Virtual Tour & #Giveaway for Deady Dye and a Soy Chai by Elizabeth Ashby & Traci Andrighetti

Welcome to my stop on the Virtual Book Tour, presented by Great Escapes Virtual Book Tours, for Deadly Dye and a Soy Chai by Elizabeth Ashley and Traci Andrighetti.  Please leave a comment or question for Traci to let her know you stopped by.  You can enter her tour wide giveaway, where Traci will award a Kate Spade “Cobble Hill Bow Stacy" wallet in blue pebbled leather to a randomly drawn commenter, by filling out the Rafflecopter form below.  You can also enter the 2nd giveaway, for this stop only, for one digital copy of Traci’s Deadly Dye and a Soy Chai ebook by filling out the 2nd Rafflecopter form.  You can follow all of the stops on his tour by clicking on the banner above. The more stops you visit, the better your odds of winning. 

 Profile on Cassidi Lee Conti  By Traci Andrighetti

Since I’m doing five guest posts for the DEADLY DYE AND A SOY CHAI blog tour, I thought it would be fun to do a profile on the five main characters in the series. Of course, I’m starting with the leading lady, Cassidi Conti, a blonde-haired, brown-eyed hair stylist who left Texas for Danger Cove, Washington, to start a new life.

Occupation: Cassidi is the owner of The Clip and Sip Hair Salon located at 627 Fletcher Way. The salon is in an old Victorian mansion where Cassidi also resides. She inherited the salon from her late Uncle Vincent “Vinnie” Conti, who died under mysterious (and unmentionable) circumstances. Speaking of unmentionables, The Clip and Sip was a famous brothel during the gold rush, a fact which comes back to haunt Cassidi in sinsational ways.

Education: At 26 years of age, she’s still working on it! Her plan is to get a degree in Business Administration, but school isn’t exactly her strong suit (and neither is geography. When she moved to Washington, she thought it was next to California, not Oregon).

Personality: Cassidi is hardworking, driven, straightforward, and romantic (but not when she’s tracking down a murderer).

Bad Habits: More often than not, she drinks too much espresso and sticks her nose into homicide investigations instead of leaving them to the Danger Cove PD to solve.

Favorite Foods: Her absolute faves are things you can’t find in Danger Cove: barbeque, Tex Mex, Blue Bell ice cream, and anything made with peaches from her hometown of Fredericksburg (especially peach brown betty and peach praline pie).

Main Challenges Cassidi Is Facing Now (in no particular order):

1. Keeping The Clip and Sip afloat (she recently added a free drink to the salon’s services to bring in new clients).

2. Passing her accounting class so that she can stay in school.

3. Managing the antics of her ex-barista-turned-make-up-artist step cousin from New Jersey, Gia Di Mitri.

4. Staving off the attention of sexy boat salesman and aspiring yacht designer Zac Taylor.

5. Solving the year-old mystery of who murdered her Uncle Vinnie.

6. Staying out of jail.

7. Finding out who killed 80-year-old Margaret Appleby in The Clip and Sip and why she turned as blue as her hair dye.

Defense Mechanism: Hiking up her skirt and running—like she did from her own wedding to Shane Austin back in Texas. But that’s another story… 

Deadly Dye and a Soy Chai

By Elizabeth Ashby & Traci Andrighetti

Danger Cove Mysteries, Book 5

Publisher:  Gemma Halliday Publishing

Release Date:  July 15, 2015

Genre:  Cozy Mystery

Length:  211 Pages (2413KB)

Format:  eBook/Print

ISBN:  978-1515110392

ASIN:  B011SBZ310

Buy Links:  Amazon | Barnes & Noble | iTunes | Kobo | Smashwords    

Native Texan Cassidi Conti was expecting to face some obstacles when she moved to Danger Cove and opened The Clip and Sip, a hair salon that gives away free drinks. What she wasn’t counting on was a client dying during a dye job. But when eighty-year-old Margaret Appleby comes in for her biweekly appointment, that’s exactly what happens: Margaret drinks her usual soy chai, dozes off under the dryer…and doesn’t wake up. 

Now The Clip and Sip is under suspicion, clients are wary, and Cassidi is on a mission to prove that while her styles may be killer, her employees are innocent! But as Cassidi wades through the myriad of suspects in the small, costal town, the killer sets his sights straight on everyone’s favorite stylist. If Cassidi doesn’t watch her back, she may just end up Danger Cove’s latest fashionable victim.

