Pages

Wednesday, December 30, 2020

The Hush Sisters Tour and Giveaway

 

The Hush Sisters
by Gerard Collins
Genre: Gothic Fiction

***49TH SHELF UTTERLY FANTASTIC BOOK FOR FALL***

Sissy and Ava Hush are estranged, middle-aged sisters with little in common beyond their upbringing in a peculiar manor in downtown St. John’s. With both parents now dead, the siblings must decide what to do with the old house they’ve inherited. Despite their individual loneliness, neither is willing to change or cede to the other’s intentions. As the sisters discover the house’s dark secrets, the spirits of the past awaken, and strange events envelop them. The Hush sisters must either face these sinister forces together or be forever ripped apart.

In The Hush Sisters, Gerard Collins weaves psychological suspense with elements of the fantastic to craft a contemporary urban gothic that will keep readers spellbound until the novel whispers its startling secrets.



Sissy fixed the tea—red mug for Ava and black one for Sissy—and brought it to the table where she took up her favourite seat in the entire house. From there, if she turned around, she had a view of the back garden and, in a natural sitting position, a perfect line of sight through the kitchen and down the hallway toward the curved staircase with its wide bottom step, past the exposed brick chimney opposite the stairs, and all the way to the red front door. “Sorry there’s no sugar or cream,” she said.

“Don’t tell me—you gave them up?” Ava flashed a cheeky grin.

Sissy smiled and said, “Months ago.”

“You’re practically a monk,” said Ava as she drummed her scarlet-painted fingernails on the tabletop. “I don’t know how you stand it here with all this...old stuff.”

While she sipped from her dark mug, Sissy considered her response and wished for the drumming to stop. “It’s comforting to have all these connections to the past.”

Ava’s red-lipsticked mouth appeared to form a question. But instead of speaking, she closed her eyes and tilted her head back. “Listen.” Ava paused, allowing the natural world to have its say—the crick-crack of the walls and floorboards whenever the wind gusted, the long, inquisitive trill of a robin redbreast in one of the trees, and the chitter of a squirrel. “It’s like discordant music.” She smiled.

“The old place has its charms,” Sissy said.

Ava composed herself, willing the humour from her business-blue eyes. “You know I couldn’t live here.”

“I’m not in favour of selling,” Sissy said as she fingered the handle of her mug. “I told you already.”

“But you can’t afford to keep it up. Not by yourself.” Ava sipped her tea. “I don’t know how you live in this old city.”

“Old, old, old,” said Sissy. “That’s all you ever say about things around here. The house is too old. The city’s too old. Our father was too old to keep living here—”

“I still think he would’ve been better off at the old folks’ home till the end.”

“We both would’ve been better off if he’d stayed there.” Sissy could feel herself hardening, on the verge of closing herself off and shutting down. “But I had nightmares about him, especially after Harry…anyway, now we’re deciding this together.”

“It’s an old house, Sissy. It’s too big for you. You told me yourself you can’t afford to run it, financially or otherwise.” Ava glanced past Sissy and toward the garden, out to where the bright yellow sunflower heads bobbed in agreement with the late-summer breeze. “It’s as much mine as yours. I have a say.”

“But I can’t see it as a bed and breakfast. People coming and going. No privacy. Always serving meals, making beds. It’s not how I want to spend the rest of my life.”

“Then come live with me.”

Sissy caught a glimpse of the barefooted ghost girl, leaning out over the curved part of the stairwell that overlooked the entrance to the living room, her hair draping the shoulders of her white dress. Her hands grasped the railing in front of her. Hello, Clair. She didn’t respond, but Sissy could tell Clair was listening by the way she became very still.

“You know how I feel about Toronto, Ava. You know.

“Yes, well, you’re not the first girl from St. John’s to hate Toronto.”

“It’s cold there. And dark. And money-driven.” 

“And it’s not St. John’s. You might as well admit it. You hate change. You always have, and now when there’s an opportunity—”

“Opportunity? I have a life too, Ava. Look around you. Our parents, love them or hate them, lived here. Their parents built this house, and now I live in it too. Harry and I shared a marriage here. We were married in the backyard.”

“And you’ll be buried in the backyard, too?” Ava shrugged. “It’s just a house. I mean, sure, it’s big and glorious in its own way. In spite of everything bad that happened here, we had some fun times. I get it. My God—the big dinners, the fancy cars in the driveway. The Craigmillars. The Monroes. They all came here, didn’t they?”

