Sunday, March 31, 2013

Orangeberry Book Tours – Kaleidoscope World by Tomica Scavina

A collector of kaleidoscopes and lousy relationships, Dahlia Kasper leaves her possessive alcoholic mother and moves from New York to Barcelona. In search of lost bits of her childhood, she starts living in an apartment where her father was murdered when she was four. As soon as she enters the apartment, strange things begin to happen.

Her favorite kaleidoscope becomes a gateway to another dimension where she encounters a ghost of a famous physicist from the 19th century who tries to persuade her that reality is like a moth-eaten sweater – full of holes. He needs her to help him plug up these holes and save the world from vanishing, while the only thing Dahlia really wants to save is her sanity.

This is just a part of Dahlia’s problems. An elderly cello-playing neighbor turns her emotional world upside down and her longing for lost home takes her further than she ever imagined she could go. To collect all the scattered kaleidoscope-bits of her life together, Dahlia needs to go through an intense inner transformation that takes courage and a sharp sense of humor.

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Genre – Psychological Thriller

Rating – PG

More details about the author & the book

Connect with Tomica Scavina on GoodReads & Twitter

Website http://www.tomicascavina.com/

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Author Interview – Tomica Scavina

What inspired you to write this book? As a psychologist, I have an invaluable opportunity to explore the hidden dimensions of people’s minds. In my early twenties, I was impressed by edgy phenomena such as lucid dreaming and out-of-body experiences. Now, at 37, it is reality that impresses me, while the edgy perspective has moved into the realm of fiction. I wanted to connect all those perspectives and experiences into one engaging story.

How you would describe your typical working day? I write in my study room in the mornings, usually from 7 till 10. This is the only time I can write, because later on, real people’s stories drag my attention away from my fictional stories. I work as a psychotherapist and conduct a writing therapy program, which is really fulfilling, but also demanding, so whenever I can, I run over to a nearby café Laganini (which means Easily). In Laganini I often think about the plot and characters or write answers to an interview (as I am doing now) into my yellow-green notebook. In the evening, I usually watch a movie with my boyfriend or hang out with friends.

What was the hardest part about writing this book? When I wrote two thirds of the novel and realized that I had to start leading the story towards an end, I faced some kind of an emotional wall. It always happens to me at this stage of writing. I feel disconnected from the inner world of my heroine and need some time to collect myself. I know her world will become alive again in the mind of a reader, but the process of creation will end, and when I see this from my heroine’s perspective, it’s like facing the end of the world. The borders will be set, the creative movement will stop. For me, this is disturbing.

Do you recall how your interest in writing originated? I was nine years old and I wanted to share a secret with my father. I wrote it on a piece of paper and gave it to him. He didn’t really get it, but the paper did. The paper had fully accepted what I wrote – without distortion, without judgement, without advice. I think this was the seed of my love towards writing, which later evolved into writing diaries, poetry and prose.

How did you develop your plot and characters? The idea for Kaleidoscope World was “kaleidoscopic” from the very beginning. First I had the pieces: kaleidoscope as a magical object, cellist with a missing finger and a half-crazy heroine. These pictures/ideas were somehow magnetic to me, and when I put them together, they created the main idea: kaleidoscope as a tunnel to another dimension. Which dimension is real – this one or that one? I won’t explain the cellist’s role, because I don’t want to spoil the reading. What I want to point out is that the plot somehow created itself. I just had to shake up the kaleidoscope bits, and the whole picture was there. Once I had it, I dove into it and wrote Kaleidoscope World pretty smoothly in less then a year.

Buy Now @ Amazon

Genre – Psychological Thriller

Rating – PG

More details about the author & the book

Connect with Tomica Scavina on GoodReads & Twitter

Website http://www.tomicascavina.com/

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Saturday, March 30, 2013

Orangeberry Spring Fling - Dark Lady of Doona by Christine Frost


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Known as “Granía of the Gamblers,” Granía O’Malley makes a high-stakes bet to buy her freedom and the ability to continue her livelihood as pirate queen on Ireland’s west coast. She enters into a dangerous agreement with Queen Elizabeth’s spymaster, Sir Francis Walsingham, and soon finds herself caught up in a web of intrigue that is plunging her country, as well as her family, into chaos. 

At war with a cruel governor while serving as one of Walsingham’s many spies, Granía struggles to maintain stability within her family and fleet and provide an enduring legacy for her heir to the seas. A story full of adventure and passion, Dark Lady of Doona portrays the life of a formidable woman who defied traditions by commanding her own fleet of ships and leading her loyal followers into rebellion.

Buy at Amazon
Genre – Historical Fiction (R)
Connect with Christine Frost on Facebook & Twitter

Friday, March 29, 2013

Orangeberry Book of the Day - The Gauguin Connection by Estelle Ryan



Murdered artists. Masterful forgeries.
Art crime at its worst.

A straightforward murder investigation quickly turns into a quagmire of stolen Eurocorps weapons, a money-laundering charity, forged art and high-ranking EU officials abusing their power.

As an insurance investigator and world renowned expert in nonverbal communication, Dr Genevieve Lenard faces the daily challenge of living a successful, independent life. Particularly because she has to deal with her high functioning Autism. Nothing - not her studies, her high IQ or her astounding analytical skills - prepared her for the changes about to take place in her life.

It started as a favour to help her boss' acerbic friend look into the murder of a young artist, but soon it proves to be far more complex. Forced out of her predictable routines, safe environment and limited social interaction, Genevieve is thrown into exploring the meaning of friendship, expanding her social definitions, and for the first time in her life be part of a team in a race to stop more artists from being murdered.

