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Linda Nightingale ~*~ Musings

~ Author, Romance & Dark Fantasy

Linda Nightingale ~*~ Musings

Monthly Archives: May 2020

Weekend Writing Warriors – #8sunday – Snippet

31 Sunday May 2020

Posted by Linda Nightingale in Uncategorized

≈ 27 Comments

Tags

#8Sunday, Author works in progress, books about centaurs, centaurs, fantasy romance, Linda Nightingale, Sunday sniippets, Weekend Writing Warriors

This week I’m taking part in the Weekend Writing Warriors Snippet Sunday.  Lots of authors and great snippets!

Come and visit. http://wewriwa.blogspot.com/

~*~

From my WIP – A little background: Life on Earth has become a living hell. Luc Byrd discovers a time-continuum portal that transports her to paradise, a Dionysian world peopled by centaurs.

STEALING PARADISE

Prologue

We might have worshiped the invaders as gods. The One God, when he was amongst us, had walked upright on two legs. Our scriptures foretold their coming, but not the cruelty and brutality with which they greeted us. Their weapons belched fire and thunder, and my people fell. On a crimson tide, Man flooded our quiet valleys.

We were defenseless. For centuries, the Andalos had been a peaceful herd. The One God had persuaded my ancestors to put away our arms–the Days of the Sword now belonging to legend.

~*~

If you’ve stayed with me this far, here’s the remainder of the Prologue:

I had reached six-and-twenty years and had never even seen the weapons we’d used in wars with other Breeds. Long ago, the battle movements—piaffe, passage, capriole, levade, and courbette—had evolved into ceremonial dances.

For many years, the war between Man and the Centaur has raged. Locusts, wave after wave, they came on their ridiculous two legs. Centaurs they call us all, after some mythological creature on Earth. If this half-human/half-horse ever existed, I imagine they hunted them down and killed them from greed. Here on our planet, they pointed their wicked sticks and left behind the stench of death and destruction. I began this account when I was free and a warrior, but the story and my life dissolved when I became a captive.

If this narrative has a bitter flavor, it is only a remembered one, merely an after-taste of blood and ashes.

Never doubt that love is mightier than the sword.

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Martimus by Seelie Kay

31 Sunday May 2020

Posted by Linda Nightingale in Uncategorized

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Tags

books with strong heroines, Extasy Books, Four Flames, Martimus, new release, romantic suspense, Seelie Kay, sexy, sexy books

Martimus
Feisty Lawyers Series (Book 5)
by Seelie Kay

About Martimus: 

Martimus. An underwater habitat dedicated to pharmaceutical research. Martimus. A facility that staffs its vessel with inmate labor. Martimus. The place where inmates visit and never return.

Agent Cate Creighton is in love. Unfortunately, as the Agency honeypot, she is knee-deep in an assignment that tests the bounds of her new relationship. It seems eight socialites have gone missing, all wealthy twenty-somethings with influential parents. No one seems to care until a former vice president’s daughter disappears.

When the vice-president shares a tale of false arrest, a broken promise of deportation, an illegal diversion into a private prison, and an alleged trip to an unwater habitat called Martimus, Cate and her colleagues must find a way to follow the same path. In other words, they must enter the right prison, meet the right fixer, wind up on Martimus, and hopefully return in one piece. And it looks like Cate is the perfect bait.

That doesn’t sit well with Cate’s lover, former U.S. Navy Seal Warren Hazelton. He intends to protect her until death ‘til do they part.

Fortunately, another possibility appears, in the form of an MISix agent who has interfered in one too many Agency operations. Tillie Henderson owes them and they are all too willing to serve her up on a plate. It’s race against time as the Agency attempts to lure their adversary out of hiding and into their somewhat ambiguous trap. Maybe then Cate can finally focus on love.

Release Date: May 29, 2019
Publisher: Extasy Books
Romantic Suspense, Contemporary Romance, four flames

Buy links:

Publisher: https://www.extasybooks.com/978-1-4874-2862-4-martimus/
Amazon: coming June 1
Barnes and Noble: Coming June 1
Kobo: Coming June 1


Excerpt from Martimus: 

Tom cocked an eyebrow. “Warren, you’re a former Navy Seal. Isn’t there some sort of limit on the amount of time you can spend under the sea before it starts to seriously impair your health?”
Warren frowned. “Usually two weeks. After that, the lack of exposure to the sun and the constant high pressure oxygenated environment would begin to take a toll. There’s also a psychological impact. Think sensory deprivation. Your senses are out of whack because you’ve been dumped into a soundproof sponge. There is no normal sensory stimulation. No sunlight, no sound… Even taste and smell become compromised. Coming back to the real world would be an adjustment.
“In addition, those underwater stations are small. People are right on top of each other. Things we take for granted, like privacy, hot showers, home cooked meals, are in short supply. That can create anxiety, depression, and stress. No way he served that sentence consecutively. He had to take a break in between.”
Warren gazed at Tom. “That environment is more hostile than a prison. You may not be in danger from other inmates, but you are putting your life at risk. Three months sounds like way too much time to be stuck underwater though, especially if you’re not leaving the station for deep sea diving on a regular basis. They must be breaking up the time somehow, otherwise they’d have a pretty tough situation on their hands. A lot of contract workers would be headed to a rubber room. It would be extremely difficult to survive a month, much less three, down there.”
“Could they be treating the inmates like guinea pigs?” Hope asked. “Testing their limits? Tracking actual survival rates?”
Warren sighed. “Possibly. It’s not like they have to answer to anyone. They are located in international waters. No country in particular has legal oversight. I imagine they could be doing anything they want without recourse. Unfortunately, when the prospect of a reduced sentence is dangled in front of some people, they grab it, damn the consequences. If one or two inmates suffer some sort of harm or die along the way, they chalk it up to collateral damage.”
“And who’s going to know?” Cate shook her head. “Someone dies, they probably flush them down a chute into the deep sea and they become shark chum. No evidence left behind.”
Hope cringed. “God, that’s kind of evil. But that still doesn’t answer our original question. Where the hell is Fuzzy? Has he already served out his sentence? Has he been released, and if he has, where the hell is he? He’s the one we need to find. He could have a lot of the answers.”
“That lack of governmental oversight is troubling,” Tom said. “If Cassie McIntyre is down there, I can’t believe the CIA isn’t all over it. At least, our government should be doing a welfare check through the Red Cross or something.”
Warren grimaced. “Unless no one knows she is down there. Think about it. They are on the bottom of the ocean, more than two miles under the sea. It’s not like you can just go down there and knock on the door. Any regular monitoring would be impossible.”
Cate nodded. “And we haven’t been able to confirm that she embarked on the same path as Fuzzy. All we’ve got are suspicions. Right now, she’s missing. We need to sit down with her family and get more information. And we need to find other prisoners who contracted with Martimus.
“Otherwise, we’ve got nothing.”

