Chasing Stars by L. Duarte @LDuarte77 #review #debut #newrelease


OK here it is my next BIG thing. 

 Hope sprouts from the recognition that the person with real flaws and qualities dormant 

inside me is capable of love.

 

 

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Book Review 

I KNOW when I read something within a few pages if I like or love. This BLOWS me away. I have almost 30 quotes. What I loved was the deep story and the ultimate foundation for the entire story was FAITH, God, love, family and hope.  

Though we had all the money most people can only think of, we were the rejects of the plastic city of LA, where artificial is the norm and the normal is outdated” 

As very wealthy family begins a life, here is Portia. She is perfect and soon to be a star herself. Her Mom and Dad divorced and she immersed herself with her best friends Tarry and Nillie. All three come from wealthy family backgrounds. Portia McGee and her friends created a list “Things to do before we die” yeah I know I wanted to kick Nillie myself for naming it that. Anyways they make the list and start checking things off. The base of their childhood is friends. They have Estela who is Portia’s nanny. There is a story about how she learns Spanish from going to Guadalajara and saying she is a relative so that the kids will play with her. The only real Motherly love Portia gets is from Estela her Nanny. As the three go on to their lives, they get together and make it fun whenever they can. 

Portia has to get a temporary tattoo for a big role. Enter Will, the artist. He is not a traditional tattoo artist, but a recent grad of the Columbia school. WOW a smart, talented artist who can tattoo.

  

What I LOVED was the meeting of Will and then his family. His life was so tough and I won’t elaborate and spoil that part, it is to be read and savored. When he introduces Portia to Dan, his Pastor Dad and Maritza, his Mom along with the overly outspoken and protective sister Melody (Mel). I loved Mel for the way she protected Wil. She was one of those I hate her characters, but that is the author’s beauty of storytelling. When you think you can’t stand someone, but you do totally get the dialogue and where they are coming from. Mel is also very forgiving, very pregnant and very loving. The fact that she is on leave from being a police officer is exceptional character placement to me. Her partner Lucas is a sub-plot character, that only adds more depth, showing why she is a fierce protector. Her Husband Tim is in Afghanistan and again the message is family, Dan and Maritza really support her during this trying time. Then there was Rick, the co-owner of the tattoo shop. Now he adds certain messaging to the story, which relates well to Will’s growing up.

 

 

 It doesn’t take long for Portia to understand what Dan’s valued have done to Will. He has taken this kid, made him into a better person and shown him the Lord. Will has accepted it and leads a life based on faith and giving back. 

 

So as you know, when I believe in something I sell it big. THIS is big. I hope and pray that the message is received and just maybe touches a few people. I want everyone to read this and take a new and different meaning from the many lessons that are here. Don’t just know something, but feel it, live it, grow from it, and experience it.  

“The point being, no matter how much we try, sometimes it is impossible to like certain things or people” 

It is both well written and a wealth of story telling genius. I always say if you read something and it leaves an impression, share it, pass it on, shout the title and get others to read it. I will make sure others read this. I am so thankful the author found me and let me experience her writing. Bravo!!

 AUTHOR’S NOTE: Chasing Stars is intended for mature readers, containing sexual content and strong language.

 

 

Vixen in Vegas by Emma Nichols @EmmasErotica #spotlight #interview


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What sparked your interest in becoming a romance writer?
 
I often joke that I became a writer of romance and erotica because it was the best way for me to parlay my passions into a career.
 
What was the first romance novel you read that made an impression on you?
 
When I was really young, I read The Thornbirds.  It was the naughtiest book I could imagine.  I remember thinking that I needed to be able to write like that.  So, that’s what I try to do.
 
Tell us 5 surprising things about yourself.
 
1.     I have a tattoo.
2.     I want more…small, sexy, meaningful.
3.     My palate has really become more sophisticated…as evidenced by my love of sushi and asparagus…sometimes even together.
4.     I think cruising is the only way to travel.
5.     For someone so intrigued by sex, I didn’t lose my virginity for a really long time.
 
