an author (or publisher) who also wants a FREE interview like this? You can always contact me via e-mail!

#BlogTour #RandRBookTours @RRBookTours1 @Shanannigans81 / #PromoPost : Thine Eyes of Mercy (Birth of the Fae #2) – Danielle M. Orsino @birthofthefae #Books #Fantasy

– ‘The Magic of Wor(l)ds’ blog is a hobby, reviews and other bookish stuff on this site are done for free. –

Today I’m on the ‘Thine Eyes of Mercy’ blogtour, organized by R&R Book Tours.
To promote this book I have some ‘basic’ information.

About the Author :

Danielle M Orsino, destined to be a writer from a young age, was working as a nurse and treating a patient who needed some distractions during long I.V. Treatment sessions. So, Orsino reached back to a forgotten skill, A childhood dream. Danielle had wanted to be a writer and so she decided to tell a story. Little did she know the seed would grow into a fantastically epic adventure of heartbreak, hope and rebirth — Birth of Fae: Locked Out of Heaven. Drawing from her passion for comic books, Cosplay and fantasy along with her expert martial arts expertise, Orsino brings forth an electric and hopeful debut.
Danielle is taking on her biggest challenge to date: taking the story born from the long treatment sessions with a patient into a fantasy book series-Birth of the Fae: Locked out of Heaven. Expanding her love of writing, comics and exploring the world of fantasy novels, she delves into the realm of fairies and retells their origins from a completely new perspective. Orsino has a Bachelor’s degree in Kinesiology and Exercise science and is an LPN with a special interest in Lyme disease research. Orsino has been widely recognized from her influence and experience in martial arts realm, training for over 20 years and with over 500 tournament wins, and accumulating national and world titles. She has performed for former President of the United States Bill Clinton and has been featured on “Soap Talk, Fox Five news CBS, TLC and E! With this experience, she worked as a Fight Choreographer on ”Wonder Woman: Balance of Power” and has worked with the likes of martial arts legend Vincent Lyn and WWE marvel and action star Dwayne “The Rock” Johnson. Nothing Danielle ever does is simple, look at what NY times Bestselling author Clete Barrett Smith has to say about her debut endeavor: “After summoning this world into existence through an imaginative force of will, Danielle has scoured every inch of the landscape several times over. Critics often praise a story’s world building by saying that it feels “lived in.” Well, the world of the Fae certainly seems like that because Danielle herself has happily lived there for years as she worked to put all of this together…My favorite part of this story is that it is gloriously depicted in vibrant images.

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Synopsis :

Title: Birth of the Fae: Thine Eyes of Mercy, Book Two
Publication Date: December 1st, 2021
Genre: Fantasy

Queen Aurora, monarch of the Court of Light Fae and King Jarvok, Leader of the Court of Dark Fae are exhausted and battle worn after centuries of fighting. A war of attrition had taken its toll upon their kin and power bases.
What happens when you have to give in to your enemy?
All wars eventually end even magical ones. The Dark and Light Fae have set their elemental magick and weapons down but, all is not quiet in the Veil…
King Jarvok was confident his army could win the war, but at what cost? It was time to act like a King not a power hungry megalomaniac. That was his Creator’s title not his. He reaches out to Queen Aurora, and the Treaty of Bodhicitta is signed.
The treaty promises the Fae will never spill each other’s blood again. Rules for their human worshipers are put into place. The Court of Dark must not interfere with humans in a malignant way, but they can act as gods and goddesses of atonement. The Court of Light can return to acting as advisors to the European royal families, as they have done for centuries.
However, Queen Aurora and King Jarvok will learn that while they were playing war games, their humans have changed and moved away from the old ways.
The two monarchs face unknown challenges in a world where Christianity not paganism is the new power.
Sometimes the devil you know is better than the one you do not.

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The Magic of Wor(l)ds

#BlogTour #KenyonAuthorServicesBlogTours @kenyon_isabelle / #Excerpt : Foolish Heroines #FoolishHeroines – June Wentland @june_mw @valleypress

– ‘The Magic of Wor(l)ds’ blog is a hobby, reviews and other bookish stuff on this site are done for free. –

Today I’m on the ‘Foolish Heroines’ blogtour, organized by Kenyon Author Services Blog Tours.
To promote this book I have an excerpt, but before I let you read it first some ‘basic’ information.

About the Author :

June Wentland is an ordinary woman who believes that extraordinary things can happen if you keep your eyes peeled and your heart open to new possibilities. She grew up in Hull, moving to Manchester and Bristol before settling in Wiltshire. June has worked in community development and outreach for libraries as well as being a rather lacklustre waitress and on an assembly line sticking tassels onto lampshades.
She has had stories televised and published by the BBC and her poetry has appeared in many literary journals and anthologies. Her first novel, Foolish Heroines, was published by Valley Press in September 2021.