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Genre - Mystery
Rating – PG13
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Connect with Estelle Ryan on Facebook

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Orangeberry Spring Fling - Playing the Genetic Lottery by Terri Morgan


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"Caitlin’s story touched me deep in my soul" ~ Marina

"Terri Morgan's depictions of the disorder are realistic as well as haunting." ~ Allizabeth Collins

At fifteen, Ava ran away from home and changed her name to Caitlin to escape the chaotic childhood of having two schizophrenic parents. However, she lives with the constant fear of what lies in her DNA. Will she succumb to the disease that robbed her of a normal childhood? Will her children be the next victims of the family curse?

"its a roller-coaster ride of emotions" ~ Sandra

Looking for an emotional and touching story of human strength and overcoming obstacles? Read Terri Morgan's fictional memoir PLAYING THE GENETIC LOTTERY.

Buy at Amazon
Genre – Fictional Memoir (PG13)
Connect with Terri Morgan on Facebook

Thursday, March 28, 2013

Orangeberry Book of the Day - Only A Glow (The White Warrior) by Nichelle Rae



What if the world was ending? What if only you had the power to save it? And what if your power wasn't in your control? Welcome to Azrel's dilemma. "Only A Glow" is the first book in an epic new fantasy series, The White Warrior. Join Azrel, her brother Rabryn, and her best friend Ortheldo as they journey across their land to try to save the world from another age of the Shadow Gods rule. Along the way they try to find out what's wrong with Azrel's magic, because her magic is the only power that will cause the Shadow Gods to stumble and fail.

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Genre - Epic Fantasy 
Rating – PG13
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Connect with Nichelle Rae on Facebook & Twitter

Orangeberry Spring Fling - Tongues of Angels by Julia Park Tracey


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Author Julia Park was married to a Roman Catholic priest for several years and heard many stories of wonder and woe. From those tales comes a novel, Tongues of Angels, an insider's view of the Catholic Church and the priesthood as it stands today.Tongues of Angels:Meet Rob Souza as he faces the challenges of the priesthood-gossip, innuendo, church politics, public scandals-and Jessica, a young woman with a secret past. Meet Lawrence, Rob's best friend, a gay priest who somehow becomes the third in this odd love triangle. While Jessica finds hope and healing, Rob and Lawrence discover that, despite their best intentions, a promise of celibacy is hard to keep. Tongues of Angels offers a peek behind the curtain of the priesthood, offering a funny, poignant look at Catholic angst and ambiguity. Based on a true story, Tongues of Angels is a canny, warm and surprisingly spiritual novel for our time.

Buy at Amazon
Genre – Romantic Suspense (PG13)
Connect with Julia Park Tracey on Facebook and Twitter

Wednesday, March 27, 2013

Orangeberry Book Of The Day – Playing Nice by Rebekah Crane

Martina “Marty” Hart is really nice. At least, that’s what people think.

It’s Marty’s junior year at Minster High. Minster’s a small town where making great grades, smiling pretty, helping old people, running the new-student Welcoming Committee, and putting up decorations for all the dances–including the totally awful Hot Shot fall hunting celebration–gets you … what? Marty’s not sure.

Instead of dreaming about a sororities-and-frats future at nearby University of Michigan, she’s restless, searching for a way out of the box her controlling mother and best frenemy Sarah have locked her in. When Lil–don’t call her Lily!–Hatfield transfers to Minster, Marty gets her chance. Lil’s different. She smokes, wears black, listens to angry punk records, and lives in a weird trailer with her mother. Lil has secrets–secrets that make her a target for all the gossiping and online bullying Minster can muster. But so does Marty. And Marty sees something different in Lil. Something honest. Something real.

Playing Nice is the achingly real story of a girl who’s been following the rules for so long she’s forgotten who she was when she started. It’s about falling in love with the wrong people and not seeing the right ones, about the moments in life when you step out of line, take a chance … and begin to break free.

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Genre – Young Adult / Bullying

Rating – PG13

More details about the author

Connect with Rebekah Crane on Facebook & Twitter

Website http://rebekahcrane.tumblr.com/

Orangeberry Spring Fling – I Have People by Taylor Dean

 

 

OB-SPRING-FLING

 

 

ihavepeople thumb

Holly Sinclair is happily married to the love of her life, Gabriel. Young and in love, Holly hopes to have their first child soon. Of course, Gabriel wants to wait till Holly’s health is restored, much to Holly’s dismay. She feels perfectly fine. So what if she just woke up from an eight-month coma? So what if some of her memories are missing? She remembers Gabe and that’s all that matters, right?

That is, until HE enters her life again . . . she forgot about HIM.

Buy at Amazon

Genre – Contemporary Romance (PG13)

Connect with Taylor Dean on Facebook

Website - http://www.taylordeanbooks.com/

 

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Blue Hearts of Mars by Nicole Grotepas

 
Blue Hearts of Mars by Nicole Grotepas


Retta Heikkinen knows the unspoken rule of society: love between androids and humans is forbidden. A simple enough edict until Hemingway Koskinen spends an evening charming her with his intense gaze, bewitching smile, and sparkling conversation that hints at so much more than the usual obsessions of high school boys. Rules were meant to be cast aside, especially when love beckons.

If only it were as simple as being in love.

Trouble is brewing, not just for Hemingway--for all androids. Secrets have been kept, lies propagated, and Retta soon discovers that a frightening future awaits thousands of androids if she doesn’t do something to stop it. Worse yet, she will lose the one love she’s ever endangered herself for: Hemingway.