**********

ABOUT THE AUTHOR

Traci Andrighetti is the national bestselling author of the Franki Amato mysteries and the Danger Cove Hair Salon mysteries. In her previous life, she was an award-winning literary translator and a Lecturer of Italian at the University of Texas at Austin, where she earned a PhD in Applied Linguistics. But then she got wise and ditched that academic stuff for a life of crime–writing, that is.

Author Links

Website:  http://traciandrighetti.com

Blog;  http://traciandrighetti.com/blo/

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

Twitter:  https://twitter.com/TAndrighetti

Goodreads:  https://www.goodreads.com/author/show/7383577.Traci_Andrighetti

A hair stylist jumping at a chance to start again gets more than she bargained for in Traci Andrighetti’s Deady Dye and a Soy Chai, the fifth book in the Danger Cove Mystery series.  Colorful characters, two mysteries and a heroine determined to clear her family’s name take center stage and never let go. A light touch of humor, sharp dialogue and plenty of twists and turns kept my attention from start to finish.  If you’re a fan of cozy mysteries, this is a book you will undoubtedly enjoy.

Ms. Andrighetti does a good job introducing us to Cassidi Conti, a blonde half-Italian hairdresser who jumps at the chance to leave Fredericksburg, TX and start “over” in a new town when she inherits her uncle Vinnie’s estate.  An estate consisting of an old Victorian mansion with a built in hair salon in Danger Cove, Washington, a black Ferrari California and a small bank account, oh, and the problem of Vinnie’s unsolved murder.  I easily connected with Cassidi, a woman who runs from her problems if she can and chugs espresso like water, and laughed out loud at the situations she gets herself into.  Situations that begin on the first page.

The secondary characters are also well developed and I especially fell in love with Gia di Mitri, Cassidi’s step-cousin and the salon’s “makeup” stylist, and Amy Spannagel, the town’s librarian and Cassidi’s new best friend, both women were hilarious in their own way and the way they interacted with Cassidi made me laugh.  Their turn as secret private investigators also cracked me up and even though they are mostly clueless, they did manage to conduct a decent investigation into who killed one of salon’s clients while she was getting her hair dyed.

I also enjoyed getting to meet Zac Taylor, a boatyard worker who has a crush on Cassidi and is determined to take their acquaintance relationship to a more personal level.  Ms. Andrighetti does a pretty good job developing the potential chemistry between Zac and Cassidi and it’s only Cassidi’s past and her determination to stay away from romance that keep Zac at arm’s length.  The mystery is well written and takes plenty of twists and turns.  The story is well paced and Ms. Andrighetti’s writing style is easy to follow and her voice as an author is very enjoyable.  

Will Cassidi discover who killed the client sitting at the Clip and Sip Salon?  Will she discover more of her uncle’s secrets and find out who wanted him dead? You’ll have to read Deadly Dye and a Soy Chai to find out, I enjoyed it and look forward to reading more of the Danger Cove Mystery series to find out more about the small town and the inhabitants Cassidi will no doubt encounter in future books.

My Rating:  4.5 out of 5 Crowns

Tour Wide Giveaway 

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Book Blast & #Giveaway for Dos Angeles by Michael O'Hara

Welcome to my stop on the Book Blast, presented by Goddess Fish Promotions, for Dos Angeles by Michael O’Hara.  Please leave a comment or question for Michael to let hiin know you stopped by.  You can enter his tour wide giveaway, where Michael will award a $20 Amazon/BN GC to a randomly drawn commenter, by filling out the Rafflecopter form below.  You can follow all of the stops on his tour by clicking on the banner above. The more stops you visit, the better your odds of winning.  

Dos Angeles

By Michael O’Hara

Paco Moran Mystery, Book 1

Publisher:  Strategic Media Books

Release Date:  September 1, 2015

Genre:  Crime/Mystery/Private Investigator

Length:  280 Pages

Format:  Print

ISBN:  978-1939521507

Buy Links:  Amazon | Barnes & Noble     

About the book: 

Dos Angeles, the first in a franchise of mysteries featuring Paco Moran, puts the multicultural thirty-something ex-LAPD homicide detective turned reluctant private eye on the trail of a beautiful young Latina on the run with ten million dollars in cash. Half Anglo and half Mexican, Moran is a transitional character equally at home working in Beverly Hills or blue collar Boyle Heights, the tough East Los Angeles neighborhood where he was raised by a single mom. In his debut case Paco quickly learns he will be the fall guy if he doesn't track down the young immigrant who allegedly stole a small fortune from a sleazy Hollywood producer secretly laundering money for a notorious drug cartel. Paco's frantic search takes him on a roller-coaster ride through a shadowy place he calls Dos Angeles a city within the city and a virtual country unto itself.