About Seelie Kay:

Seelie Kay is a nom de plume for a writer, editor, and author with more than 30 years of experience in law, journalism, marketing, and public relations. When she writes about love and lust in the legal world, something kinky is bound to happen! In possession of a wicked pen and an overly inquisitive mind, Ms. Kay is the author of multiple works of fiction, including the Kinky Briefs series, the Feisty Lawyers series, The Garage Dweller, A Touchdown to Remember, The President’s Wife, The White House Wedding, and The President’s Daughter.

When not spinning her kinky tales, Ms. Kay ghostwrites nonfiction for lawyers and other professionals. She resides in a bucolic exurb outside Milwaukee, Wisconsin, where she shares a home with her son and enjoys opera, gourmet cooking, organic gardening, and an occasional bottle of red wine.

Ms. Kay is an MS warrior and ruthlessly battles the disease on a daily basis. Her message to those diagnosed with MS: Never give up. You define MS, it does not define you!

Seelie’s Author links:

www.seeliekay.com
www.seeliekay.blogspot.com
Twitter: @SeelieKay https://twitter.com/SeelieKay
Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/seelie.kay.77
Amazon author page: https://www.amazon.com/Seelie-Kay/e/B074RDRWNZ/


Prior Books:

http://www.extasybooks.com/kinky-briefs/
http://www.extasybooks.com/kinky-briefs-too/
http://www.extasybooks.com/kinky-briefs-thrice/
http://www.extasybooks.com/978-1-4874-1734-5-kinky-briefs-quatro/
http://www.extasybooks.com/978-1-4874-2023-9-kinky-briefs-cinque/
http://www.extasybooks.com/the-garage-dweller/
http://www.extasybooks.com/978-1-4874-1504-4-a-touchdown-to-remember/
http://www.extasybooks.com/978-1-4874-1795-6-the-presidents-wife/
http://www.extasybooks.com/978-1-4874-2263-9-snatching-diana/
http://www.extasybooks.com/978-1-4874-2032-1-the-presidents-daughter
https://www.extasybooks.com/978-1-4874-2291-2-infamy/
https://www.extasybooks.com/978-1-4874-2349-0-seizing-hope/
https://www.extasybooks.com/978-1-4874-2538-8-cult/
https://www.extasybooks.com/978-1-4874-2658-3-hope/
https://www.extasybooks.com/978-1-4874-2796-2-the-white-house-wedding/

An Interview with Seelie Kay:

Q. Why do you write romance?

Because I am fascinated by the games people play to find and secure a lasting relationship, which is not always love. There’s the chase, the courtship, the falling, the surrender. That’s what I try to capture in my stories.

Q. Do you prefer a certain type of romantic hero?

I adore smart, dashing gentlemen who aren’t afraid to live on the edge. They can be a bad boy, a billionaire, a prince, or a secret agent. That hint of danger just hooks me! However, I they have to be paired with strong, independent women who aren’t afraid to fight for what they want, even love.

Q. Why did you write “Martimus?”

This is the final book in the series, so I needed a way to tie up a lot of loose ends. That meant the Feisty Lawyers needed a compelling story to accomplish that. Something in space was beyond the realm of believability, but something at the bottom of the ocean? The possibilities were endless. I went in all sorts of directions at first, but ultimately made Martimus a key step in a much broader journey. The bottom of the ocean is an unforgiving environment. Survival is never guaranteed. Divert a few socialites there to serve out a prison sentence, make then disappear, and you’ve got what I hope is an exciting story!

As a former lawyer, I also developed an interest in private prisons. These are institutions that are governed by a different set of rules and not all institutions follow the same rules. In some cases, the private prison an inmate winds up in can mean the difference between survival and death. In addition, there have been several cases of prosecutors and judges who received a financial incentive to divert inmates to private prison. Some were so incentivized that people innocent of the crimes with which they where charged have been convicted just so the prosecutor or judge could get their kickback. It is an industry that requires serious regulation and monitoring.

Q. How does your former profession as a lawyer impact your writing?

My friends say I am obsessed with justice and I guess that’s true. After 30 years, the law and the legal world are so firmly embedded in my brain that I can’t flush them out. That has become the lens through which I view the world and that naturally guides my characters and plots. Injustice infuriates me, but it also leads me to great stories!

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I Love the Dark Prince – It’s his Birthday!!!

29 Friday May 2020

Posted by Linda Nightingale in Uncategorized

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Pink Fuzzy Slippers Authors

Today, May 29, 1630, Charles Stuart was born at Saint James Palace in London, United Kingdom.  His father was Charles I and his mother Henrietta Maria of France.  As their eldest surviving child, he was Prince of Wales and due to become King. He was a very large baby and due to his mother’s Medici blood very dark, causing him to be called the Black Boy as a child. He was also a taller man than most of that time. He was an intelligent and serious boy that his mother joked she sometimes felt he was far older and wiser than she. Below is Charles’ Coat of Arms as Prince of Wales.

Coat of Arms of the Stuart Princes of Wales (1610-1688).svgAs Prince of Wales, he was destined for the throne, but  forces were already in play that would delay that destiny for some time.

The court masques were the most splendid of the occasions on which Prince Charles…

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Embers Drift and Interview with Simon Williams

28 Thursday May 2020

Posted by Linda Nightingale in Uncategorized

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Tags

author interviews, dark fantasy, Embers Drift, fantasy novels, horror, horror novels, Interview with Simon Williams, Simon Willliams

INTERVIEW WITH SIMON WILLIAMS

Tell us about your new book!

 Embers Drift is a standalone novel of metaphysical fantasy / mystery with elements of sci-fi and psychological horror, in an industrial / slightly dystopian setting. But although it bridges many genres it’s conceptually consistent and is really about the lives of four main characters- specifically, the parts of their lives that they’ve forgotten.

I’m happier about the result than I’ve been with any of my previous works. I reworked it a number of times until I realised that- at last- I was telling the exact story I wanted to tell. So I’m relieved to have finished it but also very satisfied.

 What inspired you to write Embers Drift?

I never really know what inspires me to write anything, other than some vague but persistent sixth sense which tells me that I have to tell a certain story, that I have to bring it into being somehow.

 Embers Drift has fewer characters than the Aona books, and a different setting- did this make the writing process different?

In terms of plot and structure, it made it a little different to the process with the Aona books, largely because they were more complex on a practical / logistical level. But at the same time the process required more effort in other ways- because there’s an overarching concept to Embers Drift which requires some explaining, and my goal was to do this through the lives of these four main characters. It wasn’t easy but in the end it was very rewarding.

Stunning artwork on the cover! Tell us about the artist.

The artwork for the cover was created by Tiffany Groves, an exceptionally talented artist who I intend to commission for further work in the future. It encapsulates everything that I wanted to show about the book.

 What projects are next on the horizon for you?