What is your writing environment.
 
I write wherever I am comfortable at the moment.  It could be in the living room, lying on the bed, on the garage couch, or even the floor.  I abhor writing at desks.  It feels too much like work and I just want to have fun with it.
 
One of your favorite quotes.
 
By Mae West: You only live once, but if you do it right, once is enough.
 
Do you have a website recommendation for other writers?
 
 
Great ideas.  I’m working to implement them…especially marketing.
 
Who is your perfect hero? And why?
 
I think the perfect hero is perfectly imperfect.  I think he has flaws, but that when he finds love, they make him more real, less god-like.  He doesn’t have to have this model-esque body.  He says the right things, even if he doesn’t say them smoothly.  My favorite heroes are the reformed players, the ones who have been around and finally found everything they never knew they always wanted with the unlikeliest of women.
 
Which authors have caught your interest lately? Why?
 
Hmmm.  In the author groups, I’m finding ones that I try to emulate, that I admire for their skill and their abilities.  JB McGee has a new book coming out,,,Skipping Stones.  I’ve been able to beta that a bit.  And Brandy Dorsch is an aspiring writer who has an interesting looking paranormal romance coming out soon.
 
What type of book have you always wanted to write?
 
It has taken me forever, but Sin at Sea is the kind of book I always wanted to be brave enough to write.  There is something so liberating about not worrying over pushing the envelope.  At the same time, I think while writing something very erotic, I kept it classy.  That’s important.  Even my smut has a story.
 
Who are your dream dinner party guests?
 
If I could have anyone come to my parties…Channing Tatum…oh hell, the entire cast of Magic Mike.  Ummm…I don’t really think I’d need to invite anyone else…at all.  We’ll keep it nice and intimate.
 
What’s the last movie you watched and loved?
 
Loved?  Wow.  It has been a while since I loved a movie.  Dating means I watch movies that the guy loves…like action, horror, and thrillers.  Me, I prefer movies with meaning, movies that speak to me…like Under the Tuscan Sun or Love Actually.
 
Most _____________ in high school. (popular, nerdy, sporty…) Why?
 
It’s funny.  I thought I was nerdy.  I thought I was shy.  And then I go to a reunion and discover that everyone else thought I was popular.  I just did my own thing, whatever made me happy.  Still do.  It’s the best way to live. 
 
Top three things on your bucket list.
 
1.     Take a Mediterranean cruise. 
2.     Explore Greece
3.     Take a hot air balloon ride.  That one might be challenging since I also have a fear of heights.  Still…
 
How did you get the idea for this particular novel?
 
My goal was to write this great beach read.  It kind of forced me to go through with it, get it published for summer.  I took everything that I loved about summer…the water, the beaches, the travel, vacations, hot guys, and sexy times.  There are a lot of my own personal experiences in it.
 
What is your favorite scene in your new release?
 
I love where they meet, how they meet, their interaction.  Yes, Alysin and Mr. Bedroom Eyes have chemistry from the start.
 
If you could be one of your characters – Who would you be? And why?
 
I would love to be Alysin, so supremely confident, so independent.  She speaks her mind.  She’s very worldly.  She’s tough. 
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Flirting Questions
 
Which actor or book character do you have a crush on?
Whew…I can only pick one?  The Rock, Dwayne Johnson.
 
What’s your favorite body part of the opposite sex?
 
The chest.  I like a nice chest to rest my head on.
 
What does love feel like?
 
Scariest most incredible feeling ever.  Love is being naked and vulnerable all the time.
 
When was your last kiss?
 
I get kissed pretty much daily.  The last one that really affected me that would be harder to pin down.
 
What’s an absolute no-no in a relationship?
 
Cheating.  That’s a deal breaker.
 
What’s your idea of a perfect date?
 