Praise

"Nothing like I've read before. A true original story! Everything is so well described. Now if they could make a follow up book and movie, that would be great!" ~Mrs. Z (Amazon)

"I was addicted to this book from the beginning. Life on Mars was very real and not at all a sci fi world I didn't understand . . . I found myself rooting for Retta and Hemingway from the very beginning. Easy reading, couldn't put it down and had it read in a weekend. Waiting for a sequel!" ~TNielsen (Amazon)

"The ending of this book is exceptional. While it was different from what I imagined, the way the author brought in a shocking revelation was amazing. I probably reread the last chapter 3 times letting it sink in and the meaning behind it. It was truly beautiful . . . I would love to see more of Retta and Hemingway!" ~Kat Meyer, (Goodreads)

"I love how the author populated Mars . . . so descriptive and comprehensive . . . I could clearly picture everything as if I was seeing the movie &/or was along for the ride. . . . Retta, the main character, is strong, opinionated, and a great champion for her cause." ~Megan (Amazon)

"I had been in the worst reading slump ever and came across this on Goodreads and thought I'd give it a try. Well, I was pleasantly surprised on how funny and exciting and mysterious it was . . . Mei, Retta's bff, had me laughing out loud quite a bit as well as Retta herself. I'd definitely hang out with those two." ~Deanneluvbooks (Goodreads)



Blue Hearts of Mars has made it to the quarterfinals of the Amazon Breakthrough Novel Award.

Readers are invited to download the excerpts (here) and rate and comment on the entries. So please, if you want to contribute, download and rate Blue Hearts! Your support is incredibly appreciated!


Or purchase the full version of the book here: Amazon




Author Nicole Grotepas

Nicole wrote her first fantasy novel in 7th grade on her mother's old Brother typewriter. It was never finished but it strongly resembled a Dragonlance plot and she's forever wondered what happened to the manuscript and Tonathan--the handsome elven protagonist. After living in Nashville where she worked as an editor, she returned to the Utah desert where she was raised. Nicole now lives near the Wasatch mountains with her husband. She writes and raises her son and three cats full time.
 


 

Tour Schedule





Book Blast Giveaway
$50 Amazon Gift Card or Paypal Cash
Ends 4/14/13

Open only to those who can legally enter, receive and use an Amazon.com Gift Code or Paypal Cash. Winning Entry will be verified prior to prize being awarded. No purchase necessary. You must be 18 or older to enter or have your parent enter for you. The winner will be chosen by rafflecopter and announced here as well as emailed and will have 48 hours to respond or a new winner will be chosen. This giveaway is in no way associated with Facebook, Twitter, Rafflecopter or any other entity unless otherwise specified. The number of eligible entries received determines the odds of winning. Giveaway was organized by Kathy from I Am A Reader, Not A Writer http://iamareader.com and sponsored by the author. VOID WHERE PROHIBITED BY LAW.


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Tuesday, March 26, 2013

Jordan Rosenfeld – Forged in Grace – Excerpt

Prologue

I feel swimmy, high, adrenaline on full tilt, though I haven’t consumed a drop of alcohol. “We need to subdue him first,” I hear myself say. “Can’t just slap a hand on his face and hope it knocks him out.”

Marly nods, though she is too encumbered to move quickly, and me—there’s no guarantee of what I can do.

“I have pepper spray,” she fidgets with her purse as though she’s about to withdraw it. “And it’s not like we have to break in, Grace. He’ll let us in, when he sees it’s me. Think I’m coming to talk.”

“Okay, then,” I say, before I lose my nerve. And we get in her car and drive.

We park and walk four residential blocks. The streets are lit by yellow halogen lamps, but there’s also a nearly-full moon. Its bold light makes me feel bolstered, sanctioned. Marly points to his condo, one square box among many in a beige world of homogenous residences.

“This could have been my life,” Marly whispers, her face a portrait of disgust. “I should be in that kitchen right now making dinner, then go spread my legs for him. I can’t believe he thought he could get away with what he did to me.”

The guilt surges through me again. If only I hadn’t healed away the evidence. But we didn’t know. Nobody could have known.

“Let’s do it soon, before I chicken out.” My palms have begun to ache with heat.

“Damn straight,” she agrees, and the toss of her hair is so familiar it’s like we’re fifteen again.

Simultaneously, we take a deep breath.

Marly repeats her lines, “I’ll say we’re here to talk—that I brought you as my friend and witness. That will put him on his best behavior. And you?”

I choke a little on my own saliva, cough, and answer, “I’ll ask for a glass of water, say I got too much sun today. He’ll take one look at me and have a hard time refusing, right?”

Marly pats her purse. “Let’s go.” She’s always one step ahead of me.

Chapter One

Drake’s Bay

This morning my hands are so hot, sweat slides my mug out of my grasp and coffee spills down my right leg, like liquid fire. On the way to the bus in the pre-sunrise dark, a voice from the past drifts to me, as though I am a radio tower. “Grace, you’re mistress of your destiny.” Marly’s voice. “Come on! Tell the flame.” Whether the memory has been summoned by the pain or something else, I go to work cavalier as always, as though my heightened senses are not a portent, as if everything is not about to change.

***

At the office, Dr. Lieb—Adam to me—is hunched over the fax machine, jiggling it, the paper jammed. The thrum of its electricity beats inside me, like blood in my veins. If he tugs too hard, the fax—thin as laboratory-grown skin—will rip, and he’ll say “shit” and then look around as though he’s killed someone’s pet kitten. I marvel at how capable he is with patients, such steady hands, and how inept he is with the simplest of office equipment (and women).

He hasn’t caught sight of me yet. I’m about to impose myself between him and the machine, to keep him from breaking it, when Helen, party pooper on any moment that resembles intimacy, hurries into the office and flicks on the fluorescents. I cringe against their light.

“Oh, good lord, you two scared me,” she says, but scowls at me, as though her fright is my fault. She steps up so close to Adam that if he were to turn too quickly they might kiss. He frowns and almost hops backwards, which pleases me. When Helen has something to deliver to my desk, she drops it in a hurry, as though I am leprous. You can’t catch this, I want to tell her. But sometimes, I wish I could disfigure people with the slightest look.

“I’m glad you’re here early, Dr. Lieb, I need to consult with you,” she says, and touches a hand coyly to her businesslike bun. Behind her is a poster of the human musculature system, the body looking like a victim of torture, flayed down to tender bits.