I’m part of the way through writing the first in a new dark fantasy series which will probably seen as more “traditional” fantasy but which will have a number of unique features to it. It explores the nature of magic and of conflict and there isn’t going to be a clear-cut “good vs evil” thing going on- I’m not a fan of such absolutes, I want to explore characters’ motivations, whether or not most people think of them as acceptable. What made them this way? Are they able to change- either for the better, or worse? It’s that aspect that interests me.

I also have another standalone book in progress- this is more a sort of cosmic horror about three demonic beings who have existed in a vast city for hundreds of years, weaving mischief and woe wherever they go, and a young man from an ancient family of magicians and thieves, who is the only one to suspect their existence.

Lastly, I’m also working on a somewhat leftfield YA magical realism novella- I’m not entirely certain how this one will turn out but I’m pleased with some of the concepts involved so this may see the light of day shortly.

ABOUT THE AUTHOR

Simon Williams is a UK-based author of dark fantasy with elements of sci-fi and horror. He has written the five-book Aona series, as well as two novels for all ages (Summer’s Dark Waters and The Light From Far Below) and Embers Drift, a standalone metaphysical fantasy work.

BLURB / BACK COVER

THE ENGINEER – defined by logic and ruled by routine, she helps keep the lights on for the teeming millions. She craves nothing but anonymity. But her quietly ordered life is about to fall apart.

THE VOICE – highest servant of the Mothers, he incarcerates and executes at will. He revels in the void eating him from the inside out. But his privileged and carefully controlled existence will change forever after an apparently chance meeting.

THE DARK RIVER – a troubled wanderer, inside whom impossible forces rage, she has seen the hidden inner life of the Citadel. She knows that another world touches this one, and the barrier grows thin.

THE FINDER – with deep insight and startling visions, he is familiar with unusual investigations. A new case will send him on a journey that unlocks a forgotten past, a revelation that will change his world forever.

In the black and winding alleyways of the Citadel, industrial metropolis and home to ten million citizens, anomalies stir. Things that should be impossible, show themselves to those few who are vessels of the Great Power.

The Mothers, immortal rulers of this vast city-state, are desperate to die. Through stirring the world into chaos, they hope beyond hope that despite the miraculous healing that condemned them to an eternity of misery, they might be granted oblivion at last.

“Things are only deities if you let them be…”

EXCERPT:

As Lena peered down the steep flight of stairs, a nameless existential fear took hold of her, as if she stood on the threshold of a void into which she might easily spiral as the ground crumbled away. She almost lost her footing and would have done had her father’s hand not steadied her.

The cellar lamps lit the way down as far as the eleventh step, beyond which the darkness appeared so absolute that the steps might have extended into space, and anyone who stepped beyond the eleventh and possibly final stair would fall forever through the nameless void that so frightened her. Lena tried to comfort herself by considering all the special properties of the number eleven, but the juxtaposition of absolutes transfixed her and made any mathematical recall impossible.

“It calls to you,” he said, and she heard a wonder and inexplicable sadness in her father’s voice. “It calls to you, but I’m not sure you can answer.”

“What is it?” she whispered plaintively. “I don’t understand. What is it?”

He placed his arm around her shoulders but didn’t answer. Did his hand tremble a little?

“I often imagined what lay behind the door.” At last Lena dared to look away from the void and up to her father. “You would never open it for me. I think you wanted to, but something always stopped you.”

“Had I shown you when you were a child, you might have rushed thoughtlessly into the gloom to be lost forever. Do you remember those headstrong days, when you embraced the unknown without thinking?”

“I remember,” Lena admitted reluctantly.

“And now you think all the time but embrace nothing. This is the right time to show you, or it should be- but maybe it’s already too late.”

“I don’t know what you mean.”

“Perhaps too much of the Citadel exists inside you now that you’re a part of its… system. I trust you, Lena- but what if I have nothing left to trust you with? What if you walk away?”

Lena stared at him and wondered if her father had asked her to solve a complex riddle or equation. “Are you ready?” he asked, and his voice sounded as if it came from far away. Momentarily cast adrift from reality, Lena felt with her other hand for reassurance that her father still held onto her, even though she knew he did.

He continued, still in that oddly distant voice, “There are places where another version of the world touches this one. Threads of that touch persist in some hidden places, and this is one such place. Men and women of science would refer to it as an anomaly. Certainly it was a cosmic embrace that can’t be readily explained. I didn’t expect to find it when we came to live here, but perhaps I should have done.”

“I don’t believe in mysteries and miracles,” Lena said with sudden, reactionary ill will. Nevertheless, she looked down again and kept her eyes fixed on the bottom stair as if it might suddenly be stolen by the blackness and wink out of existence.

“I don’t ask for belief Lena. I’m not sure what to ask for.”

Lena shook her head. “I don’t understand. Why show this to me now?”

“Because you had to be shown. What you do with it is up to you, but we must do it together. We can’t let it react. Not without taking measures to hide ourselves from discovery.” Suddenly he seemed frightened.

“Do with it?” Lena was nonplussed. “What have you done?”

“Nothing,” he admitted. “If we’re less than certain, we should go back and close the door on it.”

“Do you know what’s down there?”

“No. I’ve kept all knowledge of its existence to myself, which is the one thing that you must do. I don’t even know if I’m doing the right thing, Lena. I only know that there’s reason to this. It isn’t coincidence.”

Lena said nothing but tried to imagine how it couldn’t be anything other than simple mathematical coincidence.

“It has changed slowly over time,” he added quietly, “and I think it’s responsible for other things that have changed.” A distant smile creased his lips for a moment. “Perhaps you ought to do nothing other than be its guardian. Then you can pass on the fact of its existence, as I did…”

“No,” she said forcefully. “I won’t have anyone to pass it down to. Anyway, it’s just a dark cellar. It’s part of the house. Bricks and mortar and measurable dimensions. There’s a wall somewhere down there.” As she spoke of comfortable certainties, Lena found her confidence return and the odd sense of an indefinable other place recede swiftly. “You shouldn’t have shown it to me. Shut it away forever, like you said.”

He knew better than to argue. His fourteen-year-old daughter had vociferously denied that she might ever find someone to spend her life with. I don’t need anyone else, she had defiantly declared, more times than either of them could count.

They left the cellar without speaking. Lena felt uncomfortable and frustrated by her father’s silence, as if she had disappointed him without quite knowing why- but she couldn’t think of any questions to ask. Nor could she find any words to lessen his disappointment.

Her father locked the door to the cellar, and they never spoke of the matter again.

From time to time as the years went on, she would observe in his expression a strange yearning, as if he had wanted to fall into that blackness or walk with her hand in hand to open a world beyond their understanding. But fear and protocol kept him tethered to the ordinary, and Lena knew that nothing stood in the shadow of the stairs but a brick wall.

Even then she understood the boundaries and constraints of form, shape and structure at an intimate level- to Lena this was the mathematics of the real- and it was from that world that she would draw temporary comfort over the ensuing years.

And so she could never explain why she averted her eyes on the rare occasions when she passed by the door to the cellar.