“I used to hide in my closet till they were gone.”

Clair turned her head slightly toward the kitchen.

“I know you did,” said Ava. “I assumed it was just too much for you.”

Clair suddenly sat down on the fifth step and started to rock, as she often did, a motion Sissy could vaguely detect.

“They all loved you. You were the cute one that sang and played ‘Silvery Moon’ on the Steinway.” Sissy nodded toward the living room where the Victorian grand piano, with its reddish-brown mahogany satin finish, sat facing the wall.

“It was expected.” A shadow crossed Ava’s face, which caused Sissy to study her older sister, the unexpected softness of her features, especially the crow’s feet. The blonde hair suited her, she supposed. “You could have played, too,” Ava continued. “You play beautifully.”

“I didn’t want to.”

“That was your choice.” Ava grinned. “‘Amazing Grace,’ I remember. You played lots of hymns and Irish music.”

Sissy shrugged. “I’m just not as comfortable with attention as you are. I played for myself.” She sauntered to the living room and stood beside the piano. “You have even more memories here than I do.”

“Mostly bad ones.” Ava turned and watched Sissy as she caressed the edge of the closed key cover of the piano.

Sissy lifted the cover, which made its usual soft thump, and peered into the keyboard. She jabbed at a black key, a sombre A-flat that travelled and lingered, till at last it fell to a whisper and then became silent.

“But we’ve barely even talked about the bad ones.” Ava followed Sissy into the living room as the note vanished. She sat down on the piano bench, as Sissy drifted away. “We’re a family of mutes,” said Ava.

Sissy closed her eyes, feeling as if she were leaving her body. When she turned and opened them, she found herself looking at the Rostotski portrait over the piano. “What’s done is done. Talking about it wouldn’t serve any purpose.”

Ava looked up at the same portrait. Through the upper corner of the living room window, sunshine streamed in and struck a mirror on the opposite wall above the fireplace, which reflected toward the piano and divided the photograph—the older sister awash in amber light, the younger one shrouded in darkness. The sisters thought of it as their own private Stonehenge, when the sun struck that mirror at the precise time of day, during a certain time of year, to light up the half the Rostotski. 

“I remember when that was taken.” The conviction in Ava’s eyes intermingled with sadness. The waning sun shone on the left side of her face as well as that of her youthful likeness. For a moment, she seemed suspended in time, halfway between fact and fiction. Reality and dream. Present and past.





GERARD COLLINS is a Newfoundland writer whose first novel,nbsp; Finton Moon , was nominated for the International Dublin Literary Award and won the Percy Janes First Novel Award. His short-story collection,nbsp; Moonlight Sketches , won the NL Book Award, and his stories have been published widely in journals and anthologies. He lives in southern New Brunswick.




Follow the tour HERE for special content and a giveaway!

$15 Amazon giftcard,
ebooks of Finton Moon and Moonlight Sketches by Gerard Collins
- 1 winner each 

Immortality Shattered Tour and Giveaway

 


Law of the Heretic
Immortality Shattered Book 1
by Christian Warren Freed
Genre: Epic Fantasy


The Staff of Life has been lost for a thousand years. Imbued with the powers to dominate all life, the Staff can save or ruin the Free Lands. Many have sought out the Staff. All failed. Until now.

The time of peace is ending. Betraying his oath and bond, the Black Imelin murders former friends and sets out to find the lost Staff of Life. With it he will bring the Free Lands to their knees.

Author Christian Warren Freed brings a new world to life with Law of the Heretic. Filled with dangers, monsters, and creatures hidden for centuries, Immortality Shattered delivers the same intense action and character driven world building combined with his military experience that fans worldwide have come to enjoy.

A small band of heroes assembles but success is far from guaranteed. Life and death hang in the balance and the future is in doubt.

Start the epic journey of two men struggling with what they are and who they were meant to be.



 The Golden Warriors slowed their approach to a walk as they entered the thickest part of the forest. Morningstars, lethal spiked balls dangling on chains, hung loose in anticipation. Every trooper felt it. Battle was about to be joined. The forest had grown deathly quiet. Even the wind stopped blowing. The Golden Warriors knew all too well the tactics of the former Aragothian army. They also knew that the advantage would remain theirs, so long as the troop remained mounted.