He scowls at the fax and looks quickly at me with a plea in his eyes.

“I’ve got it,” I say, a knowing smile twisted on my lips. “Go ahead.”

I expect him to attend to Helen’s insistence—but to my surprise he pushes his dark brown bangs, always an inch too long, out of his eyes and sighs. “Helen, if it can wait? I need to talk to Grace.”

The princess snubbed for the toad. I try not to do a victory dance. Helen buttons it up and strides into the front office like a third place runner-up in a beauty contest.

I put my hands on the fax machine as a cue that I’m going to take over, and he slides his own away, before we can chance a touch. And oh, the kinds of touches we actually make are nothing like what passes through my mind: his callused fingers on the few smooth places left on my body: between my thighs, at the back of my neck as it curves into my spine.

“You’re here early,” he says, jarring me out of my fantasy. This is one of those moments when I’m glad it’s hard to read the expressions on my face. His smile etches a groove into his forehead, fanning out crow’s feet deeper than a thirty-nine-year-old man should have.

“I wanted to say goodbye to Hera before I got here,” I say, thinking of her keen eyes, the way she gazed calmly at me as though we were more alike than not.

He shakes his head in sympathy. Sometimes, a bird, even one as wild as the bald eagle, refuses to go from the Drake’s Bay Wildlife center, and I’m secretly glad even though I know that a life locked in a mesh-covered cage is no life for a wild animal. I see enough of their bloodied carcasses during my weekly volunteer visits. Surrounded as we are by reckless bird and rodent life in our little town, I’m glad I don’t drive.

“I’ll watch out for her,” he says. This makes me nervous; he’s already a distracted driver, the kind prone to missing his exit and running over curbs (though no people, yet) because he’s focused on thoughts of his work.

Before he has to ask, I pop the button, releasing the jammed paper, and his face softens with gratitude, as though I’ve laid a cure for cancer in his lap.

“What did you need to talk to me about?” I ask then, recalling his dismissal of Helen.

He dims whatever he’s viewing on his inner scope and turns his focus on me. “I said yes to a low-cost vaccination clinic next weekend. I was hoping you’d come keep me company, though I know you prefer the beasts to the people,” he says with the hint of a grin.

“You’re lucky you need me.” I shake a fist in mock-anger.

He does too much. It’s why his dark hair is tufted with early gray. My hands itch to smooth the wrinkles gathered at his shoulders, but I don’t dare for many reasons, psychosomatic pain and visions notwithstanding; sometimes I’m afraid of my own impulse control, that it will start as a dusting of lint and the next thing he knows I’ve got his torn open shirt in my hands.

“Oh come on,” I say, “It’s not that you want me there so much as you don’t want to sic Helen’s Imperial Attitude on the undeserving public.”

His smirk is a smile fighting itself, then quickly becomes a chuckle. “I’m awful to laugh,” he says.

What am I, then?

“Well, your taste in employees is a little questionable, I mean look at me.” I wish I could nudge him in the shoulder as casually as any other co-worker.

“Come on now,” he says. “You keep us all in line.”

Is that all? What do I expect him to say: “I can’t live without you”?

“Actually, there’s something else,” he says, and an old man’s worries shine through his young face—like his father handed down decades of anxiety along with his practice. “Do you know Jana Horowitz? She used to run that little consignment store downtown?”

I do know her—she has wild fly-away hair and lipstick that is never confined by her lips, always handing out home remedies and folk cures along with cheap clothing. I nod.

“She’s technically a patient here,” he says.

“What do you mean ‘technically’?”

“Well, she never comes in. But when pain in her abdomen got to be too much, her daughter goaded her into a blood panel and a CT Scan. Turns out she’s got cancer. Bad cancer.”

“As opposed to the kind and gentle version, you mean?”

“Haha.” He sticks his tongue out. “The problem is, she intends to treat it with vinegar and trips to her energy healer.” If Nurse Helen could see him like this, maybe her love of order would protest; maybe she’d stop standing so close to him.

“Oh yeah, those terrible energy healers with their mighty crystals and all-powerful chakra clearing kits,” I say. Yet I suddenly picture hearty Jana Horowitz whittling down like the flayed-open muscle man in the poster, a skeleton with a tumbleweed of hair.

Adam is used to my irreverence and knows when to press on to finish his point. “Her daughter wants me to talk her into treatment. I just… Grace, I’ll never get used to this Northern California attitude, where people think of medicine as a last resort. And I’m not saying it’s all crap, but this is cancer. She needs chemotherapy.”

“So what can I do to help?” I ask.

He smiles. “Talk to her.”

“Me? I’m not even a nurse.”

“But you could do your thing where you crack a little joke, break the ice, and then lay the seriousness on her. Let her know that all the folk remedies in the world won’t cure cancer, and what the consequences look like.”

It’s a painful death. I know this much from patients who pass through our doors, happy to have appointments for things that don’t involve radiation or poisons pumped through their veins. But I’m stunned he’s asking this of me. After the fire, I read all the stories I could find of spontaneous healings among monks and yogis and even civilians in near-death accidents. There were nights when I tried to conjure that same energy, holding my mother’s cats down, determined to heal their fight-born wounds, half serious about trying it on myself next.

The office phone rings then—a horrible seventies jangling sound, because Adam-the-Frugal still refuses to upgrade the phone system his father put into place.

“Don’t answer it yet,” he says, his hand reaching out as though to stop me but then he reels it in, remembering, and I swear I can feel the heat of his hand where it nearly caressed me. “We’re not open for another half hour.”

I nod, liking the way we feel in cahoots.

There’s a mechanical click as the old-fashioned answering machine begins, and we look at each other gleefully, as though we are hiding from someone, like Marly and I used to do after antagonizing a local boy.