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Synopsis :

Janina Reston is a language expert, translating fiendishly tricky Arabic and Asian mathematical and scientific texts. Words are her world. But she can’t find any to share with her husband Owen. Instead, she confides in a spider named Gladys (who may or may not be her deceased grandmother).
She lives in an ordinary city suburb where extraordinary things happen. Lily’s husband dies in a strange accident with a milk bottle, while Fatima writes biographies of unknown people living seemingly inconsequential lives, and Zosia – whose most daring adventure thus far has been replacing jelly and ice cream with lemon meringue pie – runs off to Delhi with an Asian Women’s Sewing Group.
Written with zest, zeal and humour, June Wentland’s debut novel is a surreal journey through the avenues and alleyways of everyday life. But forget dull domesticity. This is a suburb where dense jungle leaves creep through the patio door when you’re putting the kettle on, where porcelain shepherdesses have evil intent, and where a seven-legged arachnid can be a wise companion for a woman at the end of her tether.

Valley Press

Excerpt :

June Wentland talks about writing the opening of her novel:
The first chapter of Foolish Heroines wasn’t the original start of the novel. I was planning to write a novel that was connected in some way to the Brontë sisters. I even spent a weekend in Haworth for inspiration! I wrote a few paragraphs but they were pushed out of the way by what is now the beginning of Foolish Heroines. This novel needed to be written instead. This first chapter came to me very easily. I think it had been brewing in my subconscious for some time and it really sets the scene for the world of Foolish Heroines. It’s firmly in our everyday world but unusual and remarkable things can happen – disappearances, sudden realisations and exuberant transformations.

1

When Janina Reston touched Owen Reston’s arm and her hand passed straight through it, it only confirmed what she’d suspected for some time – her partner was simply a figment of her imagination. He wasn’t really there at all. She wondered if he’d ever been real and, if so, whether he’d disappeared all in one go or whether it had happened gradually, bit by bit.
She had an acquaintance whose husband had vanished in the supermarket. One minute he was walking down the aisle between the cream crackers and the packs of lager, and the next he was gone. He’d undressed, leaving his clothes and shoes in a neat pile. Then he’d dived into the salty depths of a deep freezer amongst the battered cod and the new crabmeat fish cakes, never to be seen again, tossed about for infinity on the tides of consumer capitalism. Missing, presumed dead.
Owen had been looking increasingly transparent since the jumper incident. The question was, who’d put the jumper on to boil wash? Who’d committed the sin? Wash with care in cool water, the label said, delicate. A sure candidate for programme J: suitable for hand wash items with a crease guard and a gentle spin.
The jumper had hung from her hand like an unexpected blossom, an out of season bloom, defying horticulturalist theory. It emitted an aura of novelty, a self-conscious exclamation mark at its own existence. Perfectly circular drops of water clung to the surface, resisting its pull but inevitably absorbed by it.
“What the fuck’s that?” Owen asked as he and Janina stood in the kitchen. “Is it my jumper?”
Janina leaned against the sink and weighed up the possibilities, the jumper still hanging from her hand like a question for which a solution must be found.
When objects, or people for that matter, went through such drastic change could they really still claim to be what they’d originally been? How many married individuals were still the same people they’d been on their wedding day? Did that annul the marriage? Janina and Owen stared at the offending piece of laundry, still steaming from the hot wash. Neither could quite draw their eyes away from it.
“Do you want it to be?” she asked. It was a philosophical question but he took it as an insensitive reply.
“What do you think?” he said.
“I think you put it in with the fast colours.” she said. “Or it could have got put on with the boil wash.”
The impasse couldn’t go on forever in such a small kitchen, so Janina walked out into the garden. A few birds sang in the newly blossoming trees, pinprick specks of delicate colour, gently piercing the cool air; the trees’ roots like wooden toes entwined affectionately or engaged in a hidden power struggle beneath the grass. Concealed beneath Janina and Owen’s conversation had been the unsaid implication that, somewhere along the line, she was to blame for the jumper. As if, at some point, she’d been duped into signing a contract with unreadably small print that made her responsible for any shrinkages or mishaps that took place within the womb-like confines of the washing machine. Any mistake would be viewed as collusion between woman and technological hardware.

The Magic of Wor(l)ds

#MiniBlogBlitz #RachelsRandomResources @rararesources / #PromoPost : A Stranger’s Revenge – K. J. McGillick @KJMcGillickAuth

– ‘The Magic of Wor(l)ds’ blog is a hobby, reviews and other bookish stuff on this site are done for free. –

Today I’m on the ‘A Stranger’s Revenge’ blogtour, organized by Rachel’s Random Resources.
To promote this book I have a some ‘basic’ information for you.