EXCERPT

Then, the day before the Pirellis were due home, something unexpected came up that needed her immediate attention. On hearing what she thought was the sound of a toilet running she first checked downstairs before heading up to the master suite. Inside the gaudy all gold and marble bathroom she discovered a puddle of water seeping out from inside the extra-long double vanity. Opening the main cabinet doors she saw one of the stainless steel hoses was leaking badly. She tried to tighten the connection but it had no effect. Afraid she might make matters worse, she turned off the valve and hurried downstairs to call a plumber on the approved contact list.

A half hour later Sid Kantor showed up and Maria was immediately intimidated by his off-putting physical presence. Short and obesely overweight with a large shaved head, a Quaker-like beard, and dull, hooded eyes, Kantor reminded her of El Malvado, a cartoon villain that used to terrify her as a little girl in Oaxaca. Because of that and his gruff, unfriendly manner, she quickly sensed he was one of those aggressive white foreigners who only saw Mexicans as workers, never as equals.

Not about to give him the satisfaction of staring at her shapely bottom on the way up the steep winding staircase, she politely stepped aside and gestured for him to lead the way. By the time they reached the second floor landing he was grunting and panting so much she feared he might have a heart attack.

“Are you okay, sir?” she asked with genuine concern.

“Ya, ya,” he muttered, wiping his brow with his shirt sleeve. “It’s dis damn heat.”

Minutes later Maria stood by patiently as Kantor awkwardly maneuvered his way under the sink to remove and replace the faulty hose. When he finally finished he turned the water back on to test it.

“Dat should do it,” he said in a heavily accented, non-American voice. “Let run five minutes to make sure.”

After struggling to get back up on his feet Kantor gestured with the flashlight he’d been using, illuminating the inside of the cabinet.

“You know what behind dere?” he asked, focusing the light on a small pocket door under the sink.

“Behind where?” Maria was confused.

“Dere, dere!” he growled, swirling the light around to emphasize what he was talking about

“I don’t know,” she shrugged.

“Strange. Hah?” He pointed the flashlight at the door again. “Must be something back dere.”

Since Kantor was obviously way too big to crawl through himself, Maria volunteered to take a look while he was still there.

“No time,” he said, tapping on his watch. “Late for next appointment.”

He handed her a business card. “You call if any more problems.”

She promised she would and saw him out.

After he left, she decided to return upstairs to check behind the cabinet to make sure there were no hidden pipes that could be leaking. When she slid open the mystery door, she was startled to discover a secret room. “Dios mío!” she whispered.

 AUTHOR Bio and Links:

Emmy nominee Michael O’Hara-- who has written and produced some of the highest-rated television movies and miniseries in recent memory – is adding author to his resume with the August, 2015 the publication of his first novel,  Dos Angeles.

The book, featuring a bilingual and bicultural private eye named Paco Moran, centers around Moran’s desperate search for a beautiful young Latina immigrant who stole ten million dollars from the mob. In a pre-publication review American Book Award winner Peter Quinn said: Paco Moran’s debut in Michael O'Hara's Dos Angeles is fast-paced, finely crafted, and full of surprises. It's noir fiction for the 21st century, a helluva ride from the first page to last. Here's hoping O'Hara brings Paco back very soon. I can't wait!

A former award-winning journalist and NBC Vice President of Media Relations, O’Hara made an auspicious debut as a writer/producer with “Those She Left Behind,” a critically acclaimed family drama that continues to be the highest-rated TV movie (25.1/38 share) on any network in over twenty years. It starred Gary Cole and Colleen Dewhurst (who won an Emmy Award for her performance). That success was followed by the widely praised NBC movie “She Said No” which won an American Women in Radio & Television Award for Best Television Dramatic Special.

O’Hara next wrote and executive produced “Switched at Birth,” the blockbuster NBC miniseries that earned an Emmy nomination as Best Dramatic Special and remains the highest rated (22 rating/33 share) miniseries on network television since its initial telecast over two decades ago. He was also the writer and executive producer of “Murder in the Heartland,” a celebrated ABC miniseries which garnered a Casting Society of America Award and two Emmy nominations. Right after that he created and executive produced the first of 22 “Moment of Truth” movies for NBC, establishing one of the most successful film franchises in TV history.