“I’m calling to inform your office that my grandmother…” The woman’s voice splinters, and in its husky timber I swear I know her. The air in the office suddenly feels heavy. I remember the way my hands were hot this morning, and now all the patchwork parts of me light up with similar heat.

The woman clears her throat. “I’m sorry. My grandmother, Oona Donovan, has passed away.” Her voice is husky with grief. “Obviously, she won’t be able to make her appointment today. And you can cancel any others. Also, um, if anyone from your office wants to uh, pay regards, the funeral is tomorrow. Anthem Church. 5:00 p.m.”

Oona Donovan. That name, or more specifically the voice speaking it, burrows straight through me, unearthing Marly Kennet, and my last glimpse of her thirteen years ago through a veil of flames.

I am surprised to feel tears at the backs of my eyes, as I lean into the counter for support. For the eight years I’ve worked for Adam, Oona Donovan has come in for run-of-the-mill medications to battle the ailments of aging; sat, fidgeting in the waiting room, casting glances my direction but saying nothing, her face full of unasked questions. On a couple of occasions I came close to asking her if we could have tea, so I could put my hands on hers and see if the truth of where Marly went and why she never contacted me would come rushing through her skin.

“Grace? Did I upset you by asking you to talk to Jana?” Adam inches his hand toward me as though to stroke mine, but of course he can’t offer the kind of comfort I need. No powerful hug, no tender placing of his palm on my shoulder. The doctors say the pain I feel upon contact, and worse, the visions, are all just psychosomatic, PTSD gone unchecked, but it feels damn real to me.

“No, it’s just, I knew that woman,” I say. “The one who left a message about her grandmother. Marly Kennet.”

My former best friend. She’s in town. She must know I work for Adam; her grandmother would have told her. That phone call was meant for me: a coward’s invitation. This knowledge of her presence is an almost chemical feeling—like we are magnetic particles destined to scuttle together. What is it about that girl that she says “leap” and you’re already in the air? Ma’s voice from years ago.

I walk away from Adam and drop into my chair, dragged far away from this moment. I’m no longer twenty-eight but fifteen. Marly, staring down an oncoming car, wild blonde hair in stark silhouette. Me, tugging on her arm, pleading for her to move. In recalling her, I can remember what it felt like when my skin flexed with ease, when the pores on the top half of my body could sweat. When I had hair and both eyebrows.

“Marly. Why does that name sound familiar?” Adam says.

I’ve never spoken to him about her, not even to the people in my burn group.  I used to say her name to myself, the ‘M’ a smooth ride, tasting the ‘R’ on my tongue, her name a wave rolling over me just like she did, knocking me down, then righting me again.

“She was the one,” I say to Adam. “With me, the night of the fire.”

The only one who really knows what happened to me.

Buy Now @ Amazon

Genre – Psychological Suspense

Rating – R

Connect with Jordan Rosenfeld on Facebook & Twitter

Website http://indie-visible.com/

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Orangeberry Book Tours – Forged in Grace by Jordan Rosenfeld

At age 15, a horrific fire left Grace Jensen scarred and highly sensitive to the pain of anyone she touches. Thirteen years later, living with her hoarder mother and half-in-love with her former doctor, her long-absent best friend, Marly Kennet, returns to town and convinces Grace to make a leap-of-faith trip to Las Vegas. There, Grace discovers she doesn’t only feel others’ pain, she can heal it. This healing gift soon turns darker when the truth of Marly’s past and the fire that scarred Grace is revealed, pushing the boundaries of loyalty and exposing both women to danger.

Buy Now @ Amazon

Genre – Psychological Suspense

Rating – R

Connect with Jordan Rosenfeld on Facebook & Twitter

Website http://indie-visible.com/

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Orangeberry Blast Off - Away From The Spotlight - Tamara Carlisle

away from the spotlight

In the closing weeks of law school, Shannon Sutherland meets handsome and charming Englishman Will MacKenzie. Initially swept off her feet, Shannon finds that Will has a secret that, once discovered and the consequences realized, could destroy their fledgling relationship. Will and Shannon take great pains to have a normal relationship but, ultimately, find it impossible to do so. Will the pressures of their careers and the temptations of others drive Will and Shannon apart? Can Will and Shannon live a happy life away from the spotlight?
Tamara Carlisle takes you on a romantic ride that explores the consequences of fame and a love that endures all.

Buy at Amazon

Genre – Contemporary Romance (PG13)

Connect with Tamara Carlisle on Facebook

Website - https://tamaracarlisle.com/

Check out this author’s book feature, guest post, Top 10 & interview

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Avery Snow Book Blast and Giveaway

Are you an Avery Snow fan?
The highly anticipated sequel to The Many of Lives of Avery Snow is here!
 
The Unraveling of Avery Snow 
by Christy Sloat
 
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#AverySnow

And get your own copy of The Unraveling of Avery Snow
As Avery Snow settles into her life and relationships with those around her, she fights to forget her past lives. All of which she spent with Landon, who still has no recollection of who she really is. It seems better that way. Even though she still feels a draw to his soul, she chooses to ignore it.

For now everything is fine. Her boyfriend, Dallas, has opened a new restaurant. Her friends, Ianni and Kerri, are settling into their lives as well. But when news of a new Dark Guide is revealed, Avery is forced to start thinking about the life she truly leads. One that is very abnormal. One she is desperate to forget. This Dark Guide is determined to make Avery pay for the death of someone she held dear.

Now Avery’s life has gone from seemingly perfect to falling apart. What will be at stake next? Her life? Her love? And who will be there in the end to help her up off the ground?

Even the strongest love can unravel.

Will Avery be able to hold it all together, or will she just let go?
 