 

Embers Drift on Amazon US: https://www.amazon.com/dp/B088WF28QN/

Embers Drift on Amazon UK: https://www.amazon.co.uk/dp/B088WF28QN/

Author’s website: https://www.simonwilliamsauthor.com

Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/simonwilliamsauthor/

Twitter: https://twitter.com/SWilliamsAuthor

 

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Ashes and Blood by Katie Zaber

26 Tuesday May 2020

Posted by Linda Nightingale in Uncategorized

≈ 5 Comments

Tags

Ashes and, author giveaways, Blood, fantasy books, fantasy novels, Goddess Fish Promotions, Katie Zaber, New Adult Fiction, rafflecopter giveaways

This post is part of a virtual book tour organized by Goddess Fish Promotions. The author will award a $25 Amazon/BN gift card to a randomly drawn commenter. Click on the tour banner to see the other stops on the tour.

“I’ll start at the beginning. Long ago, before roads, before we built structures, before medicine was discovered, before the government was created, before man gained any knowledge, there were The Five. Independent from each other, The Five had a mutual respect for one another. They knew their roles in the world and their duty. They were gods…”

An adventure begins when an otherworldly tree captures the attention of Megan and her friends. The environment morphs around them, transferring them to an exotic planet. Stuck in a rural town still maimed by the plague, a chance encounter with a familiar face gives Megan and her friends some security during their adjustment period.

While settling into new, promising lives, they are attacked and stalked by planet Dalya’s humanoid inhabitants, who focus on Megan. One dark night, after an epic, magical attack, the Fae King’s knight is sent to fetch Megan. When she wakes up a prisoner, she learns that there is much more to this strange world, and it is oddly more like her own than she ever would have expected.

Read an Excerpt

Megan

Today has been a whirlwind, and I’m not looking forward to tonight. I’m positive the elite members of society will flaunt their latest ensembles. A competition among the wealthy to win a proverbial pat on the back for the best dressed. A sport for the rich. They won’t work up a sweat—that’s for the poor. Instead, they compete with wits and money. Women prancing around wearing cage ball gowns, adorned with priceless jewels. Their main goal is to uncover juicy gossip while competing for the wealthiest bachelor. Men swirling this world’s version of expensive scotch talk business and watch women swoon. It can’t be very different from Earth’s aristocratic affairs, not that I ever attended. Movies and the internet displayed enough information to know what to expect.

I had assumed it would be a rather humdrum affair, but my opinion changes quickly, standing before the colossal golden doors. Realization hits me. I am so naïve.

It feels like I’m walking into a fairy tale, but the darker Brothers Grimm version.

Beautiful, handcrafted, golden double doors depict a grand party. Intricate artwork chiseled into the doors displays two long banquet tables of food, roasts on fancy platters, piles of vegetables, and dainty desserts. Between the buffet tables, people adorned with masquerade attire dance. They wave, inviting everyone to the party. Guests laugh, drink, and enjoy themselves under the watchful king. The artwork depicts the king having fun, but there’s no doubt in my mind that he studies everyone, meticulously watching individuals, judging their personality, appearance, and demeanor while in his presence. A crooked smile peels his lips back—it hints at his sly and cruel nature. I can’t help but look at the doors and realize this is a perfect portrayal of what awaits me.

Instead of a warm welcome, it’s a stern warning.

About the Author

Katie Zaber writes new adult fiction. With multiple projects spanning from being transported to an alternate universe, to past lives, reincarnation, and trapped souls, to prophesied pregnancies—there are more stories to tell. She lives in North New Jersey with her boyfriend.

Facebook page: https://www.facebook.com/Dalya-Series-110665970357251
Website: https://zaberbooks.com/

Amazon: https://www.amazon.com/Ashes-Blood-Dalya-Book-1-ebook/dp/B087YJ8W87/ref=sr_1_1

a Rafflecopter giveaway
https://widget-prime.rafflecopter.com/launch.js

FOLLOW KATIE ON TOUR AS FOLLOWS:

May 25:

1: Andi’s Book Reviews

2: ts stuff

3: Ilovebooksandstuffblog

4: The Reading Addict

5: FUONLYKNEW

6: Read Your Writes Book Reviews

7: Nicolie-Olie’s Meanderings

8: Welcome to My World of Dreams

9: The Phantom Paragrapher

10: Independent Authors

May 26:

1: Where Landsquid Fear to Tread

2: Linda Nightingale, Author…Musings

3: Mary Kit Celsto’s Blog

4: Our Town Book Reviews

5: It’s Raining Books

6: Readeropolis

7: Wendi zwaduk – romance to make your heart race

May 27:

1: Candrel’s Crafts, Cooks, and Characters

2: All the Ups and Downs

3: Hurn Publications REVIEW

4: Jazzy Book Reviews

5: Viviana MacKade

6: Aubrey Wynne: Timeless Love

7: Fabulous and Brunette

8: Dawn’s Reading Nook

May 28:

1: Crowvus Book BlogREVIEW

2: Straight From the Library

3: Gimme The Scoop Reviews

4: Tina Donahue Books – Heat with Heart

5: books are love

6: Natural bri

May 29:

1: Locks, Hooks and Books

2: Seven Troublesome Sisters

3: Literary Gold

4: fundinmental

5: Hope. Dreams. Life… Love

6: Kit ‘N Kabookle

7: Long and Short Reviews

 

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GOOD GUYS DON”T ALWAYS WEAR WHITE HATS by Toni V. Sweeney

22 Friday May 2020

Posted by Linda Nightingale in Uncategorized

≈ 1 Comment

Tags

Author's Blogs, Bat Masterson, Biographies, books about ghosts, Bound by Love, Doc Holliday, gothic romance, gunfighters of the Old West, OK Corral, Old West, paranormal romance, romantic suspense, Toni V. Sweeney, Wyatt Earp

Posted for Toni V. Sweeney:

Recently, I finished reading Black Hats, a delightful fantasy in which Wyatt Earp and Bat Masterson head to New York City to help out the son of their own pal, “Doc” Holliday.  It’s fiction, of course, but there are many actual facts woven into that thoroughly-engaging narrative.

How much do we really know about these three men who have become legends, their names synonymous with the Old West, courage, honor, and death?

We’re all familiar with the gunfight at the OK Corral, and the many movies and TV series about them, but what are the little-known facts about their lives?  With the aid of the Google search Engine, (and Wikipedia) here are some things I found.