I love new twists on old cliché moments.  I love candlelight dinners.  I love picnics.  Put the two together…bliss.
 
If you could take a romantic trip, where would it be?
 
Someplace warm and sandy.
 
Do you believe in love at first sight?
 
Nope.  I believe in lust at first sight.
 
Flirting Quickies:
 
Boxers or Briefs?   Boxer briefs
 
Facial hair or clean shaven?  Goatee
 
Alpha or Beta?  Alpha
 
Planner or Panster? Planner 
 
White wine or red? White
 
Coffee or tea? Tea
 
Vanilla or chocolate? Chocolate
 
Sweet or salty? Sweet
 
Sleep in or get up early? early
 
Laptop or desktop? laptop
Beach or mountains? beach
Winter or summer? summer
Cat or dog?  Cat
Twilight or Fifty Shades? Fifty Shades
Spotlight or In the Shadows?  Shadows
City or Country? Country
Clubbing or candlelight dinner? Candlelight
Backpacking or luxury hotel? Luxury hotel
Morning or night person? Both, it’s the middle of the day I suck at 
Christmas or Halloween? Christmas
Optimist or pessimist? optimist

 

Thursday Morning Breakfast (and Murder) Club by Liz Stauffer @LizStauffer #review


Publisher: Sartoris Literary Group, Inc. Release Date: July 5, 2013

Review:

This a a real small town feel mystery. The characters were at times laughable. I know! For a book that has murder in the title it is hard to believe. I remember a series The Scarecrow and Mrs King with Kate Jackson and I so pictured her as Lillie Mae. So Clare Ballard has a bruise and the entire town takes it and runs. The things they imagine. The ladies of the Thursday Morning Breakfast Club start gossiping that her husband Roger is  abusing her. 

All of this is going down and then another member Hester Franklin has to bail her grandson Patrick out of jail. He was arrested for drugs! Now she thinks her grandson is innocent, what else can she think in this case. 

So the body of a dealer is discovered and this causes an eruption. The gossip, rumors and accusations fly. When one of the original leaders Alice has an incident, it makes all of them re-think their positions. I was wondering who put the drugs into Patrick’s truck and it had me going!

I will say I found it to be a cutesy type of book. I know some of the subjects, like a drug deals and spousal abuse are not funny, but these ladies made me think differently. I adored the names and the descriptions. So if you adore cozy mysteries this is your cup of coffee or tea. This should be a series and I know I would read them all. Great job keeping me entertained!

 

 

Meet the author:

 

Liz Stauffer wrote stories in high school, but transferred her writing skills to the corporate world after her divorce from an Air Force pilot, as a means of supporting her two young sons. Moving between educational research and the computer world, she wrote everything from political encyclopedias and travel articles, to marketing literature and software manuals. But it wasn’t until she found herself stranded in a South Dakota winter, that she returned to writing fiction. 

After a successful corporate career, Liz gave up that world to travel and to write, and in some cases, to combine her two loves. Having lived in some fourteen states during her early adult years, she’s traveled to all fifty states, and to some fifty countries on four continents. When not traveling, she lives with her two dogs in Hollywood, Florida.  

For several years after retiring, Liz lived six months a year in Pen Mar, Maryland, a small community nestled into the foothills of the Appalachians, straddling the Maryland/Pennsylvania border, her house just feet from the Appalachian Trail. Pen Mar, once the site of a grand summer resort built by the railroad in the late nineteenth century, is the inspiration for the site of her Thursday Morning Breakfast and Murder Club mysteries. Her protagonist, Lillie Mae Harris, shares some of her own interests. Both women love to talk, love their friends and family but also love to meet new people, love to be outside, and love to hike. Lillie Mae would bike as much as Liz does, if the country roads she cruises were supportive to biking. Liz also has a great love of the beach, which Lillie Mae finds hot and tedious. 