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Forged in Grace by Jordan E. Rosenfeld

Forged in GraceForged in Grace by Jordan E. Rosenfeld
My rating: 5 of 5 stars

What do you think the author was trying to accomplish with this novel? To make people examine how it feels to be different. That friends can reconnect and be just as close as they were before.

Who was your favorite character? Grace - her courage and strength was astonishing. I was touched by the empathy she felt for other people.

Consider the main character: what does he or she believe in? Grace has to fight for everything. Doing the right thing. Friendship.

What did you think of the main character? The main character was Grace and she just had to keep focused on forging ahead in her life. She left everything behind - her mother, her job.

Disclosure: I received a review copy of this book from the author.

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Sunday, March 24, 2013

Orangeberry Book Of The Day– The Symbolon (The Sibylline Trilogy) by Delia Colvin

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The Symbolon is the passionate second novel of the addictive Sibylline Trilogy!

For 3000 years, Alex has dreamt of a life with his mortal beloved, Valeria. And it appears that they will at last have a chance for a life together!

But when they approach the ancient council of immortals, for approval of the marriage,
they discover that sinister forces object to their union. Soon they find themselves faced with terrifying threats including a devastating separation that neither may survive!

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Genre – Paranormal

Rating – PG

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Website http://www.deliacolvin.com/

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Orangeberry Book Tours – Cruxim by Karin Cox

Amedeo is Cruxim, an immortal fallen angel destined to seek redemption as a vampire hunter, quenching his insatiable hunger on their blood. But when the object of his passion, the novice nun Joslyn–his beautiful charge with whom he has fallen in love–is kissed by darkness and joins the leader of a powerful vampire coven, Amedeo’s worlds collide. Shattered by the loss of his beloved, he vows to rid the world of vampires once and for all, even if that seems hopeless, even if it means destroying Josyln in the process. But he cannot do it alone. Can he even do it at all?

Joining him on his quest to rid the world of the undead is Sabine–a guardian. Half-woman, half-lioness, she is a Sphinx who has been protecting humans from vampires since the dawn of time. Although immortal ever after, she is pursued by an evil scientist, Dr. Claus Gandler, who knows the secret of her mythological past and her immortality and vows to torment her for eternity or destroy her forever. When the two are captured and paraded as the focus of Dr. Gandler’s Circus of Curiosities, will Joslyn prove their redemption, or their nemesis?

A powerful gothic paranormal game of cat and mouse, Cruxim explores the beast within and the sacrifice, rapture, redemption, and regrets of eternal love.

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Genre – Paranormal Romance

Rating – PG15+ (some violence & swearing. No sex)

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Blog http://karincox.wordpress.com/

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Orangeberry Book Of The Day – Gallows Ascending (Stone Quest) by Leigh Podgorski

 

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Gallows Ascending continues the saga of tracker and pyschic visionary Luke Stone in Book Two of the Stone Quest Series.

It has been thirteen years since Luke’s confrontation in the desert with his nemesis, black magician Armand Jacobi. Luke’s wife Consuelo, whom he met at Eppie Falco’s Desert Inn and Café has died, and Luke has placed himself once again in exile. This time, his wanderings have brought him to the seaside village of New Camen, New Hampshire.

Into his self-imposed solitude drops Dr. Bethany Rutledge. Accused of the murder of her eight year old daughter, stripped of her license to practice medicine, her marriage to politician Adrian Mountzaire in tatters, Beth Rutledge is haunted nightly by the chilling vision of a young woman’s brutal death by hanging.

Adding to this mix is the disappearance of an adolescent boy that appears to be centered in the tiny hamlet of New Camen. Then, Adrian Mountzaire turns up dead with his estranged wife Beth Rutledge lying in the sand beside him.

Despite his best efforts to resist the temptation, Luke is falling in love with Beth Rutledge, and she with him. Beth has unlocked the frozen reaches of his heart–the heart that was frozen when his beloved Consuelo was taken by breast cancer several years before and he could do nothing to save her.

Now, Luke must not only find the lost boy, but find the real killer of Adrian Mountzaire in order to save his beloved from the same fate that haunts her restless dreams.

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Genre – Metaphysical / Mystery

Rating – PG

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Karin Cox – What Inspired Me to Write Cruxim

What Inspired Me to Write Cruxim

by Karin Cox

I think it’s true for most novelists that inspiration often comes from strange sources. For me, it usually means a weird idea popping into my head at about 2 am, when I’m struggling to fall asleep, or a book arising from something I latched on to in a dream (when I finally manage to sleep). But the inspiration for Cruxim actually came from a photograph. About eight years ago, I invested in a writing workshop at Byron Bay Writer’s festival, here in Australia. It was run by Stephen Lang, author of An Accidental Terrorist, and he showed the class a photograph of a gothic tower and asked us to describe it using all of the senses. I wrote the first few paragraphs of a story, which sat there for several years until I found it scribbled in a notebook and considered expanding on it. The trouble was—I had no clue what I wanted to do with that snippet of writing.

I had the idea of making the person in the tower a mythological creature, but I wanted to make him and his love interest something a little unusual, something far less standard than a vampire or a werewolf, or even an angel. I knew I needed to make him very conflicted about his past and his role in the world. As I was searching through mythological creatures, I read about the Kresnik, a creature from Croatian mythology that is sometimes also called Cruxim, or a Dark Angel. They dine on vampires, but they are basically angels rather than evil. I decided to explore making my hero an angelic being whose mission was to kill vampires, because how can you be considered holy and yet spend your life killing others, even if those others are vampires? It leads to parallels with the Christian crusades, or with the idea of Jihad. And then I wondered, what if someone dear to him became a vampire? How would he handle that, when his mission is to kill them all? And the rest of the story sort of just fell into place.