About the Author :

Kathleen McGillick is an attorney by education and writes mainly suspense and thriller novels.
She earned a B.S.N. from the University of Miami, and an M.S. from Adelphi University, after which she practiced nursing for seventeen years. In 1994, while working as a Registered Nurse, she earned a Juris Doctorate from the John Marshall School of Law in Atlanta, Georgia. Her solo law practice in which she specialized in Family Law for twenty-seven years, centered on meeting the needs of women and children.
While practicing law, she turned to novel writing and has self-published ten novels that have recurring themes of legal intrigue and stolen art. As an avid international traveler, she incorporates many of the places she has traveled into the settings of her books. For the last fifteen years, she has immersed herself in the study of art history and the intrigue of crimes related to fakes and forgeries which she weaves into her character-driven complex plots.
Born and raised in New York, she now resides in a suburb of Atlanta, Georgia. Kathleen is a grandmother of two teenage grandchildren and a mother to four fur babies.

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Synopsis :

When art law attorney Abigail Clarke is mistaken for the murdered twin sister she never knew existed, will she be able to outwit a man determined to kill every member of her treacherous family.
Thirty years ago, during a thunderstorm, on an isolated street in South Boston, an unidentified two-year-old girl was discovered, abandoned, shot, barely clinging to life. After a thorough investigation, the case was eventually designated to the cold case files until Abigail Clarke, now an astraphobic art law attorney, is mistaken for the murdered twin sister she never knew existed.
What the FBI Art Crime Division cannot determine is if Abigail is an innocent bystander or a co-conspirator in her sister’s art fraud crimes.
Compelled to uncover all her family’s secrets, nothing prepares Abigail for the disastrous meeting with her murderous brother and crime boss father. Her life is irreversibly changed the more she becomes mired in her family’s treachery. She soon finds herself drawn into a game of cat and mouse by the vengeful killer who methodically plans to execute every member of her family, holding each one of them ultimately responsible for the murder of his own family thirty years ago.

Purchase Links:
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The Magic of Wor(l)ds

#BlogTour #HarlequinTradePublishingBlogTour @htp_books / #Excerpt : The Overnight Guest #TheOvernightGuest – Heather Gudenkauf @hgudenkauf @parkrowbooks @HarlequinBooks

– ‘The Magic of Wor(l)ds’ blog is a hobby, reviews and other bookish stuff on this site are done for free. –

Today I’m on the ‘The Overnight Guest’ blogtour, organized by Harlequin Trade Publishing Blog Tour.
To promote this book I have an excerpt, but before I let you read it first some ‘basic’ information.

About the Author :

Heather Gudenkauf is the critically acclaimed author of several novels, including the New York Times bestseller The Weight of Silence. She lives in Iowa with her husband and children.

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Synopsis :

Title: The Overnight Guest
Author: Heather Gudenkauf
ISBN: 9780778311935
Publication Date: January 25, 2022
Publisher: Park Row Books

In a snowstorm, the safest place is home. Or is it?
True crime writer Wylie Lark doesn’t mind being snowed in at the isolated farmhouse where she’s retreated to write her new book. A cozy fire, complete silence. It would be perfect, if not for the fact that decades earlier, at this very house, two people were murdered in cold blood and a girl disappeared without a trace.
As the storm worsens, Wylie finds herself trapped inside the house, haunted by the secrets contained within its walls—haunted by secrets of her own. Then she discovers a small child in the snow just outside. How long had the child been there? Where did he come from? Bringing the child inside for warmth and safety, she begins to search for answers. But soon it becomes clear that the farmhouse isn’t as isolated as she thought, and someone is willing to do anything to find them.

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Excerpt :