Currently Liz is working on the third Thursday morning breakfast club mystery and is planning a grand epic that features the Pen Mar Park and Resort. 

 

@LizStauffer

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The Smoke and the Flame by Shirley McCoy #debut #romance


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The Smoke and the Flame
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In The Smoke and the Flame, Colleen O’Banyon longs for love and adventure until she encounters Darius McLinnin, one of the fabled race called the Jinn. In each other’s arms they find all the passion, all the love their hearts desire. But there is a ring, ancient and powerful, and only it can control the Jinn. As the ruler of the Jinn and their kingdom, Kaf, Darius is sworn to keep his people safe from it. Willing to protect the man she loves and guard his kingdom with her life, Colleen vows to aid him. Alaster, an evil sorcerer, will stop at nothing to make the ring and Kaf his. The battle begins in The Smoke and the Flame. 

 

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Shirley grew up in Baton Rouge, LA and started writing at an early age. Always talkative, when she was eleven she began to put her thoughts on paper, writing stories inspired by some of her favorite writers, Laura Ingalls Wilder and Madeline L’Engle. As she grew older, she developed a love of romance and in 2009 she decided to try her hand at paranormal romance. The result was The Smoke and the Flame and its sequel, The Wind and the Fire. The Smoke and the Flame is the first novel she has ever completed, although she has written several unpublished screenplays. 

Shirley graduated from Nicholls State University where she majored in History and minored in English. Since graduating (she doesn’t like to think about how long ago that was) she has worked at some of the best libraries in the Baton Rouge area. She makes her home there and enjoys spending time with family members that live in town as well as with those that live out of town. She also loves seeing movies, reading, and going to the park with her three year-old niece in her free time. Currently, Shirley is hard at work on her newest venture, tentatively titled Awake. It is a departure from her first two novels, as it is a contemporary romantic suspense.

 

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The Returned by Jason Mott @JasonMott #spotlight


Harold and Lucille Hargrave’s lives have been both joyful and sorrowful in the decades since their only son, Jacob, died tragically at his eighth birthday party in 1966. In their old age they’ve settled comfortably into life without him, their wounds tempered through the grace of time…. Until one day Jacob mysteriously appears on their doorstep—flesh and blood, their sweet, precocious child, still eight years old.

All over the world, people’s loved ones are returning from beyond. No one knows how or why, whether it’s a miracle or a sign of the end. Not even Harold and Lucille can agree on whether the boy is real or a wondrous imitation, but one thing they know for sure: he’s their son. As chaos erupts around the globe, the newly reunited Hargrave family finds itself at the center of a community on the brink of collapse, forced to navigate a mysterious new reality and a conflict that threatens to unravel the very meaning of what it is to be human.

With spare, elegant prose and searing emotional depth, award-winning poet Jason Mott explores timeless questions of faith and morality, love and responsibility. A spellbinding and stunning debut, The Returned is an unforgettable story that marks the arrival of an important new voice in contemporary fiction.

Reviews:

“Thought-provoking, occasionally dreamlike, and centered around the most charmingly irascible couple in recent memory…”

Shelf Awareness

“In his exceptional debut novel, poet Mott brings drama, pathos, joy, horror, and redemption to a riveting tale…”

–Publishers Weekly (Starred Review)

“Beautifully written and emotionally astute… Poet and debut author Mott has written a breathtaking novel that navigates emotional minefields with realism and grace.”

-Kirkus Reviews (Starred Review) 

“Jason Mott is a voice to be noticed with amazing prose and the soul of a poet.  The Returned is a beautifully written and haunting story that will sneak into your dreams and will touch your soul long after you have finished the book.”

–Calvin Crosby, Book Passage

“In this sparely written first novel, poet Mott posits intriguing questions about our uneasy relationship with

death.  …A beautiful meditation on what it means to be human.”