I ended up incorporating the freakshow—Gandler’s Circus of Curiosities—because I’m fascinated by the concept and the cruelty of freakshows, which were commonplace in the 18th and early 19th centuries. I think it is human nature to be a little curious about mutation, but the way the people in freakshows were exploited is frightening. Nowadays, it seems almost unthinkable that freakshows like the one in Cruxim were ever allowed, but in the early 1700s, a lot of the underlying medical or heredity reasons behind conditions were unknown, so some were considered almost a mythology in themselves, or a punishment, a curse, or a supernatural affliction. Freakshows were mostly phased out by the mid-1900s, but now we fill our need for the unexplained with shows like “Crossing Over”, “Embarrassing Bodies”, documentaries about ghosts and the supernatural, or Ripley’s Believe It or Not. Our curiosity about the “other” is still very much alive.

For Cruxim, Gandler’s Circus of Curiosities presented a really good opportunity to juxtapose the mythological with the supposedly “freakish”. Often, there is a scientific or rational explanation for the things that we consider otherworldly, and I wanted to put my mythological Sphinx and Cruxim in a place where they were the true unexplained “freaks of nature.” Doing that enabled me to spend more time exploring Amedeo’s relationship with his Maker, too. Why had he been singled out to be this creature unlike any other? How did he feel about his mission and about the path he had to follow?

Like all novels, Cruxim is an amalgamation of ideas and themes. The kernel of it all was that gothic tower in the photograph, but as soon as I started writing it grew into so much more. I like to think that it explores the idea of “the beast within” and whether we allow ourselves to be led by animal urges or by rational or moral decisions, or whether fate, alone, guides us by the hand. In Cruxim’s case, I think Amedeo is influenced by a little of each—and perhaps we all are.

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Genre – Paranormal Romance

Rating – PG15+ (some violence & swearing. No sex)

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Blog http://karincox.wordpress.com/

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Saturday, March 23, 2013

Orangeberry Book Of The Day – Wildflowers by Schledia Benefield

Have you ever feared what may be hiding deep within you?

Darkness often skulks in the blood of unsuspecting victims, but Aster McGrath is acutely aware of the violence coursing through his veins. After all, he is the son of a murderer, and everyone in the town of Bayville, Mississippi says he will end up just like his father.

When Susan Blackman moves into town, Aster has already embraced his brutal nature, but her gentle spirit draws him in and slowly melts the icy exterior of his heart. Taming his savagery, she professes her love, but will the good within him be able to overcome the evil lurking deep inside? Or will the fiend break free of its fetters and seek blood?

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Genre – YA Contemporary Romance

Rating – PG13

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Blog http://schlediabenefield.blogspot.com/

Friday, March 22, 2013

Orangeberry Book Of The Day – Books by Eleanor T Beaty

On the Caribbean island of Maurray, spoiled-rotten, fifteen-year-old Hanna wakes up to a nightmare. She is not the daughter of an aristocrat but the orphan of a Gypsy. She is the descendant to a mystical Gypsy tribe. Their magic is strong and has lasted six hundred years. Ornella, the tribe’s guardian, arrives at the island with her mutt, Count Dracula, to guide Hanna. Hanna is told she must embrace her heritage or die at the ripe age of seventeen. But Hanna does the unthinkable, she chooses death. She hates Gypsies and would rather die. What she doesn’t know is that her death will destroy the entire tribe. What she also doesn’t know is how persuasive Ornella can be. The nightmare begins.

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Genre – YA / Paranormal

Rating – PG13

For sixteen years, Lya, has lived as a normal human, until her father, Walter, gets involved with the wrong people and puts Lya’s life at risk. During a visit to Miami, Lya’s older sister is kidnapped, and Lya and her father are subsequently taken hostage by Walter’s associates and forced to board a plane to India. When the plane lands in Delhi, Lya is rescued by three monks and taken to a Monastery. There her reality is shattered, when she learns the true identity of her rescuers and, even more surprisingly, herself. Lya is now faced with the toughest decision of her life. Can she live up to her ethereal destiny and save her family?

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Genre – YA / Paranormal

Rating – PG13

Alex’s life is turned upside down after his father’s sudden death. An old pamphlet found in his father’s belongings leads Alex and his mother, Charlotte, to a remote Polynesian island. His mother longs for a place untouched by past memories, and Alex hopes the trip will help her to heal.

Their arrival on the island elicits an eerie episode of déjà vu for Alex, and he begins to wonder about the pamphlet and his father’s past. Why did he have it? Had he been there before?

Alex senses something is off with the island. Progress is unwelcome by the inhabitants. A local girl reveals the history of the island and its dark spirits. She warns him to never be caught outside after dark, but Alex finds it all hard to believe… Until inexplicable and terrifying events begin to unfold. While digging for information, Alex finds his presence on the haunted island is not by chance. Rangur, the most evil of souls, aims to use him to acquire great power. There’s only one way Alex can stop him and for that he must uncover his father’s past connection to the island.

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Genre – YA / Paranormal

Rating – PG13

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Orangeberry Book Of The Day – The Book by Jessica Bell

This book is not The Book. The Book is in this book. And The Book in this book is both the goodie and the baddie.

Bonnie is five. She wants to bury The Book because it is a demon that should go to hell. Penny, Bonnie’s mother, does bury The Book, but every day she digs it up and writes in it. John, Bonnie’s father, doesn’t live with them anymore. But he still likes to write in it from time to time. Ted, Bonnie’s stepfather, would like to write in The Book, but Penny won’t allow it.

To Bonnie, The Book is sadness.
To Penny, The Book is liberation.
To John, The Book is forgiveness.
To Ted, The Book is envy.
But The Book in this book isn’t what it seems at all.

If there was one thing in this world you wished you could hold in your hand, what would it be? The world bets it would be The Book.

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Genre – Contemporary Fiction

Rating – PG13

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Website http://www.jessicabellauthor.com/

Wednesday, March 20, 2013

Orangeberry Book Of The Day – Dark Mountain by Robert Michael

While hiking on a lonely mountain in Arkansas, Jacob Barclay finds a cabin with a terrible secret.