WYATT BERRY STAPP EARP (1848-1929):

The man who would become the marshal of Deadwood was born in Monmouth, Illinois, and named for his father’s commanding officer in the Mexican-American War (1846-1848).  Wyatt had a half-brother and sister and five full siblings.  In 1865, he got his first job as a driver for Phineas Banning’s Stage Line in Imperial California.  In 1869, he got his firstacquaintance with working in law enforcement when his father became constable of Lamar, Missouri.  In 1870, at the age of 22, he married Urilla Sutherland only to have her die ten months later in childbirth. From 1875 onward, he appears in various court cases and newspaper articles as the arresting officer in Wichita and Dodge City.  In 1877, he left Kansas for Texas, where, in a saloon in Ft Griffin, Texas, he met a young gambler named “Doc” Holliday.  Wyatt and his brothers moved to Tombstone in 1979 and the infamous gunfight at the OK Corral occurred in 1881. The Earps and “that would eventually cost Morgan his life and severely wound Virgil.

Though he never again had a legal marriage, Wyatt wasn’t immune to women’s charms nor they to his. In the West at that time, common-law marriage w…well…common. In 1888, he was said to have “cohabited” with several prostitutes during his sojourns in various states, but when Wyatt lived in San Francisco, he settled down with Josie Marcus, who remained with him for the next 46 years, so guess one could say he wasn’t particularly promiscuous.  During that time, he participated in the Gold Rush, wrote his memoirs, and became friends with many movie stars, including a young extra named John Wayne who would model his own screen persona after Wyatt.

Wyatt died of prostate cancer in 1929. Of the trio, he lived the longest.  William S. Hart and Tom Mix were pallbearers at his funeral.  He was cremated his ashes buried in a Jewish cemetery because Josie was Jewish.

Forty-eight actors have portrayed Wyatt Earp in the movies and on television.

BARTHOLOMEW MASTERSON (1853-1921):

“Bat” Masterson wasn’t even born American, being one of eight children born to his parents in Quebec, Canada. Early in life, he changed his name to “William Barclay Masterson” because he hated the name “Bartholomew.”  The family moved from Canada and finally settled in Kansas.  Bat was a buffalo hunter and army scout before his first gunfight in Sweetwater, Texas.  In 1877, he moved to Dodge City where his brothers were lawmen and eventually became a deputy for Wyatt Earp.  Later, he was sheriff of Ford County, Kansas, South Pueblo, Colorado, and marshal of Trinidad, Colorado.  For several years in between, he earned a living as a gambler before visiting his old friend Wyatt in Tombstone and becoming involved in the infamous gunfight.  In 1891, he purchased the Palace Variety Theater in Denver and married actress Emma Walters.  He also managed the Denver Exchange Club.  He began writing for George’s Weekly, a sporting newspaper and opened the Olympic Athletic Club to promote boxing.  In 1902, Bat arrived in New York City where he was appointed deputy marshal of South New York by President Teddy Roosevelt until 1912.  During this time, he would purchase old pistols in pawnshops, carve notches into their handgrips, and sell them as his own to suckers eager to own a “piece of the Old West.”

Bat may not have died with his boots on but he died at his typewriter, of a heart attack while working on a column for the New York Daily Telegraph, for whom he was a sportswriter.  He is buried in Woodlawn Cemetery in the Bronx.

Nine actors have portrayed Bat Masterson on screen and television, and he has been featured in Dell Comics.

“DOC” HOLLIDAY (1851-1887):

The cousin of Margaret Mitchell and reportedly the model for Ashley Wilkes in her novel Gone with the Wind, John Henry Holliday was born in Griffin, Georgia and grew up in Valdosta.  In 1872, he received a dental degree from Pennsylvania College of Dental Surgery and opened a practice in Atlanta.  That same year, he was also diagnosed with tuberculosis. His mother had died of the disease when he was 14 and it’s believed he contracted from her.  Given only a few months 14 to live, he moved to the Southwest because of the warmer, drier climate, opening a dental office in Dallas.  Finding no patients who wanted a tubercular dentist, he turned to gambling for a living, instead.  Subsequently, he lived in Cheyenne, Denver, and Deadwood, where short-fuse temper, the drinking he said helped control his cough, and a fatalistic attitude of not caring whether he survived or not, contributed to a reputation as a gunfighter.  In 1877, he saved Wyatt Earp’s life in a gunfight in Dodge City and the following year, Wyatt returned the favor and a friendship was born.

Perhaps not as popular with the ladies because of his ill health and/or temper, “Doc” had a long-term relationship with Mary Katherine Hornoy, also known as Big Nose Kate.

Because of his friendship with the Earps, he was also present during the OK gunfight and was tried with them for the deaths that followed.  Big Nose Kate later reported that after returning from the OK Corral episode, he went to his room and wept.  Now dependent on whiskey and laudanum to control his symptoms, Doc spent his last years in Glenwood Spring, Colorado, where he died at the Glenwood Hotel at the age of 36, the first and the youngest of the three to die.  He was buried the same day in Linwood Cemetery.

Twenty-one actors have portrayed “Doc” Holliday on the screen and TV.

Quotes about the three:

“There are those who argue that everything breaks even in this old dump of a world of ours. I suppose these ginks who argue that way hold that because the rich man gets ice in the summer and the poor man gets it in the winter things are breaking even for both. Maybe so, but I’ll swear I can’t see it that way.” (These were also Masterson’s last recorded words, in the unfinished column found in the typewriter he was using that he was writing when he died).

“No man can have a more loyal friend than Wyatt Earp, nor a more dangerous enemy.”

—Bat Masterson (a variation of a line describing to Sulla, a Roman general in 83 BC)

“Doc was a dentist, not a lawman or an assassin, whom necessity had made a gambler; a gentleman, whom disease had made a frontier vagabond; a philosopher, whom life had made a caustic wit; a long lean ash-blond fellow nearly dead with consumption, and at the same time the most skillful gambler and the nerviest, speediest, deadliest man with a six-gun that I ever knew.” —Wyatt  Earp, in John Myers’ book Doc Holliday.

(Quotes are from articles on these subjects may be found on the Wikipedia website.

Photographs are in the public domain in their country of origin and other countries and areas where the copyright term is the author’s life plus 70 years or fewer. U.S. work public domain in the U.S. for unspecified reason but presumably because it was published in the U.S. before 1925. Source: https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/)

Around the time Wyatt Earp was dying in California, back in Hahira, Georgia, Dylan Roth and Jules Mercier were about to embark on the mystery that would come to light a century later and compel their descendants to search for the truth about the two men. In Bound By Love, DylanRoth II and Letty Mercier in the Twenty-first Century, do exactly that.

 EXCERPT:

That bed was a magnificent specimen. Wood, with a headboard as tall as I was, scrolled and carved with roses and vines. The footboard was shorter, only waist high and plain. All the artistry had gone into the panels at the head. It was a double bed but looked small compared to the king and queen-size versions now available.

I tried to imagine sleeping in a bed this confining, with a body so close to mine each of us only had about two and a half feet of personal space.

At that moment, Letty shifted her weight and I glanced at her.

If it were someone like you, I thought, I wouldn’t mind the lack of space.  Yes, indeed, in your case, Miss Letty, constriction would be downright welcome… What the hell am I thinking

I forced my unexpectedly lascivious thoughts back to business.

