Source: Sunday Lunch Invitation – Anniversary Celebration and a cover reveal.
Vive la France
TEMPERANCE
About the Book:
Gabriel is weary, hunting for a murderer.
Patience is adrift, her life a complete lie.
Nate is scared, hiding from his worst fears.
Juliet is frantic, her time is running out.
As four fragile lives collide, the truth is finally revealed.
And betrayal and death become inevitable.
Book Links:
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Read an Excerpt:
Lake Tranquil was
vast. So much so that Patience couldn’t
see where it ended or began. Despite its
size, it was deserted. She was the only
human in sight and she loved the thought of being so alone, immersed in the
beauty of nature. An occasional bird
flitted in and out of the trees, or swooped down to land at the water’s
edge. In the distance, a rabbit ran
through the trees, its tail bobbed, flashing white as it ran for cover.
Trees lined craggy mountains that surrounded the lake. They were thick, green and tall, and reached
to the shoreline; only a small wavering line of pebble-covered beach sat
between the shimmering waters and the forest.
to the shoreline; only a small wavering line of pebble-covered beach sat
between the shimmering waters and the forest.
It was heavenly.
It wasn’t the first time Patience had been to Lake
Tranquil. Once, as a child, she had
visited it with her mother and enjoyed a week of blissful freedom away from the
chaos of life. Now here, fleeting
memories flooded back. Swimming in the
lake as her mother sat on the deck and read.
Running through the trees playing hide and seek, and sitting on the
shore as the sun set. Watching the stars
appear overhead as her mother cooked fish over a smoky fire. It was a time in her life that stuck in her
mind, when her mother had been truly happy and content.
Tranquil. Once, as a child, she had
visited it with her mother and enjoyed a week of blissful freedom away from the
chaos of life. Now here, fleeting
memories flooded back. Swimming in the
lake as her mother sat on the deck and read.
Running through the trees playing hide and seek, and sitting on the
shore as the sun set. Watching the stars
appear overhead as her mother cooked fish over a smoky fire. It was a time in her life that stuck in her
mind, when her mother had been truly happy and content.
It was why Patience was here.
For
her mother.To try to be closer to her, to try to understand her.To try to find
some peace.
her mother.To try to be closer to her, to try to understand her.To try to find
some peace.
About the Author:
Chrissie lives in Devon, UK, with her husband and is a freelance Production Coordinator working in the TV, documentary and film industry.
Chrissie is also an Author. Her thriller Integrate was released in October 2013 and her historical fiction Among the Olive Groves was released in July 2014.
Other written work includes factual articles for the Bristolian newspaper and guest articles for the charities Epilepsy Awareness Squad and Epilepsy Literary Heritage Foundation. Chrissie has also written a book of short stories and poems, one of which was performed at the 100 poems by 100 women event at the Bath International Literary Festival in 2013.
Chrissie is passionate about Ancient History, Archaeology and Travel, and has completed two six-month Archaeology and Egyptology courses with Exeter University. She is learning to play the Ukulele and likes to read, collect books, listen to music. To find out more about Chrissie visit her WEBSITE
Stalk Links:
Blog * Facebook Group * Facebook Page * Twitter * Pinterest * Goodreads
YOU’RE NOT ALONE
Trinity Morris, co-founder of You’re Not Alone, has a domestic violence past that still haunts her ten years later. She is devoted to helping victims find freedom and to sharing information on how to help them through their emotional and violent trials. While Trinity is presenting at a seminar, she comes across Gavin, a police officer who knows her past all too well.
It’s been ten years since he last saw her, but the moment Gavin’s eyes land on her, he’s intent on getting to know the woman who has haunted his dreams all these years.
Can Gavin break through the wall that Trinity has built around herself, or will the present and the past collide and take her away from him again?
YOU’RE NOT ALONE
Romantic Suspense
Content Warning: deals with domestic violence and partner abuse
PUBLISHED: November 10, 2015
I was usually a bit uneasy before I spoke, and now my empty stomach seemed to be roiling after that memory had passed through my mind.
I glanced around the hallway, intent on finding a peaceful place where I could gather my thoughts. I saw the door down the hallway and quickly entered the women’s restroom.
Inside, I found exactly what I needed, and I sank into a deep burgundy chair in the sitting area. Closing my eyes, I took a few deep breaths.
On the back of my eyelids the memory flashed again, only this time it was with the pulsing flash of amber ambulance lights around me. The strong solid chin, the thin pointed nose, the soft green eyes set back behind thick eyelashes blinked with the lights of the emergency vehicle. He wasn’t looking at me as my eyes opened, he had turned so I only saw his profile for a moment before it was replaced with other people and darkness sank in around me again.
I felt my pulse ticking quickly in my throat, the pain from that moment so long ago almost as alive as the memory. I lifted my hand and allowed my fingers to slide over my throat. I took a shaky breath to shove away the pain.
That was ten years ago and far away from here. There was no way that could be him.
Stacy has been a full-time police officer since 2000. Her current assignment is as Detective of her small town department. She enjoys crime scene investigation; taking a passion in putting the pieces together to figure out the crime. She is also a business owner where she helps people get the awareness out for the causes they care most about. She currently serves on the Board of Directors for her local Domestic Violence Center. She is a mother of two, a son proudly serving in the United States Navy and a tween daughter who is a black belt in Tae Kwon Do and loves cheerleading. Her husband is also in law enforcement. She loves music and photography. Stacy has published 9 novels to date, with several more coming out in 2015.