O’Hara also wrote “She Woke Up Pregnant,” the pilot for ABC’s ‘Crimes of Passion’ franchise. It scored an impressive 13.4 rating and 21 share, making it the highest-rated ABC movie of the year. He went on to write “One Hot Summer Night,” another ‘Crimes of Passion’ thriller that was ABC’s highest-rated Thursday night movie of the season. Other producing credits include two CBS projects: “Twilight Zone – Rod Serling’s Lost Classics” and “A Child’s Wish,” which was filmed in the Oval Office and featured a cameo appearance by then President Bill Clinton. In addition he wrote and executive produced NBC’s “In His Life: The John Lennon Story” and “1st to Die,” a two-part NBC miniseries based on the best-selling novel by James Patterson.

Overall O’Hara has produced four miniseries and 33 Movies of the Week. Besides his Emmy nomination, other honors include: a Christopher Award (“A Child’s Wish”); a Prism Award (“The Accident”); a Humanitas Award nomination (“Heart of a Child”); a National Easter Seal Society Award (“To Walk Again”); an International Health & Medical Film Award (“Heart of a Child”); and the Media Award from The National Council on Problem Gambling (“Playing to Win.”)

Website:  Michael-ohara.com

Goodreads:  https://www.goodreads.com/author/show/14203330.Michael_O_Hara

Facebook:  https://www.facebook.com/pages/Dos-Angeles/1143487899001779   

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Book Blast & #Giveaway for Fugly by Mimi Jean Pamfiloff

Welcome to my stop on the Book Blast, presented by Tasty Book Tours, for Fugly by Mimi Jean Pamfiloff.  Please leave a comment or question for Mimi to let her know you stopped by.  You can enter her tour wide giveaway, where Mimi will award a Fugly Prize Pack to five (5) randomly drawn commenters, by filling out the Rafflecopter form below.   

FUGLY

Mimi Jean Pamfiloff

Released Sept 15th, 2015

 

From New York Times Bestseller Mimi Jean Pamfiloff Comes a New Stand-Alone Story.

UGLY IS IN THE EYE OF THE BEHOLDER...

My name is Lily Snow. I am twenty-five years old, and despite being born with an unattractive face, I have never doubted who I am: smart, driven, and beautiful on the inside.

Until I met Maxwell Cole.

He's handsome, excessively wealthy, and the owner of Cole Cosmetics. It's been my dream to work for this man for as long as I can remember. The good news is he wants to hire me. The bad news is he wants me for all the wrong reasons. Ugly reasons.

In exchange, he's offered me my dreams on a silver platter. The job. The title. A beautiful future. But this man is as messed up and ugly as they come on the inside. I'm not sure anyone can help him, and he just might take my heart down with him.

BUY NOW

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“So I just ran without a shirt for a quarter mile and would’ve gotten to go anyway?”

“Not really. But I wanted to make you feel bad. By the way, has anyone ever told you you’re completely mad?”

I laughed and turned around to unravel my tank top and slip it over my head, a huge smile on my face. “So, what time do we leave for the air—”

I suddenly felt his hot sweaty body pressed up against my back, his one hand on my bare waist, the other sweeping my long hair to one side. “No need to put that back on.”

My breath caught in my throat. “Wha-wha-what are you doing?” I whispered, feeling his hands slide up the front of my body and begin touching my breasts over my bra. He was hard. Really, really hard, and straining against my lower back.

“I think that’s fairly obvious; keeping our deal,” he said, his hot breath tickling my neck.

I was about to say something to explain how I didn’t really want him to do what he was doing, but it would’ve been a lie. The heat of his skin on my back, his hard cock pressing into me while his hands massaged my breasts felt better than anything I’d ever experienced.

His lips trailed down the side of my neck and stopped right on the little spot where my shoulder started.

How was this happening? Because wasn’t he…didn’t he have that problem with…?

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New York Times and USA Today bestselling Romance author, host of the radio talk show, Man Candy, on Radioslot.com.

When San Francisco native Mimi Jean went on an adventure as an exchange student to Mexico City, she never imagined the journey would lead to writing Romance. But one MBA, one sexy husband, and two rowdy kids later, Mimi would trade in corporate life for vampires, deities, and snarky humor.