Booklist (Starred Review) 

Jason Mott 

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Jason Mott lives in southeastern North Carolina. He has a BFA in Fiction and an MFA in Poetry, both from the University of North Carolina at Wilmington. His poetry and fiction has appeared in various journals such as Prick of the Spindle, The Thomas Wolfe Review, The Kakalak Anthology of Carolina Poets, Measure and Chautauqua. He was nominated for a 2009 Pushcart Prize award.

He is the author of two poetry collections: We Call This Thing Between Us Love and “…hide behind me…” The Returned is his first novel.

The Returned has also been optioned by Brad Pitt’s production company, Plan B, in association with Brillstein Entertainment and ABC. The pilot is currently being filmed.

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The Traveller by Garrett Addison @garrettaddison #review


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Garrett Addison wrote a pretty good book here. The first part was slow, in a way that made you think “this is his life”. It is a narration and a direct pov which takes some getting used to. Faye was the spouse who hated that her husband was a consultant who did too much traveling.  While the traveling part is probably the best part of his life, his friend Emil is the best co-worker, in my opinion. The way they call the boss, who is a woman the “Anti Christ” is hysterical to me.

The book shows the totally mundane life lead by the traveler. While enduring the life of a consultant, he contemplates family, life general and murdering the anti Christ. I couldn’t really relate to his anger that much, seems like he needed a way to vent about work and the boss lady. Well no spoiler he may get a way.

When is able to create this nameless, faceless character into something that you hold close. You become witness to his turmoils as he wrestles with his self, and as he wrestles with the corporate world around him, and as he wrestles with his family. The overall story and plot were good. I might have a few say the beginning is slow, but stick with it.

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Garrett is forty something, Australian, and also a geek, husband, father and novelist. He grew up in Perth, Western Australia, and has been lucky enough to live in or visit most of Australia and much of the world. He now lives in Melbourne with his family. Not averse to change, thus far, he has been an Army officer, software consultant and author. But this is just the beginning.

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King Hall by Scarlett Dawn @ScarlettDawnUSA #review


King Hall

 A fresh, meaty, sink-your-teeth-in-and-hold-on-tight new adult fantasy series kicks off with King Hall…

Scarlett Dawn’s debut was great! Yeesh got that out. Talk about being in a situation! I got the cover reveal and have had the book about 3 weeks. Then I read it and now fin it in the “to do”pile. I have been so behind. I have summer and the beach to blame. So much time to read, no time to write the reviews. Thank the heavens I use my notes and hi-lights to save things. This had a few things going on, first it is paranormal, then Young Adult paranormal. Some will appreciate the pg13 rating and I know some will say it needed spice, heat or a jalapeno, me I was great with it. Just coming off a 3 book bdsm series I appreciated that part. For those wanting more, close your eyes and use your imagination like Willy Wonka told you to.

The characters were all well rounded, well written and totally relateable. Without repeating a synopsis, I will say that the rulers training were the best part. Being that every generation has to have a new set of rulers we know that there will be more and hopefully a 3 book series. I know people who love the genre will agree there is a lot to offer here. Just like Ezra, my what a name, he was delish!

So the downfall is the new indie author. One who has a following and needs to get her name out there and spread the word. I am always willing to help, but mostly because we need bloggers to do the share and say “hey this was good, read it now”and let her get to work. SO much promise there. I look forward to more from her and I dont look forward to the never ending please “more, please write more, I need book 2, I need book 3, Ezra, Lily, Pearl, Jack”you know what I mean. I do love the name Pearl!

Visit her page on Amazon and PLEASE LIKE it

Scarlett Dawn is drawn to all things quirky and off-beat. She believes there are no boundaries for an imaginative soul. Her love of the written word started from at an early age, when her grandmother would take her to bookstores every weekend. Dreams came alive within the books she found there, and now, she is thrilled to share her stories with others who have fallen under the spell of taking fantastical journeys. Scarlett resides in the Midwest with her husband, three children, and two dogs.

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A great Interview HERE at Exploring the Mind Blog