Patting his horse’s neck in reassurance, more for his own sanity than for the horse, Aron lifted the face piece on his helmet. He swore he spotted the glitter of gold dangling from distant trees. Perhaps he was tired, allowing fatigue to influence his mind. Mistakes were commonplace in military operations. He stopped his horse and gestured Amean forward. Together they stared into the deceiving forest. Pale rays of sunlight threw light where otherwise dark would be, while casting shadows into the visible world.

I may be old, and a bit of a fool, but that looks like armor,” Amean said, without humor.

Aron closed his eyes. His worst fears were being realized and now collided with the quiet urges of sleep already taunting him. “I feared this. Get five men to come with me. I don’t want the rest of the troop seeing this.”

The scouts?”

Aron nodded.



The Bitter War of Always
Immortality Shattered Book 2

The war has begun.

The Black Imelin’s campaign of domination spreads across the northern kingdom of Galdea. Legions of darklings, freed from their prison, ravage the Free Lands. All Imelin needs is the Staff of Life to return to Meisthelm a conqueror.

Aron Kryte finds himself in an impossible position. Not only is he the last descendent of the mad Ils Kincannon, the man who once tried to enslave the world, but he is the destined bearer of the Staff of Life. He and his band of heroes secure the Staff before Imelin and flee east. Self-doubt plagues the young lord of the Golden Warriors as he struggles to come to terms with not only his past, but his destiny.

Far to the southeast, former High Counselor Sylin Marth has gone in search of the legendary wizard Elxander. His hopes that the wizard will return to help the Hierarchy put an end to Imelin and the war are mired by doubts. Finding Elxander is easy. Reaching him is another matter, for he must cross the width of the Goblin Lands, face a dragon, and escape capture.

Time is against them all, for the skies darken and the war spreads.



The Land of Wicked Shadows
Immortality Shattered Book 3

Armies rage across the Free Lands.

The Galdeans, led by Field Marshal Dlorn, defeated the darklings at the Crimson Fields and now head south, for word has come that the Black Imelin has turned his aim toward Meisthelm. With the army of the Hierarchy engaged far to the south, Dlorn and his Galdeans are the only force capable of stopping Imelin.

Elsyn and the others reel from the loss of Aron Kryte. His death in the freezing river has robbed them of the will to go on, but go on they must. Exhausted from constant campaigning, Elsyn leads a small group east, toward the city of Hryast, where they hope to evade Imelin’s roving armies long enough to reach the security of Meisthelm. They must protect the Staff of Life at all costs or the war is lost.

Sylin Marth’s quest to discover the wizard Elxander has taken him far across the Free Lands. Hunted and harried the entire way, he and his band of dwarves finally come face to face with what he hopes will prove to be their salvation.

Treachery, betrayal, and determination fill the Free Lands. Whoever wins the war, none of the kingdoms will ever be the same again.




Storm Upon the Dawn
Immortality Shattered Book 4


Chaos rages unchecked across the Free Lands as armies of light and darkness clash.

The High Council has been destroyed. Meisthelm has fallen. Killed in the ultimate act of betrayal, the Black Imelin no longer threatens the world. In his stead, a stronger, more powerful villain has arisen and continues the work he began.

Aron Kryte and his companions struggle with their next course of action. Armies of darklings and Rovers continue to plague the Free Lands. Only by combining the armies of Galdea and the Hierarchy do they stand a chance of defeating the rising evil.

Poros Pendyier and the remnants of the Free Rebellion, combined with the might of the Dagger Trolls, prepare to stop the evil growing in Morthus. It is here the traitorous Arlyn Gert has decided to build her empire from which to dominate the Free Lands. All she needs to do is secure Mordrun Hath, the Forge of Wizards.

The land of Sadith Oom, forgotten by generations, has become a place of unrest. Armies of friend and foe converge upon the desolate kingdom, for it is here that the end of times will begin. If victory is to be achieved, Aron Kryte must destroy the Staff of Life in the wizard fires of Mordrun Hath.

Friends will fall. Heroes will rise. The final hour approaches.



Christian W. Freed was born in Buffalo, N.Y. more years ago than he would like to remember. After spending more than 20 years in the active duty US Army he has turned his talents to writing. Since retiring, he has gone on to publish 17 military fantasy and science fiction novels, as well as his memoirs from his time in Iraq and Afghanistan. His first published book (Hammers in the Wind) has been the #1 free book on Kindle 4 times and he holds a fancy certificate from the L Ron Hubbard Writers of the Future Contest.
Passionate about history, he combines his knowledge of the past with modern military tactics to create an engaging, quasi-realistic world for the readers. He graduated from Campbell University with a degree in history and is pursuing a Masters of Arts degree in Military History from Norwich University. He currently lives outside of Raleigh, N.C. and devotes his time to writing, his family, and their two Bernese Mountain Dogs. If you drive by you might just find him on the porch with a cigar in one hand and a pen in the other.