She continues to hope that her books will inspire a leather pants comeback (for men) and that she might make you laugh when you need it most.

She also enjoys interacting with her fans (especially if they're batshit crazy). You can always find her chatting away on Facebook, Twitter, or saying many naughty words on her show MAN CANDY on Radioslot.com !

Find out more about Mimi and upcoming books at www.mimijean.net

Website | Facebook | Twitter | Goodreads

Virtual Tour & #Giveaway for The Beautiful American by Jeanne Mackin

Welcome to my stop on the Virtual Book Tour, presented by Historical Fiction Virtual Book Tours, for The Beautiful American by Jeanne Mackin.  Please leave a comment or question for Jeanne to let her know you stopped by.  You can enter her tour wide giveaway, where Jeanne will be awarding a paperback copy of her book to a randomly chosen winner, by filling out the entry form below.  You can follow all of the stops on his tour by clicking on the banner above or following the schedule below. The more stops you visit, the better your odds of winning. 

The Beautiful American

by Jeanne Mackin

Publisher:  NAL/Penguin Group

Publication Date: June 3, 2014
Genre: Historical Fiction/World War II

Formats: eBook, Paperback, Audio
Length:  352 Pages

ISBN:  978-0451465825

ASIN:  B00G3L1DLA

Buy Links:   AMAZON | BARNES & NOBLE | BOOKS-A-MILLION | GOOGLE PLAY |  IBOOKSTORE  | INDIEBOUND | 

POWELL’S

About the book:

As recovery from World War II begins, expat American Nora Tours travels from her home in southern France to London in search of her missing sixteen-year-old daughter. There, she unexpectedly meets up with an old acquaintance, famous model-turned-photographer Lee Miller. Neither has emerged from the war unscathed. Nora is racked with the fear that her efforts to survive under the Vichy regime may have cost her daughter’s life. Lee suffers from what she witnessed as a war correspondent photographing the liberation of the Nazi concentration camps.

Nora and Lee knew each other in the heady days of late 1920’s Paris, when Nora was giddy with love for her childhood sweetheart, Lee became the celebrated mistress of the artist Man Ray, and Lee’s magnetic beauty drew them all into the glamorous lives of famous artists and their wealthy patrons. But Lee fails to realize that her friendship with Nora is even older, that it goes back to their days as children in Poughkeepsie, New York, when a devastating trauma marked Lee forever. Will Nora’s reunion with Lee give them a chance to forgive past betrayals, and break years of silence?

A novel of freedom and frailty, desire and daring, The Beautiful American portrays the extraordinary relationship between two passionate, unconventional woman.

EXCERPT

Two days later we were in Paris, unpacked in a flea bag hotel on Isle de la Cite, and the fleas were worth it, because outside my attic window was Notre Dame Cathedral.

Maybe it was all those bottles of French perfume, or my father who after a fourth shot of gin would whisper to me, We'll go to Paris one day, just you and me.  One of Lee's friends told me, a year after I had arrived, about reincarnation and how people traveled to get to where they had once been happy in some other life.  Whatever the cause, I was immediately happy in Paris, more buoyant and optimistic than I had ever been in my life.  It was like stepping out of a closed dark room and into the fresh air.

Paris was cheaper than London, and even if Jamie did not find a gallery and make money from sales, his allowance would cover us, if we lived frugally.  We could go to bars and cafes for meals and drinks, spend our afternoons walking along the Seine, Jamie always pointing his camera in some direction.

We walked the cobblestone streets of the Latin Quarter, peered through grilled gates at private courtyards with their playing fountains and flower-filled urns.  We picnicked in the Luxembourg gardens where the writer Hemingway had hunted pigeons for his lunch.  We spent a week's worth of cash at the Folies Bergere to see Josephine Baker dance in her banana skirt...Josephine, whose favorite fragrance was jasmine, the flower that gave the name to the new music, jazz. We ate sugar crepes from street stalls, and walked up and down rue de Fleurus, hoping to get a glance of Gertrude Stein.