“No closets, but I imagine there were wardrobes in each room to hold clothes.” I studied the bed, running a hand over the curving edge of the top boards. “I think this might be salvageable. If dry rot hasn’t set in.”

“Or damp from that hole in the roof,” Letty said. She stood at the foot of the bed, hands resting on it. It must’ve been around four feet high. She looked as if she were peering over a fence. “I hope not. I’d love to keep this for myself.”

I had a flash of her lying in it, that copper hair vivid against white sheets. I shook my head.

“You don’t think so?” She sounded disappointed.

“I’m just wondering who we might get to see about restoring it.” I definitely wasn’t going to say what I was thinking. “What was that?”

I whirled, looking at the door. Out of the corner of my eye, I’d seen a flash of something white and fluttery in the doorway.

“What?” She looked in the same direction.

I walked to the door, peering out, up and down the hall.

Nothing.

“I thought I saw…” I looked up at the gaping hole. “The roof’s open. Probably a bird got in and was flapping around trying to find its way out again. Guess we’d better watch where we step. There may be droppings.”

We went into the smaller room. The door was missing its knob and lock.

“Looks like someone tried to force it open.” I indicated deep grooves cut around the hole where the lock had been.

The door was in such bad shape it was a little difficult to tell, but I guessed it had been locked and the doorknob removed because that was the only way to get the door open. Whoever had done it must’ve been desperate, for the door was battered and chopped as if someone had taken an ax to it.

There was a large, dark spot on the floor, almost two feet long, an irregular wet-looking splotch with spatters, as if something containing liquid had been dropped, splashing and running before soaking into the wood. All the floors were hardwood and probably had originally been well-varnished. They were still glossy in places. Whatever had been spilled here had ruined the finish on this one.

I’d swear it hadn’t been there when we came in.

Letty knelt, peering at the stain. She touched it, then looked at her finger. There was nothing, of course. The stain had long dried.

“It looks like blood.” She shivered.

It did. Now I could see that it was a very dark red, looking almost black against the wood grain.

“Probably a cat or something caught a bird and dragged it up here. Or rain flooded in here from that hole in the roof. Don’t worry, we can replace that section if the stain won’t come out.” I caught her arm, helping her to her feet. “Come on.”

She went out with me, looking back at the spot until we were in the hall.

Bound By Love is available from:

http://boroughspublishinggroup.com/books/bound-love
https://www.smashwords.com/books/view/924697

https://www.amazon.com/dp/B07P3917V2

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Single Chicas by Sandra C.Lopez

19 Tuesday May 2020

Posted by Linda Nightingale in Uncategorized

≈ 4 Comments

Tags

Goddess Fish Promotions, rafflecopter giveaways, rom-com, romantic comedy books, sandra c. lopez, single chicas

This post is part of a virtual book tour organized by Goddess Fish Promotions. Sandra C. Lopez will be awarding a $15 Amazon or B/N GC to a randomly drawn winner via rafflecopter during the tour. Click on the tour banner to see the other stops on the tour.

Single Chicas is a collection of stories about modern Latinas being in, out, and around the zany hurdles of relationships. One woman receives strange calls from a lonely soul, another seeks advice on how to love herself, and another wakes up in a parallel universe to a man she’s never met. These chicas will make painstaking effort to survive the complexities with humor and grace. Once again, López dazzles audiences with her brilliantly candid craft. Smart, witty, and funny, these stories will explore the true endurance of singlehood.

Read the Excerpt

Dear Single Chicas,

Hey, hey, love your site! I was wondering if you could help me. I have a boyfriend I’m crazy about, but he has a tendency to call me at work. It’s getting annoying. Any advice?

Sincerely, Looney Cell

“Ah, a typical relationship conundrum,” Simone said with a mouthful of pizza.

“Yeah, a typical headache,” Georgia added.

“So what do we say?” Chrissy asked.

“Try this,” Simone said, waiting for Chrissy to start typing.

Dear Looney Cell,

Your boyfriend needs to realize that, when you are at work, you are NOT his girlfriend. You need to give him specific hours, just like in any other job. Lay down the line with him. Point out that each time he calls you at your job, it keeps you from doing the work—work you’re getting paid to do and work that in no way, shape, or form involves him. Besides, it may get you in trouble with your boss, if it hasn’t already. Instead tell him to send you a simple text, but be careful not to overload your phone memory. Thanks for the shout out!

Single Chicas

The next email read:

Dear Single Chicas,

What’s up! Problem: I’m engaged and I’m totally freaking out about it. Would I be a fool to ask if we could postpone the big day until I’m less freaked?

Yours truly, Runaway Bride

Reply:

Dear Runaway Bride,

Absolutely not! Don’t do anything you don’t feel ready for. Be honest about it. If nobody can understand that, then you would save yourself the headache and the hassle, not to mention the time and money, for that whole shindig. If it wasn’t meant to be, then so be it. If, however, you have a guy that is willing to wait, then, by all means, let him wait. Wait, wait, wait until you are sure you can make it down that aisle without breaking out in hives. Just make sure you bring your running shoes on the big day….just in case. 😉

Sincerely, Single Chicas

The next email read:

Hey, Single Chicas,

I saw this one episode of “I Love Lucy” where Lucy suggests a vacation from marriage. What are your thoughts? Yay or Nay?

Sincerely, TV Addict

Dear TV Addict,

Yay! A vacation from marriage allows for the re-discovery of one’s individuality―the “I” before the “we.” There is such a thing as spending “too much” time together. Lucy said it best in that episode: “I’m sick at the sight of your face.” Take a vacation to avoid this sickness.

Sincerely, Single Chicas

About the Author:

Sandra C. López is a writer, artist, blogger, and book reviewer. She is one of today’s funny and influential authors in YA and chick lit. Her first novel, Esperanza, was published in March 2008 WHILE she was still in college. Her most recent and bestselling book is Single Chicas, a collection of humorous short stories about zany chicas. She is currently working on the next installment of the Single Chicas series called Holiday Chicas. Release date coming soon! When not writing her stories, Sandra supports the art and literary communities with freelance work and book promotion.

Website: http://www.sandra-lopez.com

Book Review Blog: http://sandrasbookclub.blogspot.com

Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/SandraLopezAuthorArtist/

Twitter: https://twitter.com/ArtistSandraL

Purchase Links: https://www.amazon.com/Single-Chicas-Sandra-C-Lopez-ebook/dp/B01KG85F1Y/

Please note: The book is free during the tour.

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R.I.P. in Reykjavik by A. R. Kennedy

18 Monday May 2020

Posted by Linda Nightingale in Uncategorized

≈ 3 Comments

Tags

author giveaways, cozy mystery, Goddess Fish Promotions, murder mystery. A.R. Kennedy, rafflecopter giveaways

This post is part of a virtual book tour organized by Goddess Fish Promotions. A.R. Kennedy will be awarding a $25 Amazon or B/N GC to a randomly drawn winner via rafflecopter during the tour. Click on the tour banner to see the other stops on the tour.