Three

“Maybe we can go outside and play?” the girl said as she peeked around the edge of the heavy curtain that covered the window. The sky was gray and soft drops of rain tapped at the glass.
“Not today,” her mother said. “It’s raining and we’d melt.”
The girl gave a little laugh and then hopped off the chair she had dragged beneath the window. She knew her mother was teasing. They wouldn’t actually melt if they went out in the rain, but still, it made her shiver thinking about it—stepping outside and feeling the plop of water on your skin and watching it melt away like an ice cube.
Instead, the girl and her mother spent the morning at the card table cutting pink, purple, and green egg shapes from construction paper and embellishing them with polka dots and stripes.
On one oval, her mother drew eyes and a pointy little orange beak. Her mother laid the girl’s hands on a piece of yellow paper and traced around them using a pencil. “Watch,” she said as she cut out the handprints and then glued them to the back of one of the ovals.
“It’s a bird,” the girl said with delight.
“An Easter chick,” her mother said. “I made these when I was your age.”
Together, they carefully taped the eggs and chicks and bunny rab-bits they created to the cement walls, giving the dim room a festive, springy look. “There, now we’re ready for the Easter Bunny,” her mother said with triumph.
That night, when the girl climbed into bed, the butterflies in her stomach kept chasing sleep away. “Stay still,” her mother kept re-minding her. “You’ll fall asleep faster.”
The girl didn’t think that was true, but then she opened her eyes, a sliver of bright sunshine was peeking around the shade, and the girl knew that morning had finally arrived.
She leaped from bed to find her mother already at the tiny round table where they ate their meals. “Did he come?” the girl asked, tucking her long brown hair behind her ears.
“Of course he did,” her mother said, holding out a basket woven together from strips of colored paper. It was small, fitting into the palm of the girl’s hand, but sweet. Inside were little bits of green paper that were cut to look like grass. On top of this was a pack of cinnamon gum and two watermelon Jolly Ranchers.
The girl smiled though disappointment surged through her. She’d been hoping for a chocolate bunny or one of those candy eggs that oozed yellow when you broke it open.
“Thank you,” she said.
“Thank the Easter Bunny,” her mother said.
“Thank you, Easter Bunny,” the girl crowed like the child on the candy commercials that she’d seen on television. They both laughed.
They each unwrapped a piece of gum and spent the morning making up stories about the paper chicks and bunnies they made.
When the girl’s gum lost its flavor, and she had slowly licked one of the Jolly Ranchers into a sharp flat disc, the door at the top of the steps opened, and her father came down the stairs toward them. He was carrying a plastic bag and a six-pack of beer. Her mother gave the girl a look. The one that said, go on now, mom and dad need some alone time. Obediently, the girl, taking her Easter basket, went to her spot beneath the window and sat in the narrow beam of warm light that fell across the floor. Facing the wall, she unwrapped another piece of gum and poked it into her mouth and tried to ignore the squeak of the bed and her father’s sighs and grunts.
“You can turn around now,” her mother finally said. The girl sprang up from her spot on the floor.
The girl heard the water running in the bathroom, and her father poked his head out of the door. “Happy Easter,” he said with a grin. “The Easter Bunny wanted me to give you a little something.”
The girl looked at the kitchen table where the plastic bag sat. Then she slid her eyes to her mother, who was sitting on the edge of the bed, rubbing her wrist, eyes red and wet. Her mother nodded.
“Thank you,” she murmured.
Later, after her father climbed the steps and locked the door behind him, the girl went to the table and looked inside the plastic bag. In-side was a chocolate bunny with staring blue eyes. He was holding a carrot and wore a yellow bowtie.
“Go ahead,” her mother told the girl as she held an ice pack to her wrist. “When I was little, I always started with the ears.”
“I don’t think I’m very hungry,” the girl said, returning the box to the table.
“It’s okay,” her mother said gently. “You can eat it. It’s from the Easter Bunny, not your dad.”
The girl considered this. She took a little nibble from the bunny’s ear and sweet chocolate flooded her mouth. She took another bite and then another. She held out the rabbit to her mother and she bit off the remaining ear in one big bite. They laughed and took turns eating until all that was left was the bunny’s chocolate tail.
“Close your eyes and open your mouth,” her mother said. The girl complied and felt her mother place the remaining bit on her tongue and then kiss her on the nose. “Happy Easter,” her mother whispered.

Excerpted from The Overnight Guest by Heather Gudenkauf, Copyright © 2022 by Heather Gudenkauf. Published by arrangement with Harlequin Books S.A.

The Magic of Wor(l)ds

#BlogTour #ZooloosBookTours @zooloo2008 / #QandAs : Birth Rite #BirthRite – Anthony Steven @GaryTwigg1

– ‘The Magic of Wor(l)ds’ blog is a hobby, reviews and other bookish stuff on this site are done for free. –

Today I’m on the ‘Birth Rite’ blogtour, organized by Zooloo’s Book Tours.
To promote this book I have a Q&As post, but before I let you read it first some ‘basic’ information.

About the Author :

I mainly write horror and paranormal thrillers although I am probably the most squeamish of people when it comes to watching horror movies and normally watch the scary parts through my fingers. Why I write in this genre of fiction is therefore quite ironic, but I’ve always been attracted to horror and thrillers in all their forms, whether on print or large and small screen. I have early memories of secretly watching Appointment With Fear with my older brother on an old black-and- white portable TV on Monday night’s when we should have been asleep. The image of Christopher Lee crashing through French windows in the first Hammer Horror Dracula movie, with blood on his fangs chills me to this day!
Predictably, I am a huge fan of Stephen King, but also love writers such as Dean Koontz, Joe Hill, CJ Tudor and James Herbert. When I was a kid, I was fascinated and enthralled by Robert E Howard’s sword-and-sorcery tales of Conan The Barbarian and several other creations, and then by Michael Moorcock’s Eternal Champion series. These stories really fuelled my imagination and made me want to write my own stuff. When my older brother introduced me to Stephen King, I was soon lost in even darker worlds and I haven’t wanted to come out of them ever since. My books are, therefore, quite disturbing, gory at times, but I try to also litter them with characters who, while flawed, display the finer human qualities such as bravery, loyalty, and above all love of other people above themselves. I hope that you think that I have succeeded in this.
In my normal life I work for a charity that supports blind and partially-sighted people and I am also a qualified psychotherapist. This is all after spending twenty-five years in the private sector, where I wasn’t just unfulfilled, but also monumentally bored. Working with people directly to help them solve their own problems was definitely a better fit for me.
I live in Cheshire with my wonderfully patient wife and our small dog, Bailey, who loves nothing better than cuddles, food, and waiting until I’m relaxed of an evening before she demands some attention.