Follow the tour HERE for special content and a giveaway!

$25 Amazon 


Broken Toys Tour and Giveaway

 

Broken Toys
by Glenda Thompson
Genre: Thriller


Texas Ranger Noah Morgan has his life together—with a great job and the girl of his dreams. Too bad it's all based on a lie. A single phone call threatens to bring it all crashing down. After an irate citizen complains shoddy workmanship has left him with a booby-trapped driveway, and the local sheriff's office is too busy to respond, Noah takes the call. The investigation of local scam artists uncovers a human trafficking ring. Noah fights to avoid being swept back into the sights of his murderous family—people he escaped at the age of seventeen.

Can he keep his past a secret or will his carefully crafted life come to a violent end?


In the bedroom, he rummaged through the top drawer of his dresser, searching for the engagement ring. It wasn’t there. I know I put it in here somewhere. He opened the second drawer. Tossed t-shirts around. 

No ring. Starting to panic he jerked open the third drawer. The tiny blue box, snuggled in the corner of the drawer beneath his rolled socks, winked up at him. His shoulders sagged in relief. He reached in, grabbed the box, and opened it.

Empty. No ring.




A sixth-generation Texan with Scottish roots, Glenda Thompson can 'bless your heart' with the best of them. As a former emergency medical technician married to a south Texas Lawman, she's used insider information from both their careers as inspiration to build her Broken world of Texas Rangers with hidden pasts and dark secrets. When she's not busy embarrassing her children or grandchildren by dancing in the middle of a country road during a rainstorm, she can be found huddled in her writing cave with her law enforcement technical adviser/husband working on another story in her Broken universe.




Follow the tour HERE for special content and a giveaway!

$25 Amazon


Pierre the Peacock Blitz

 


Children’s Book

Date Published: Dec. 11, 2017

Publisher: Jan-Carol Publishing, Inc.



Pierre the Peacock is delightfully illustrated with a valuable message. It is about acceptance, friendship and a valuable lesson in how we should treat people. Come with us as we meet Pierre, a peacock who thinks that he will get friends just from his pretty looks. When he meets Jerry, a colorblind little boy, he teaches Pierre that what matters is how you treat people, not what you look like. A lesson for all of us!


About the Author


Jocelyn Mooneyhan Lacey is a native of Johnson City, TN, where she graduated from Science Hill High School and East Tennessee State University with a B.A. in Mass Communications. She met her husband, Steven Lacey, at ETSU, and they have since lived in Maine, Rhode Island, the Outer Banks of North Carolina, and now have settled in New Jersey for the time being. She also shares her home with two dogs, a cat, and three fish.


Contact Links

Goodreads

Instagram: @hapigirl10

GoFundMe


Purchase Links

Amazon

Barnes and Noble


RABT Book Tours & PR

Tuesday, December 29, 2020

✱✱Audio Book Review✱✱ Untold Mayhem: An Assortment of Violence By: Mark Tullius

 

Untold Mayhem: An Assortment of Violence
By: Mark Tullius
Narrated by: Stacy Gonzalez, Michael David Axtell, Amadeo Fusca, Angelo Di Loreto, Jennifer O'Donnell, Chris Andrew Ciulla, Vivienne Leheny, Landon Woodson, Jay Ben Markson


Twenty-four tales of madmen, monsters, and misery.

A tantalizing blend of horror, suspense, and crime stories; each unique but all dark, disturbing, and violent.

In the audiobook lurk:

  • A tarot card reader who makes house calls.
  • A disabled man in a miserable marriage who is regaining the use of his arms.
  • An ex-con who can’t resist carrying out one last home invasion.
  • Bickering business partners that resort to unconventional mediation to solve their problems.
  • An alcoholic pedophile forced to spend time in the desert.
  • A troubled university student who goes on a bloody rampage.
  • An alert detective who makes an unorthodox decision when he finds himself in the middle of an armed robbery.
GoodReads               BookBub 