Traveling with your family can be murder.
One wedding party + one estranged mother = another vacation that goes array for Naomi.

Naomi is off on another international vacation. She thinks traveling with her mother will be the most difficult part of her trip until she meets the rest of the tour group—a wedding party. It only gets worse when she finds the groom dead. Everyone’s a suspect on her Icelandic tour of this stunning country.

Read an Excerpt

We stopped for lunch at a local restaurant. As I sat down at one of the long benches, my cell phone rang. Charlotte’s face appeared on the screen. I ran outside to answer it.

“So I heard you had a late night,” Charlotte said.

“Not the time.” I looked over my shoulder to make sure no one had followed me out. “The police think it might not be an accident.”

Charlotte audibly sighed. “Is that why it was a long night? You were with the police?”

“No, one of Ösp’s friends is a police officer.”

“You mean Thor.”

“Please don’t encourage Mother. His name is Ösp. I don’t want her nickname to stick.”

“Her nickname? I called him that,” she corrected me. “He looks like Thor.”

I looked over my shoulder at the restaurant’s entrance. “Looks like? How do you know what he looks like? Did you cyberstalk him? Check the hotel’s website for the staff’s pictures?”

“No. Mom texted me pictures.”

Horrified, I asked, “And how did she get them?”

“She followed you to the lobby.”

“Nice.”

“Give her a break. She was excited. It was like seeing you on your first date.”

“I’ve been on dates before.” I glanced over my shoulder again for any of the suspects.

“But Mom didn’t see that. She didn’t see the first dates, the proms. That was all Dad.”

“Would you like it if Dad followed you out on a date?”

“I don’t think Dad cares about those things.”

She was probably right.

“Anyway, this police officer I met last night said the autopsy must have shown something because they hadn’t closed the case yet.”

“So you turned your date into a fact-finding mission?”

“It was a happy coincidence.” I thought I heard the door open behind me. I turned to see no one. It must have been the wind.

“Why do you keep looking behind you?” Charlotte asked.

“Just making sure none of the suspects can hear me.”

“Suspects? You’ve turned your traveling companions into suspects?” She paused before adding, “Again?”

I ignored her. “Hurry up, Charlotte. Someone is going to come out looking for me soon.”

“Fine. If he drowned, I bet they’d say it was an accident. They’d find water in his lungs if he drowned. Maybe the autopsy didn’t find water in his lungs. That doesn’t rule out a cardiac event. That may be hard to prove. Most likely they are waiting for the toxicology results. That’s going to take a few days.”

I looked at the restaurant door and wished I could run in for my backpack, so I could take notes. “And what would that show?”

“Whatever was in his system. Maybe drugs, poisons.”

“I forgot to ask. If it was poison, how long before he died would he have to be poisoned?”

“Depends on the poison. Probably an hour or two, I guess.”

“Could you get a poison through TSA?”

“In something in a bottle with less than three ounces, sure. Could have been a powder. They could have bought it locally too. Rat poison and antifreeze has been used in a lot human deaths.”

“Can you think of anything specific I should look for?”

“You should look who’s coming up behind you,” she said before hanging up.

About the Author:

A R Kennedy lives in Long Beach, New York, with her two pups. She works hard to put food on the floor for them. As her favorite T-shirt says, ‘I work so my dog can have a better life’. She’s an avid traveler. But don’t worry. While she’s away, her parents dote on their grand-puppies even more than she does. Her writing is a combination of her love of travel, animals, and the journey we all take to find ourselves.

https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B08477CQTR/ref=dbs_a_def_rwt_bibl_vppi_i4

https://books2read.com/u/bpOjP6

Website: http://arkennedyauthor.com
Amazon Author Page: https://www.amazon.com/A-R-Kennedy/e/B00GOKCWHE

Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/ARKennedyauthor
Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/ark_author/
Twitter: https://twitter.com/ark_author
Goodreads: https://www.goodreads.com/author/show/7382548.A_R_Kennedy
Bookbub: https://www.bookbub.com/authors/a-r-kennedy

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LaPaloma by Willard Thompson

12 Tuesday May 2020

Posted by Linda Nightingale in Uncategorized

≈ 9 Comments

Tags

adventure novel, author giveaways, LaPaloma, Rafflecoper giveawasy, romance novel, suspense novel, Willard Thompsonn

Willard Thompson will be awarding a $15 Amazon or Barnes and Noble GC to a randomly drawn winner via rafflecopter during the tour.

The author graciously agreed to discuss the subject of: How did you come up with your title?

So, here in his own words:

In Spanish the word Paloma has two very different bird meanings. It means both dove and pigeon. For most of us those two birds have different connotations: Dove, a gentle bird that coos; Pigeon, an aggressive pecking bird. Is Teresa Diaz a dove or a pigeon; her father calls her La Paloma. What does he mean? At times in the novel she is a gentle dove but other times she’s an aggressive pigeon. The duality of the title describes Teresa’s conflict. She is a very pretty Latina, born in Mexico and raised in a Latino neighborhood in southern California. But she is also an AB540 student attending UCLA, trying to fit into the American culture with an American boyfriend and California career plans. When her father is deported in an ICE raid, Teresa must go deep into Mexico to find him, bringing on a series of mysterious events that challenge her self-image and change her life.

La Paloma is not a crime-heavy cartel story with lots of murders and bloody events. It’s a story about Teresa Diaz’s facing the question of who she is, a daughter of Mexico’s proud history or a Latina trying to fit into the American Culture? When the story opens, she is an AB540 scholarship student at UCLA, working for a degree in communications and dating a Caucasian boy. But when her father is deported in an ICE raid, Teri must go into Mexico to bring him home. She doesn’t have documentation, so it’s a risk, but her family is falling apart, and she feels compelled to go. Her journey into Mexico is like falling down a rabbit hole into mysterious events, but it also becomes a journey of self-realization that included a romance with the son of a cartel boss. In the end, many of her questions are answered, and some are left ambiguous and unanswered.

My interest, as it is in all my novels, is how a situation effects the people involved in it. In this case a 20-year-old Latina named Teresa Diaz. She is a young woman who has been brought up in many of the traditions of Mexico, living in a southern California community that is heavily Latino, trying to be an American girl. How can that possibly be good for her self-image?

I love Mexico. I’ve been there more than a dozen times, several on business. I know first-hand the beauty of the states of Michoacan and Guanajuato, and the country’s history. I spent 4 days working with the US Border Patrol intercepting Mexican smugglers wading across the Rio Grande River from Juarez to El Paso. These were not dangerous men. They were middle age men trying to make a living to support their families. I interviewed several of the smugglers we apprehended (that is a story for a different time because it was a cops and robbers comedy it you ever saw one) and one of them told me in Spanish, pointing at his running shoes that his daughters didn’t want to wear cheap shoes like he had on to school. They wanted Nikes and Adidas. That tells you a lot about the Mexican economy.