Website
Twitter

Synopsis :

Nine-year-old David Ryan is in mortal danger. He has a deadly secret that is unknown even to himself. But there is someone that does know: a relentless killer born of hatred, who draws upon dark powers to destroy God’s chosen ones.
As David grows into a troubled teenager, he has to confront the truth about himself to have any hope of stopping the malignant spread of evil that is engulfing his small town. He must accept his birth-rite, or the whole world will burn.

Amazon UK
Amazon US

Q&A :

Hi

First of all thank you very much for taking the time to answer my questions, I really appreciate it. Here we go! 🙂

Can you, for those who don’t know you already, tell something about yourself and how you became an author?
I live in Cheshire, England and work for a charity that supports people with sight loss. I live with my wife, Mary, and Bailey, a small dog with a massive personality. I also have many grandchildren and even a great granchild, although I don’t consider myself to be particularly old! Like a lot of writers, I have been writing on and off since I was a child, and have lots of short stories in my virtual trunk. I’ve now written three full-length novels, but only seriously thought about publishing them in the last couple of years, which I now have. I also have my own author website and send monthly newsletters to my email subscribers.

Which books did/do you love to read as a child/now as a grown-up?
I loved the Narnia books by CS Lewis and remember devouring them as a child. I loved lots of other fantasy books as I got older, such as Lord of The Rings, The Sword of Shannarra and the works of Robert E. Howard, which included Conan The Barbarian. As an older teen I outgrew sword and sorcery fiction to a large extent and graduated to horror. My favourite writers to date are Stephen King, Robert McCammon, Joe Hill and CJ Tudor.

Is there a writer whose brain you would love to pick for advice? Who would that be and why?
Predictably, Stephen King.

If you could, which fictional character (from your own book(s) or someone else’s) would you like to invite for tea and why?
From my own books I’d invite psychic Nick Ballard to see if he could read my mind. My favourite fictional character apart from this is The Gunslinger, the hero of Stephen King’s Dark Tower series, although I’m not quite sure that he would be the perfect guest for an afternoon spot of tea and snacks.

Do you have some rituals or habits whilst writing?
Not really. Apart from writing the first draft as quickly as possible and then editing at a more leisurely pace. I always let my wife read the finished article first, as she’s my Ideal Reader.

Where do you come up with your idea(s)? Do people in your life need to be worried? 😉
In the past, people in my life had read my stuff and then looked at me in a different light, I think, as normally I’m the most placid and easy-going person, or so I like to think. It’s funny about ideas. I’ve got a series about a psychic and a policewoman who solve murders in London, and I don’t really know where that came from. My horror novel, Birthrite, is largely derivative of my childhood, so I absolutely know where that came from. Shorter stories seem to come from random ideas and images that develop into stories. For example, I often see people standing on motorway footbridges, looking at the traffic as it passes beneath them. From this, I came up with a short story called The Bridge People.

Are you a plotter or do you go with the flow, as a pantser?
I have a basic structure of a story, but that can often change as I write, so in that way I suppose I’m a bit of a pantser.

Can you give novice writers some tips (do’s/don’ts)?
I think that as novice writers we can develop some bad habits without realising. When I loved all things Robert E. Howard, I probably wrote as a third-rate version of him and the same with Stephen King. I engaged with an organisation called Jericho Writers who helped me to find my own voice and iron out some of those bad habits.

What are your futureplans as an author?
I’m currently writing book three in my psychic/policewoman trilogy, and I’m also compiling an anthology of my short stories, which are all of the horror or thriller genres.

Last, but not least : Can you give my readers one teaser from your book, which is featured here on my blog, please?

At the other end of the platform, a tall, dark figure waited. It began to move forward, and David saw a pale glitter of steel in the uncertain glow of the streetlights. Thoughts of his father were swept away. The Bogeyman had come for him; The Bad Man, The Monster. It punished children who strayed or misbehaved; took sweets from strangers or wet the bed, and now it was here at last. The old stories were all true. He was unable to move or even dislodge the scream that was building in his throat. He was going to die, and God couldn’t save him.

Isn’t that a great reason to pick up this book and to find out more?!
Thanks once again for this lovely interview, Anthony Steven.

The Magic of Wor(l)ds

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P.S. Are you an author (or publisher) who also wants a FREE interview like this? You can always contact me via e-mail!

#MiniBlogBlitz #RachelsRandomResources @rararesources / #QandAs : Eloping With The Laird – Jeanine Englert @JeanineWrites @MillsandBoon @HarlequinBooks

– ‘The Magic of Wor(l)ds’ blog is a hobby, reviews and other bookish stuff on this site are done for free. –

Today I’m on the ‘Eloping With The Laird’ blogtour, organized by Rachel’s Random Resources.
To promote this book I have a Q&As post, but before I let you read it first some ‘basic’ information.