Momma Says: 2 stars⭐⭐

I'm usually all for anthologies. They typically offer a good variety of stories, and if you run across one you don't care for, you can always move on to the next. At least, that's the way it works for me more often than not - and on those off times, I run into one like this one, one that disappoints me more than I care for. There were a few stories that I liked better than others, like the story of the tarot card reader or the one about what comes through a strange hole in the wall, but some took the obvious and easy way to conclusion, one or two that went beyond violent or creepy and were just disgusting, and several were repetitive. There were also some that felt like I'd heard them before. Maybe it was just similarities to something else, but some of these stories seemed awfully familiar.
The bright spot of this anthology was the variety of voices. The different narrators worked well for the various characters as well as the fact that the stories were all independent of each other. Many times, I'm turned off by a reading style or particular voice, but with Untold Mayhem, the opposite was true. The voices kept me listening when I would've otherwise given up. 
So, while this book didn't really work for me, I do believe it has its place and would probably appeal to many. Some of the stories are creative and have a little bit of a Ray Bradbury vibe that many would enjoy.                                                                                                                    
✽✽Review copy provided by NetGalley and Vincere Press
 

Manners From the Moon Tour and Giveaway

 


Manners From the Moon
by Simeon A. Shigg
Genre: Children's Fiction


Moon watched over the Earth for ages, but was too far to help Earth with her problems.

That is until she received help from some friends.

Manners from the Moon is a heartfelt reminder to use your manners in every way, every day. 

Moon, Sea Turtle, Owl, and Wolf share an important message with their friends that is needed today. 

A simple story with a powerful message of kindness and hope for tomorrow.




Simeon is husband to his 9th grade Geometry classmate and father to one daughter.  He was born in Los Angeles, raised in a loving two parent household, and molded by many afternoon church services, playing piano for gas money and too much television.  This is his first published work even though he has been writing his dreams in notebooks or cloud-based applications for years.
  


Follow the tour HERE for special content and a giveaway!

$10 Amazon gift card, 
Free ebook copy of Manners From the Moon
 – 1 winner each 

A Refuge Bay Christmas Tour and Giveaway

 


A Refuge Bay Christmas
A Men of Refuge Bay Novel
by Susan Saxx
Genre: Contemporary M/M Holiday Romance


Two Gay Men. Their Adopted Daughter. Her First Real Christmas.
Welcome to Refuge Bay!
Where trouble is brewing in a little girl's heart this holiday season...

When Nathan and Og fell in love, little did they realize their union would end up in an unexpected adoption: that of the six-year old runaway child they found at Hope House. Now her first Christmas is fast approaching, and everything is hard for the orphan who’s never had a real family. She’s still dealing with ghosts of the past, and she's trying to do it alone. How can Nathan, Og, and the whole gang at Hope House, show her everything Christmas can be, in a forever family? Most importantly, how can they make sure that the Refuge Bay community’s unparalleled Christmas magic will work its special miracle…on her?

It's the holidays. Come and celebrate with all of Refuge Bay this holiday season...

"A great read. This reads like a warm fuzzy blanket or an awesome Hallmark Christmas movie."
- Reviewer

I don’t know what it is about this series, or these people but I am totally hooked!”- Reviewer

*This book can be read as a standalone, though readers will enjoy the additional details provided by the main series.

* This holiday sub-series is part of the main Men of Refuge Bay series, beginning with Book 1: Nathan Unwrapped. Book 2: Zachary Undone, is slated for publication in early 2021.

*Sign up for Ms.Saxx's M/M newsletter HERE!



 
Amazon Bestselling Author Susan Saxx is a top 2 Amazon bestseller with her small town military romance series, Real Men, currently over 10 books long. She has a passion for the small towns of North America, and sets her compelling stories in the north country (Jack's Bay), western mountain country (Terrence Point, Dawson Ridges, Golden) and in Chesapeake Bay (Refuge Bay), all replete with quirky yet big-hearted neighbours always willing to lend a hand—and an opinion, whether requested or not.

Susan also deeply loves Christmas, with numerous Christmas stories in her series, and adds more holiday books (including Valentine’s and Halloween), annually.

As she continues to write the beloved Real Men series, she is applying her passion for love without boundaries to the m/m genre. Her first book in the Men of Hope House series is garnering excellent reviews, with formerly m/f only readers exhorting others new to the genre to pick up the first in the series, calling it, “Pure Joy”, and ‘one of the best books I have read in a very long time’ – GoodReads.
Susan can be reached at susansaxx@gmail.com.



Follow the tour HERE for special content and a giveaway!
$10 Amazon