 PRAISE FOR THE BEAUTIFUL AMERICAN

“Will transport you to expat Paris.” – Suzanne Rindell, author of The Other Typist

“A brilliant, beautifully written literary masterpiece” – Sandra Dallas, author of Fallen Women

“Leaves its essence of love, loss, regret and hope long after the novel concludes.” – Erika Robuck, author of Fallen Beauty

“Achingly beautiful and utterly mesmerizing…her vividly drawn characters…come heartbreakingly alive in their obsessions, tragedies and triumphs” – Jennifer Robson, author of Somewhere in France

“From Poughkeepsie to Paris, from the razzmatazz of the twenties to the turmoil of World War Two and the perfume factories of Grasse, Mackin draws you into the world of expatriate artists and photographers and tells a story of love, betrayal, survival and friendship…an engaging and unforgettable novel” – Renee Rosen, author Doll Face

ABOUT THE AUTHOR

Jeanne Mackin’s novel, The Beautiful American (New American Library), based on the life of photographer and war correspondent Lee Miller, received the 2014 CNY award for fiction. Her other novels include A Lady of Good Family, about gilded age personality Beatrix Farrand, The Sweet By and By, about nineteenth century spiritualist Maggie Fox, Dreams of Empire set in Napoleonic Egypt, The Queen’s War, about Eleanor of Aquitaine, and The Frenchwoman, set in revolutionary France and the Pennsylvania wilderness.

Jeanne Mackin is also the author of the Cornell Book of Herbs and Edible Flowers (Cornell University publications) and co-editor of The Book of Love (W.W. Norton.) She was the recipient of a creative writing fellowship from the AmericanAntiquarian Society and a keynote speaker for The Dickens Fellowship. Her work in journalism won awards from the Council for the Advancement and Support of Education, in Washington, D.C. She has taught or conducted workshops in Pennsylvania, Hawaii and at Goddard College in Vermont.

WEBSITE | FACEBOOK | TWITTER

A Francophile and lover of historical novels set during World War II, I jumped at the chance to read and review The Beautiful American by Jeanne Mackin, a fictional tale of two women who travel to England and France from America at the end of the Roaring Twenties.  Using two main characters to tell her story, one fictional and one real, Ms. Mackin takes the reader on an emotional journey covering the topics of women’s friendship, the changing role of women between the 1920’s – 1950’s and the ugliness of war.  If you’ve never read a book by Jeanne Mackin, this would be a fabulous start.

Ms. Mackin does an excellent job introducing the reader to her two main characters right from the start.  A fictional character, Nora Tours, an American woman living in France during World War II, is searching for her sixteen year old daughter, Dahlia, when she encounters Lee Miller, a famous model turned professional photographer, who is both an acquaintance and one time friend from her past.  As the reader is introduced to both characters it’s clear their history is fraught with emotional angst, betrayal and a friendship forged in their shared past in Poughkeepsie, New York.  As we get to know both Nora and Lee, it’s clear that while Nora is the more likeable character, Lee is the one history will remember. 

Using flashbacks to tell the story of both women as they arrive in London and eventually move to Paris with the men they love, we learn about life in France between the wars and how art, money and society interacted.  A striking woman who was not ashamed of her body, Lee Miller becomes a famous model and with her lover, Man Ray, a famous visual artist, lives a life whose goal appears to be the acquisition of more fame.  Which is offset by how Nora’s life is more focused on those around her and the dreams she has for a home and a family.  As the war approaches and the situation between the two women takes them on different paths, along with a touch of betrayal on Lee’s part, we watch the two women struggle to survive in a rapidly changing world. 

A gifted historical researcher, Ms. Mackin doesn’t shield her characters, or the reader, from the horrors of the war and what these women encountered.  As “The Beautiful American”, we watch as Lee becomes a photographer and reporter for Vogue during the war whose pictures covered events including the London Blitz, the Liberation of Paris, and the horrors of the concentration camps at Bacherwald and Dachau.  The author also covers the violence that women suffered on a more personal and physical nature.  Ms. Mackin’s writing style and form of prose make it easy to get drawn and lost in her story as we watch both women survive the war. 

Will Nora locate her missing daughter?  Will Nora and Lee find a way to get beyond the past and forge a new and lasting friendship? And how will Lee Miller’s stories and photographs of the war impact society?  You’ll have to read The Beautiful American to find out, I enjoyed it and look forward to reading more of Ms. Mackin’s work.    

My Rating:  4.5 out of 5 Crowns

GIVEAWAY

To enter to win a paperback copy of The Beautiful American, please enter via the GLEAM form below.