About the Author :

Jeanine Englert’s love affair with mysteries and romance began with Nancy Drew, Murder She Wrote, and her Grandmother’s bookshelves full of romance novels. She is a VIVIAN® and Golden Heart® Finalist as well as a Silver Falchion, Maggie, and Daphne du Maurier Award Winner in historical romance and mystery. Her Scottish Highland historical and historical romantic suspense novels revolve around characters seeking self-acceptance and redemption. When she isn’t wrangling with her characters on the page, she can be found trying to convince her husband to watch her latest Masterpiece or BBC show obsession. She loves to talk about books, writing, her beloved rescue pups, as well as mysteries and romance with other readers. 

Social Media Links:
Website
Facebook
Twitter
GoodReads
BookBub
Instagram

Synopsis :

A man she can trust …
With her life … and her heart?
Ordered by her father to choose a husband by the end of the Highland Games—or he will select one for her—widow Moira Fraser hastily elopes with Rory McKenna, Laird of Blackmore. But they soon discover neither is free of the past. Rory has a price on his head and needs an heir as soon as possible, and Moira’s horrible first marriage has left her afraid of letting her new husband get close …

Purchase Link

Q&A :

Hi

First of all thank you very much for taking the time to answer my questions, I really appreciate it. Here we go! 🙂

Can you, for those who don’t know you already, tell something about yourself and how you became an author?
I’ve wanted to be a published author since I was 8 years old. I wrote poetry and short stories, but it wasn’t until 2013 when I joined Romance Writers of America that I became serious about trying to become a published author. In 2019, I published my first book, a Victorian romantic suspense, Lovely Digits with Soul Mate Publishing. Then, in May of 2021, I published my first historical romance, The Highlander’s Secret Son, with Harlequin/Mills & Boon.

Which books did/do you love to read as a child/now as a grown-up?
I have always loved to read, and my parents used to take me to the library to get the max number of books I could for the summer reading program. My favorites when I was young were Encyclopedia Brown and Nancy Drew. I still love to read mysteries, like the Lady Darby series by Anna Lee Huber, and of course romance. My favorite romance authors are Julie Garwood, Jude Deveraux, and Mary Jo Putney.

Is there a writer whose brain you would love to pick for advice? Who would that be and why?
I would love to talk at length with Jayne Anne Krentz. Not only do I love her Amanda Quick books, but I’ve loved every writing session I’ve heard her speak at and learned something new every time.

If you could, which fictional character (from your own book(s) or someone else’s) would you like to invite for tea and why?
I am currently obsessed with Adam Dalgleish from the Dalgleish tv series based on the P. D. James’ novels. I would love to chat over tea with him. A poet and a detective? What an amazing combination.

Do you have some rituals or habits whilst writing?
I use music to plot many of my scenes, and I write best early in the morning (like 4-5am early) with just my lamp on, several cups of black coffee, and my eldest pup sleeping beside me.

Where do you come up with your idea(s)? Do people in your life need to be worried? 😉
The ideas I get are often triggered by a meshing of something in my current environment with something that’s been spooling up in my imagination without me even knowing it. And I never know when it will finally push itself to the forefront of my mind. None of my characters are related directly to the people in my life, but some of them do share traits. 😊

Are you a plotter or do you go with the flow, as a pantser?
I have tried so hard to be more of a plotter, but I’m not. I am a full blown pantser. Even when I attempt to plot, the characters often drive me in a different direction as the book goes on.

Can you give novice writers some tips (do’s/don’ts)?
1) Finish the book; don’t keep editing the first few chapters over and over again.
2) Just because an agent or publisher says yes to you doesn’t mean you have to say yes to them. Pick the agent and publisher that are right for you.
3) Stay in your own lane. Do not worry about what other authors are doing or you will lose your purpose and your joy.
4) Listen to your books as you edit.
5) Edit from the end of the book to the beginning.

What are your futureplans as an author?
To be open to whatever opportunities come my way with my writing! Also, there are two more books in the Falling for a Stewart Series coming out with Harlequin Historical. Book 2, The Lost Laird from Her Past, is coming out in July 2022.

Last, but not least : Can you give my readers one teaser from your book, which is featured here on my blog, please?
Of course!
Set up: In this scene from chapter 2, our hero Rory McKenna responds to widow Moira Fraser’s statement that he is her first choice for a husband. Since, it is well known throughout the Highlands that he is ill and expected to succumb to the dreaded curse that has claimed his ancestors, he is surprised by her response and inquires as to her intentions.