I did the trip with the Border Patrol as a journalist, but it gave me much of the input I needed for my novel. This is not a gritty cartel crime story. In reality this is a coming of age story in which Teri must wrestle with and decide who she wants to be as an adult. In the next to last chapter she tells a new friend, “I just want to be proud of who I am.” The ending is ambiguous. Hopefully asking readers to think about what Teri will do; and maybe asking themselves what they would do.

Some years back I became familiar with the fact that UCLA was giving free scholarships to undocumented aliens under a state law AB540. It led me to start thinking about the situation of a young Latina with no documentation trying to get an education in order to blend into the American culture.

More recently, our government has struggled with what to do about the DREAMers. The situation has been compounded by the Congressional battle over immigration and building walls (we used to call then fences), and ICE raids that deport undocumented Mexicans, breaking up families. Finally, the situation with drug and crime cartels has come strongly into public awareness. So, all of this is great grist for a novelist.

~*~ Thank you, Willard. Now about the book itself!  ~*~

GENRE:   suspense/adventure/romance

BLURB:

When Teresa Diaz’s father is arrested in an ICE raid in a Los Angeles area city and deported back to Mexico, her family begins to come apart. She is a student at UCLA on a scholarship for undocumented aliens (Dreamers) looking to have a life in the U.S. in communications. Her brother in High school and her elementary school sister begin having serious troubles without a father in the household.

At work in a fast-food drive-through, Teri, as she wants to be known is approached by a Mexican gangbanger who offers to take you to her father. Doubting the guy wants more than picking her up, she resists, but day by day, as her sister is sent home from school and her brother is brought home dunk by the police, she gives in and goes across the border with him. Against her wishes, he takes her to a beach house in Tijuana and leaves her. She learns that illegal activities are going on in the house but without transportation, and without a birth certificate –either Mexican or American– she can’t cross the border alone.

After several days, virtually a prisoner, the owner of the house, a fat woman known as Mama Gorda arranges to get her across the border with a young Mexican man who rides a fast motorcycle. On the way, he takes her to lunch and there offers to talk her deeper into Mexico to find her father. She agrees, travels in his private plane and begins a romance while searching for her father in Michoacan state. The more she becomes involved, the more she is involved in activities she doesn’t understand but suspects they’re illegal.

Returning to Monte Vista, her LA area home, still without her father, she finds she can no longer return to UCLA, seeks a job, connects with a Latina who bullied her he school. When her brother is arrested for jobbery, Teri returns to Mexico seeking help from the people she suspects to belong to a cartel.

Ultimately, she is sponsored by the people in Mexico to participate in the Miss Mexico contest, not realizing it is the Cartel that is promoting her. In the end, she will face a life-changing decision whether to continue her romance with the son of the cartel’s head or try to stand on her own. And whether to remain in Mexico or return to LA.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~

EXCERPT: 

Javier looks over at me from the pilot’s seat. He must have noticed my clenched hands, or my pallor or the way I sit slumped down in the seat. “First flight in a small plane?” he asks.

“First flight, period.”

He laughs. “An American girl like you has never flown?”

I think I hear a hint of sarcasm in his voice when he says, “American girl.”

I am an American girl, but not a privileged one. Mama wasn’t anxious to go any place that might require IDs. There was no extra money for vacations to places that required a plane ticket. At first, our family spent all our holidays with Rogelio and Lupe, but after Antonio died, mama and Lupe drifted apart.

“There’s only one place I’d want to go,” papa always answered when the question of travel came up, “back to Michoacán where mama and I grew up. I’d like to show you the beautiful land we came from.” At that, he always paused, getting a kind of sad-eyed look. “But we can’t go there, my little dove. So, we’ll go to Disneyland or Magic Mountain instead.”

To Javier, I’m an American girl, To Ryan, I’m a Latina. Mama Gorda said I was neither. She said I was lost. Who’s right? Who am I? I feel lost in this airplane. I sit up straighter in the cushy leather seat next to Javier.

“I am American,” I tell him. “I guess I’m a pretty naïve one though, jumping into a small plane with a man I hardly know. You think I’m a fool, don’t you? Or something worse.”

“Not a fool, Teresa — please let me call you that — but perhaps too trusting. That could get you in trouble in Mexico. Here it is better to trust no one.”

“Not even you?” I tease.

“Not even me.”

I hadn’t expected that. “Tell me why?”

“Please call me Javier.” His smile is warm and genuine, but he keeps his eyes straight ahead and his hands on the controls.

I wait for more.

Reluctantly, in little bits and pieces, as the plane flies on, he tells me about himself. He says his family is in the export and distribution business. They’ve done well, and he is benefiting from it. A little embarrassed, he says he hasn’t done much to contribute to the family business since graduating from Stanford.

“So why were you at Mama Gorda’s?” The question has bothered me from the start.

His eyes scan the horizon. It’s several seconds before he answers. “We each have our embarrassments,” he starts. “Sometimes it’s good not to ask too many questions. I won’t ask you about what you were doing at Carmen’s house, and I hope you’ll do the same for me. Suffice it to say my family’s company does some distribution work for her. Most of her business is over the Internet, of course, but we deliver some DVDs to L.A.”

“Smuggling, you mean?”

“As I said, some questions should not be asked or answered.”

We fly on in silence and land in Culiacán to refuel. Javier leads me into the tiny airport restaurant where we eat a quick lunch in silence. Questions ricochet in my head like the bullets that killed Antonio. What kind of danger am I in? Am I in danger with Javier? Who are all these people? Ever since I agreed to cross the border with Knobhead, it feels as if one bad decision after another is plaguing me. My life is out of control.

Sitting at a table in the small airport lounge, Javier breaks the silence as I sip an iced tea. “Look, I’m sorry if I shock you. I thought it was better to be honest with you from the start. You don’t understand life in Mexico so let me try to explain—”

“Explain? What’s to explain? You all but said you are a smuggler, Javier. what’s to explain?”

 ~~~~~~~~~~~~~

AUTHOR Bio and Links:

La Paloma is Willard Thompson new suspense/adventure/romance inspired by current headlines. It’s set in present day Los Angeles, California, and various cities in Mexico.

The Girl from the Lighthouse published last year is Thompson’s Award-winning historical romance set in California and Paris, France in the 1870s.

He is the gold medal-winning author of Dream Helper, the first in The Chronicles of California series of three historical novels set in the early days of the Golden State. He and his wife live in Santa Barbara, California.

Buy links:

Amazon: https://www.amazon.com/Paloma-Novel-Willard-Thompson-ebook/dp/B0842DGB6Q/

Barnes and Nobles: https://www.barnesandnoble.com/w/la-paloma-willard-thompson/1136266389

 

 

Willard Thompson will be awarding a $15 Amazon or Barnes and Noble GC to a randomly drawn winner via rafflecopter during the tour.

a Rafflecopter giveaway
https://widget-prime.rafflecopter.com/launch.js

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