Rules

– Giveaway ends at 11:59pm EST on October 2nd. You must be 18 or older to enter.
– Giveaway is open to US residents only.
– Only one entry per household.
– All giveaway entrants agree to be honest and not cheat the systems; any suspect of fraud is decided upon by blog/site owner and the sponsor, and entrants may be disqualified at our discretion
– Winner has 48 hours to claim prize or new winner is chosen.

The Beautiful American

BLOG TOUR SCHEDULE

Monday, September 21
Spotlight at Let Them Read Books

Tuesday, September 22
Interview at Please Pass the Books

Wednesday, Spetember 23
Review at A Bookish Affair
Review at History From a Woman’s Perspective
Spotlight at What Is That Book About

Thursday, September 24
Review at History Undressed
Review & Interview at Jorie Loves a Story

Friday, September 25
Guest Post at A Bookish Affair
Interview at History Undressed
Spotlight at Book Nerd

Sunday, September 27
Review at With Her Nose Stuck in a Book

Monday, September 28
Review at I’m Shelf-ish
Guest Post at To Read, or Not to Read

Tuesday, September 29
Review at Build a Bookshelf
Spotlight at Caroline Wilson Writes

Wednesday, September 30
Review at Queen of All She Reads
Spotlight at View From the Birdhouse
Spotlight at CelticLady’s Reviews

Thursday, October 1
Review at Dive Under the Cover
Interview at The Old Shelter
Guest Post at Books and Benches
Spotlight at The Lit Bitch

Friday, October 2
Review at A Fold in the Spine
Review & Interview at Singing Librarian Books
Spotlight & Excerpt at A Literary Vacation

Review Tour for The Wedding Switch by Sharon Kleve

Release Day Spotlight & #Giveaway for Devil and the Deep (Cerulians #4) by Megan Tayte

The Devil and the Deep

By Megan Tayte

Cerurlians, Book 4

Publisher:  Heaven Afire

Release Date:  September 30, 2015

Genre:  YA Paranormal Fantasy

Length:  314 Pages

ASIN:  B015HOLZ7K

Buy Links:  AmazonUS | Amazon UK       

About the book: 

STORM CLOUDS ARE GATHERING, AND THEY WILL RAIN BLOOD. 

Scarlett is living her happy-ever-after, back in the real world. Only the ‘happy’ part is proving problematic.

For starters, there’s the isolation. Being a Cerulean among humans is fraught with risk, so her time with people can only be fleeting. Which means being with Luke but not being with Luke.

Then there’s her Cerulean light, her power over life and death. Less awesome talent, as it turns out, and more overwhelming responsibility. And it comes with rules – rules that are increasingly difficult to obey.

But what’s really pushing Scarlett to the precipice is something much bigger than herself, than her life in the cove. A force to be reckoned with:

Blood.

When long-buried truths are exposed, will Scarlett keep her head above water – or will she drown in the blood-dimmed tide that is unleashed?

EXCERPT

It began with screaming. Shrill, ear-piercing, horrified screaming.

A girl shrieked, ‘Blood! Look, look – it’s everywhere!’ and pressed her hand to her mouth.

A man shouted, ‘Good grief!’ and another, ‘Great Scott!’

An old lady swooned gracefully and would have tipped over the balustrade of the riverboat had a lanky lad not caught her.

The cause of the excitement – a woman lying slumped on the long table on deck, cheek on her bread plate, headdress in the butter dish – twitched a little.

‘She’s alive!’ cried a lad beside her delightedly. ‘She moved!’

‘Did not,’ argued another.

‘Did too!’

‘Gentlemen,’ interjected a short, portly man with a twirly black moustache, ‘if you will forgive my intrusion, it must be noted that this woman has a bullet hole in her head and is logically, therefore, quite definitely deceased.’

Another old dear folded to the deck with a prolonged ‘Ohhhhhh’ and her husband grabbed a feathered fan and began wafting cool evening air in her face while calling,

‘Smelling salts – does anyone have any?’

I tried to keep a straight face. Really I did. I bit my bottom lip until I tasted my cherry-red lipstick. I pinched my leg through the cream satin of my gown. I dug my long cigarette holder into the sensitive flesh of my arm.

But it was no good.

The ‘What ho, chaps’ posh accents.

The buxom woman sagging in the arms of an elephant hunter wearing Converse All Stars.

The production of smelling salts in a bottle whose label read Pepto-Bismol.

The corners of the little round man’s moustache coming looser with his every word.

The fast-pooling puddle of pinkish blood on the bread plate, buffeted by the steady in-and-out breaths of the corpse.