First?
Rory McKenna had never been anyone’s first choice for anything, let alone a woman’s first choice for a husband. ‘I’m sorry, did you say I was your first choice?’
‘Aye,’ she answered. ‘My brother Ewan has apprised me of some of the other…options for a husband, but I believe you and I would suit one another, quite well actually.’
‘How could you possibly know that when we’ve never met before?’
She hesitated and a slight flush rose in her cheeks. ‘Because you are dying, my laird.’
What did one say to that?
‘And here I believed you might be intrigued by my title, estate or good looks,’ he teased, rubbing the back of his neck. ‘I must say I have never met anyone quite like you, Mrs Fraser.’
Her blush deepened and her shoulders rolled in, reminding him of a raven tucking in its wings. ‘You must think me a horrible person. Now that I’ve said it aloud, I realise how awful it sounds. I don’t wish for you to die, my laird. I’m not that kind of person. Truly.’
He studied her for a moment. Though she didn’t seem that kind of person, one could never tell, could they?
‘Your logic intrigues me,’ he stated. ‘Why do you wish to marry a dying man? How could that possibly benefit you?’ He angled his body closer to her, hoping she would open up once more. He didn’t quite know if he should believe her or not. She had just absorbed a hard fall. Her logic could be impaired.
‘My laird, I have no fantasy of love. Mostly I wish to have a simple, peaceful life and future of my own choosing, but as a woman that is not an option. If I must select a husband, then knowing it will not be for long…would be strangely comforting.’ She shifted on the timber as she stared out in the distance, her features flat and pale.
Something deep inside him shifted, and his body tightened; his initial shadowy thoughts about her reservations to remarry came into sharper focus. What had happened to her? He wished to reach out and touch her, comfort her, protect her, but he ran his open palms down his trews instead. He didn’t trust himself. He had little to offer her and from the looks of it she deserved everything.

Isn’t that a great reason to pick up this book and to find out more?!
Thanks once again for this lovely interview, Jeanine Englert.

Giveaway :

Warm up with a Scottish Highland Giveaway! (Open to UK / US)
Cozy up with a beautiful cashmere scarf made in Scotland, some book swag, and a Scottish Blessings bracelet while you read my latest Highlander romance, Eloping with the Laird! I hope you enjoy this first book in the Falling for a Stewart series! Happy reading!

*Terms and Conditions – UK & US entries welcome. Please enter using the Rafflecopter box below. The winner will be selected at random via Rafflecopter from all valid entries and will be notified by Twitter and/or email. If no response is received within 7 days then Rachel’s Random Resources reserves the right to select an alternative winner. Open to all entrants aged 18 or over. Any personal data given as part of the competition entry is used for this purpose only and will not be shared with third parties, with the exception of the winners’ information. This will passed to the giveaway organiser and used only for fulfilment of the prize, after which time Rachel’s Random Resources will delete the data. I am not responsible for despatch or delivery of the prize.

A Rafflecopter Giveaway

The Magic of Wor(l)ds

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P.S. Are you an author (or publisher) who also wants a FREE interview like this? You can always contact me via e-mail!

#BlogTour #RachelsRandomResources @rararesources / #PromoPost : At Death’s Door (The Shires Mysteries 2) – Anna Legat @LegatWriter @AccentPress

– ‘The Magic of Wor(l)ds’ blog is a hobby, reviews and other bookish stuff on this site are done for free. –

Today I’m on the ‘At Death’s Door’ blogtour, organized by Rachel’s Random Resources.
To promote this book I have a some ‘basic’ information for you.

About the Author :

Anna Legat is a Wiltshire-based author, best known for her DI Gillian Marsh murder mystery series. Murder isn’t the only thing on her mind. She dabbles in a wide variety of genres, ranging from dark humorous comedy, through magic realism to dystopian. A globe-trotter and Jack-of-all-trades, Anna has been an attorney, legal adviser, a silver-service waitress, a school teacher and a librarian. She has lived in far-flung places all over the world where she delighted in people-watching and collecting precious life experiences for her stories. Anna writes, reads, lives and breathes books and can no longer tell the difference between fact and fiction.
Subscribe to Anna’s News, Rumours and Scandalous Revelations at https://landing.mailerlite.com/webforms/landing/j6b7k1.

Social Media Links:
Website 
Twitter
Facebook 

Synopsis :

BOOK TWO IN THE SHIRES MYSTERIES – A GRIPPING NEW COSY CRIME MYSTERY.
When Maggie Kaye and Sam Dee join the Bishops Well archaeological dig, they are as surprised as everyone else to unearth a body that was buried there less than fifty years ago. It can’t possibly be the remains of an ancient Celt.
Maggie, with her usual flair – and psychic intuition – is convinced that there is more to this discovery than meets the eye. And some Bishops residents seem to know a lot more about the case than they are willing to let on.
But nobody is as shocked as Maggie when a face from the past – a face she thought she’d never see again – appears in the village, and long-hidden secrets begin to surface.
With danger at her door, and Sam by her side, can Maggie uncover the truth before it’s too late?
A TWISTY NEW WHODUNNIT, FOR FANS OF BETTY ROWLANDS, FAITH MARTIN AND JOY ELLIS.