Sheriff Billy Joe Shoemaker discovers that his small, backwoods town may hold more danger than he ever imagined.

Molly Carothers, lost in a sea of woods, starving and scared, believes she has found a guardian angel to free her.

Brian Carothers, haunted by his family’s heritage, struggles with his sanity.

Victor Carothers influences his family through fear and blood. Along with his wife, Patsy, they find victims among transients and strangers as they seek to sate their appetite for the occult.

The lives of the town of Bexton, Arkansas depend upon Jacob, the strange Yankee seeking adventure and solace. Jacob finds he is faced with a struggling faith, and the realization that sometimes evil runs in the family.

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Genre – Horror / Suspense

Rating – PG

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Blog http://www.robertamichael.blogspot.com/

Blog http://www.infinitewordpress.com/

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Tuesday, March 19, 2013

Orangeberry Book Of The Day - Beyond Escape - Deborah Jensen

 

After separating from her husband of twenty years, Kim is in desperate need of an escape. Retreating to her parents’ home in Texas for a month, Kim encounters ample distractions, the best being Camilo, an alluring Latino man seventeen years her junior. However, when returning to Texas unearths memories of a long-ago lover, Kim discovers her unintentional involvement in a series of dangerous escapades, bringing her deeper into her past than she ever cared to venture. Beyond Escape follows Kim as she pursues a trail of drugs, murder, and secret love affairs that were meant to stay buried.

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Genre – Women’s Contemporary Fiction / Romance

Rating – PG13

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Website http://www.deborahkjensen.com/

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Kathleen Shoop – How To Write Fiction & Become a Better Writer

How long have you been writing? I’ve been writing fiction for 13 or 14 years, but it was when my son was born prematurely and I reduced my workload to be at home more that I decided I would treat writing as my job—even with my regular, formal part-time work.

When did you first know you could be a writer? I wrote my first novel and two of my neighbors would read it and give me feedback. The book had a ton of problems, but they would pull out the parts where they laughed their asses off or they felt it was moving or powerful or a character was strong and even with the novel’s problems, they would encourage me and in their reactions to what did work, I found the place in me that said, “this is what you should be doing…” I think they really demonstrated the power others have in supporting someone’s work.

What inspires you to write and why?  Life! Nearly everything I see is inspirational to me in some way. Even boring events are ripe with material. The way one woman digs through her purse and pokes at her phone with her long nails slipping off the buttons, or the man who is so bored he doesn’t realize he’s just picked his nose in a room full of fellow parents…there is no experience that isn’t in some way usable in my writing.What genre are you most comfortable writing?

What inspired you to write your first book? College life inspired my first book. I lived with one of the most interesting people I’ve ever met. She was absolutely everything I was not—self-assured, sassy, brilliant, carefree, self-depricating, and a smoker. We were both drinkers…but we just clicked on some level and spent so much time doing stupid, dangerous/hilarious things that never failed to make me think, “oh, my God, I have to write about this…” I’m not sure I’ve ever met anyone else like her—someone with such a fully developed sense of who she was and what she needed to do or not do to accomplish her goals.

Who or what influenced your writing once you began? I joined writers groups like FatPlum in Pittsburgh and PennWriters in Pennsylvania. There I met lovely people willing to not only support the content, the actual writing process, but they supported me as I went down the path of traditional publication. I found an agent, but she didn’t sell the first book she took on and then she turned down the others thinking they weren’t marketable—too small and quiet to be breakout novels. These groups and the individuals in them really helped me wade though the next steps in that situation.

Who or what influenced your writing over the years? Well, as publishing changed and opened up to self/indie publishing, my mentors changed a bit. There are many that I met in those original groups whom I still see and talk to regularly, but as I took on the responsibility of not only turning out the best book I could, but added the jobs related to publishing, I found I needed to meet with people who were doing that.

What made you want to be a writer?  What do you consider the most challenging about writing a novel, or about writing in general? For me, it’s the revision after the first and second drafts. I adore the first draft—just letting it all out…and I adore the finished product, but in between…it’s painful for me. I’ve started to enjoy the process of revision more, I really, really like playing with the exact words I want to use and the way I want a sentence to flow, stop and start. That has grown on me a bunch as I learned to trust that the words are there, that the first choice was not necessarily the best.

Did writing this book teach you anything and what was it? This book, Love and Other Subjects, taught me a lot about my career path. The novel was inspired by my first years of teaching and the group of women I lived with at the time. They were absolutely incredible people and teachers and I was just okay…oh my gosh, the single smartest thing about me at that time was that I knew what I didn’t know. And I was smart enough to go find the answers when no one had them at the school or in the county. I was a good teacher when I could boil down my day to actual teaching (like I was able to do at the very high-functioning, wealthy suburban district where I did my internship)…but add in discipline, chaos, and the plethora of stuff many teachers have to do beyond actually teaching and I really struggled at the time. The book also allowed me to explore race, friendship and love in a way that my first two books didn’t. Love and Other Subjects was just such a fun book for me to write. Very straightforward compared to the others I’ve written. I guess the book also is a reflection of what I learned professionally over the years more than a project that taught me in the way my historical fiction does. The race issue required me to really examine my experiences with friends and work as well. Writing about another race in a fictional way is tricky. I can only hope it comes across as respectfully done, that it shows the character of Carolyn growing in what she understands about other races and cultures.

Do you intend to make writing a career? It already is my career!

Have you developed a specific writing style? I don’t think so. All three books are about different times in history and each required a completely different style…I’m writing a follow-up to The Last Letter right now and I’m finding that as soon as I’m in the writing, that voice comes back…that tells me it was the right one for that book.

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Genre – Women’s Fiction

Rating – PG15

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