Take it from a girl who’s really died – death on the River Dart, Devon, is hilarious.

‘Dear me, Ms Robson here appears to be quite overcome with shock,’ said the guy at my side suddenly, and he slipped an arm around me and turned me away. ‘Come, madam. Let us get some air.’

I smiled at him. Then grinned. Then choked back a guffaw. Thankfully, by the time full-scale hilarity hit me I’d been led to the rear of the boat, away from the rest of our party, and could bury my face in the bloke’s chest and shake mutely with laughter.

The gallant gentleman rubbed my back soothingly as I let it all out and said loudly, for the benefit of any onlookers, ‘There there, pignsey, there there.’

‘Pigsney?’ It was the final straw. My high-heeled sandals gave way and I melted into a puddle of mirth on the deck.

‘I’ll have you know, Scarlett Blake,’ hissed Luke, my boyfriend a.k.a. gallant gent, hoiking up his too-tight corduroy trousers so he could squat down beside me, ‘I Googled “old-fashioned terms of endearment” and pigsney’s a classic.’

I wiped tears from my eyes, dislodging a false eyelash in the process, and tried to catch my hiccupping breath as Luke went on.

‘Means pig’s eye. No idea why that’s appealing, but apparently in the seventeenth century, calling a lady pigsney was the very height of courting.’

Through his fake specs Luke’s blue eyes fixed me with a stare so earnest I almost managed to stop laughing.

‘But this is a Death on the Nile-Stroke-Dart murder mystery night, Luke,’ I managed to get out. ‘Set in the nineteen thirties, not the seventeen thirties.’

‘Ah,’ he said, ‘but my character tonight, Mr Fijawaddle, is a historical fiction writer, isn’t he? So as well as dressing like a brainy recluse – and I’m warning you now, I won’t hear another slur against this tweed jacket – he’d know all kinds of obscure terms. Like ginglyform and jargogle and nudiustertian and bromopnea and farctate and quagswag and philosophunculist.’

His showing off sobered me just enough to control the giggles. ‘You made those words up,’ I accused, poking a crimson talon into his mustard-yellow shirtfront.

He blinked at me innocently. ‘Did not. I told you before we left the house, I did my homework.’

I narrowed my eyes. ‘All right then, Mr Fijawaddle, what does that last word you said mean?’

‘Philosophunculist?’

‘Yes, that.’

‘Er…’ Luke gave me a sheepish grin.

‘Spill it,’ I said menacingly. As menacingly as a girl dressed up as a vintage Hollywood starlet with cute little pin curls and rouge aplenty can be, that is.

‘Philosophunculist,’ recited Luke. ‘Noun. A person who pretends to know more than they do in order to impress others.’

I threw my head back and laughed. ‘Busted!’

Luke slipped an arm around me and pulled me close. Really close.

‘Bet you like it when I use long words,’ he said huskily, eyes fixed on my too-red lips.

‘Bet you like it when I wear a clingy nightgown as a dress,’ I replied, eyes fixed on his too-kissable lips.

‘Brazen hussy,’ he growled at me.

‘Randy boffin,’ I murmured back.

Then neither of us said another word for quite some time.

 Megan Tayte bio: 

Once upon a time a little girl told her grandmother that when she grew up she wanted to be a writer. Or a lollipop lady. Or a fairy princess fireman. ‘Write, Megan,’ her grandmother advised. So that’s what she did.

Thirty-odd years later, Megan is a professional writer and published author by day, and an indie novelist by night. Her fiction – young adult romance with soul – recently earned her the SPR’s Independent Woman Author of the Year award.

Megan grew up in the Royal County, a hop, skip and a (very long) jump from Windsor Castle, but these days she makes her home in Robin Hood's county, Nottinghamshire. She lives with her husband, a proud Scot who occasionally kicks back in a kilt; her son, a budding artist with the soul of a palaeontologist; and her baby daughter, a keen pan-and-spoon drummer who sings in her sleep. When she's not writing, you'll find her walking someplace green, reading by the fire, or creating carnage in the kitchen as she pursues her impossible dream: of baking something edible.

You can find Megan online at:
Website:  http://megantayte.com/
Goodreads:  https://www.goodreads.com/author/show/13478850.Megan_Tayte
Facebook:  https://www.facebook.com/megantayte
Twitter:  https://twitter.com/megantayte
Google+:  https://plus.google.com/+MeganTayte

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