Purchase Links:
Amazon
Waterstones
Kobo
hive.co.uk

The Magic of Wor(l)ds

#BlogTour #ZooloosBookTours @ZooloosBT / #Excerpt : Ashes of Innocence (The Wilson Files, Book 1) #AshesOfInnocence #TheWilsonFiles – Phil Price @PhilPrice19 @SpellBoundBks

– ‘The Magic of Wor(l)ds’ blog is a hobby, reviews and other bookish stuff on this site are done for free. –

Today I’m on the ‘Ashes of Innocence’ blogtour, organized by Zooloo’s Book Tours.
To promote this book I have an excerpt, but before I let you read it first some ‘basic’ information.

About the Author :

Phil Price was born in Sutton Coldfield in 1974. He lived in various places in the UK until his family settled in Rednal, a suburb on the outskirts of Birmingham in 1979. Growing up with an older brother and sister, he always flirted with reading, his home always littered with books. Then in 1997, Phil embarked on a travel expedition that took him from Greece to Thailand, via East and Southern Africa. Sitting in dusty bus stations in Kenya, Tanzania and Malawi with Wilbur Smith and James Herbert accompanying him, his imagination was sparked into life. Since those far-off days, he has never been without a book to read.
Phil started toying with the idea of writing a book in 2009. After writing a few short stories, he caught a whiff of an idea in his head. It started to evolve in 2010 until he had enough to begin his writing journey. Marriage and two children came along, with the story being moved to the back burner for periods of time. However, during those periods of writing inactivity, the story continued to manifest until it just needed one thing. To be written down.
The story was littered with places that had influenced Phil’s life. From the Lickey Hills in Birmingham to the Amatola Mountains in South Africa, with other many other locations, in-between and far beyond.
The book was finished sometime in 2014, left on his computer until a chance conversation with an author friend made Phil take the bold step to publish his story, Unknown.
From there, Phil’s love for the first book spurred him on, creating The Forsaken Series. A vampire/paranormal/horror trilogy, set in our world, and others too. His love of horror and all things supernatural, inspired by authors such as King, Herbert and others, helped create the epic series.
After writing a science fiction novel, titled Zoo, Phil released his first psychological thriller, Ashes of Innocence, a story that he’d kept bubbling away for many years.
Aside from his writing, Phil lives on the edge of a small town in Worcestershire, UK. A wife and two sons keep Phil happily occupied as he steers his way through life, playing the husband, dad and world creator in equal measure

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Synopsis :

He was fighting for his country in a far-off land, hoping to make his home a safer place for his family.
Twelve years ago John Wilson returned from conflict prepared to put the past behind him and settle down.
He never thought he would survive the horrors of war only to find a bigger threat stalking the streets at home.
A vicious incident involving two young boys blows John’s world apart robbing him of what he loves most.
Now, just as John finally seems to be getting his life back on track, shadowy figures from his past emerge and threaten to take the one thing left worth fighting for.
Just how much can one man take ?

Amazon UK
Amazon US

Excerpt :

A few minutes before, the three figures came to the same stretch of road. “I want Mummy,” Lottie stated matter-of-factly.
“Don’t worry,” Sean soothed, his vision swimming as he pulled her towards a steel flyover that spanned a dual-carriageway next to a disused rail yard. “We’re taking you to her now.”
“But she’s in the shop,” the little girl replied insistently. “I want Mummy.”
“Sean,” Luke said. “What are we doing?”
“Shut it,” the older brother hissed. “You said she was the evil doll. She looks just like her.” She’ll probably slit our throats if we let her.”
“I’m not a doll,” Lottie countered. “I have lots of dollies at home.”
“It’s okay,” Sean replied, taking another swig of vodka to dull the rising panic he now felt. “We have some dollies over there,” the teenager pointing towards the rail yard. The brothers were unsteady on their feet, as they had consumed the second joint a few minutes before the girl had come walking out of the coffee shop with a throng of customers. Both brothers had seen the likeness to the doll from the horror movie, their addled minds twisting reality before they led her away.
“Sean. We’re gonna get in trouble for this. If people find out we’ve taken her, the police will be after us and you’ve already been in trouble with them.”
“Shut it. I know what I’m doing. No one knows we’ve got her.” They came down the other side of the flyover as traffic still trundled past on the nearby motorway. A footpath led off in either direction, hugging the dual-carriageway that was devoid of traffic. “We need to get off the road. Someone will spot us any minute.”
“I want my Mummy!” Lottie shrieked, trying to pull away from Sean’s grip.
“Shut the fuck up!” he shouted, his piercing grey eyes glaring at her. Lottie flinched before the tears began. She wailed in his grip as a car appeared a few hundred yards away, its headlights fighting against the dreary afternoon. “In there,” Sean barked, pointing towards a gap in the steel fencing that led to the disused rail yard. The brothers ducked through the hole, dragging the protesting four-year-old with them.
“Make her quiet, Sean,” Luke hissed. “She’s driving me mad.” He placed his hand over her mouth to quieten her. Lottie responding by biting the boy’s little finger until she broke the skin. “FUCK!” he screamed, yanking his hand away. “Little bastard,” he hollered, inspecting the damaged finger. He kicked out at the little girl, catching her on the thigh, making Lottie cry out in pain.

The Magic of Wor(l)ds