Fiction / Dystopian / HumorDate Published: November 2015
It’s way past 1984. Your toothbrush, your coffee maker and your Rice Krispies are running your life. But don’t worry… BIG DATA IS WATCHING YOU!
Welcome to Goozle Earth®, a dystopia where the all-knowing and all-powerful force of Big Data rules humanity through the Internet of Things and the corporate power of Goozle Inc. Where English® and every possible combination of words has been copyrighted and the only law is the Terms of Service, which has been replaced by the Terms of Servitude. Where the proudly psychopathic Higgs, Caesar and Emperor Omnipotent (CEO) of Goozle Inc., is determined to launch the Next Big Thing.
Smith, a happy native of this paradise, wanders off the grid and discovers sex®, the knowledge of good and evil, and the pursuit of Happiness. Can he save the human race from the Next Big Thing?
EXCERPT
Smith stared back in confusion when Julia said he was living in a dystopia.
“A dystopia?” he repeated. The word was new to him. “What do you mean?”
They were somewhere in the Green Mountains, walking on a dirt road through a strangely silent woods. That was all Smith knew. He’d lost his way in the hills, his car stopping short where a huge fallen tree blocked the road. The woman who introduced herself as Julia climbed over the fallen tree before he could tell his car to turn around. Surprisingly, she offered to walk him into the nearby village to find something to eat. The eerie silence followed them into the village, swallowing his thoughts. Julia looked different from anyone he’d ever seen, though she had (he soon realized) the same blond hair and blue eyes and the same awkward gait as everyone else in the village. The others—he noticed half a dozen villagers cutting weeds or stacking firewood around a row of decaying frame houses—weren’t nearly so friendly as she was. Most of them turned away or receded into the shadows rather than to look at him. Some of them, he realized with a start, had beards.
“It’s a society where, basically, life sucks,” she explained. “You have no freedom or privacy. You can’t do anything, you can’t say anything, you can’t even think without somebody spying on you or listening in.”
Smith didn’t want to seem condescending, but he couldn’t help feeling superior to the crouching lowlifes he’d noticed slinking away as Julia led him into the village. These were apparently her neighbors. Who was she to cast aspersions on his life in Goozle Earth?
“My life doesn’t suck,” he said, smiling as always. “In fact, I can’t imagine being happier than I am. I have a good job at Celebrity Solutions, a nice condo, hundreds of friends, and two wonderful pets. Everything I want is delivered to my door within thirty minutes by an Amazzond drone.”
Julia laughed. “Guess who drank the Kool Aid!”
“Kool Aid?” Kool Aid® was Smith’s favorite beverage.
“Try thinking an original thought and see what happens.”
He stared back uncomprehendingly.
“You know,” she teased. “Say something more than 140 characters long.”
What was she talking about? Did she seriously expect him to violate the Terms of Service? She spoke fluent English® but used words he’d never heard before, like “freedom” and “privacy.” He’d heard that connectivity could be poor in rural areas, where the inhabitants—known as “Yahoos”—often expressed eccentric, paranoid ideas. Obviously, for whatever reason, he and Julia weren’t connecting. Still, there was something about her that affected him in a surprising, unfamiliar way. He later learned that it was called “sex®.”
Twitter: @BHart_man
Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/BruceHartmanAuthorPage
Linkedin: https://www.linkedin.com/profile/view?id=AAIAAAJ-IZ8BEsNqj8qI3ukvvD6IpwXw0kvyMVw
Goodreads: https://www.goodreads.com/author/show/1672631.Bruce_Hartman
BIG DATA is WATCHING YOU
Fiction / Dystopian / Humor
Date Published: November 2015
It’s way past 1984. Your toothbrush, your coffee maker and your Rice Krispies are running your life. But don’t worry… BIG DATA IS WATCHING YOU!
Welcome to Goozle Earth®, a dystopia where the all-knowing and all-powerful force of Big Data rules humanity through the Internet of Things and the corporate power of Goozle Inc. Where English® and every possible combination of words has been copyrighted and the only law is the Terms of Service, which has been replaced by the Terms of Servitude. Where the proudly psychopathic Higgs, Caesar and Emperor Omnipotent (CEO) of Goozle Inc., is determined to launch the Next Big Thing.
Smith, a happy native of this paradise, wanders off the grid and discovers sex®, the knowledge of good and evil, and the pursuit of Happiness. Can he save the human race from the Next Big Thing?
EXCERPT
Smith stared back in confusion when Julia said he was living in a dystopia.
“A dystopia?” he repeated. The word was new to him. “What do you mean?”
They were somewhere in the Green Mountains, walking on a dirt road through a strangely silent woods. That was all Smith knew. He’d lost his way in the hills, his car stopping short where a huge fallen tree blocked the road. The woman who introduced herself as Julia climbed over the fallen tree before he could tell his car to turn around. Surprisingly, she offered to walk him into the nearby village to find something to eat. The eerie silence followed them into the village, swallowing his thoughts. Julia looked different from anyone he’d ever seen, though she had (he soon realized) the same blond hair and blue eyes and the same awkward gait as everyone else in the village. The others—he noticed half a dozen villagers cutting weeds or stacking firewood around a row of decaying frame houses—weren’t nearly so friendly as she was. Most of them turned away or receded into the shadows rather than to look at him. Some of them, he realized with a start, had beards.
“It’s a society where, basically, life sucks,” she explained. “You have no freedom or privacy. You can’t do anything, you can’t say anything, you can’t even think without somebody spying on you or listening in.”
Smith didn’t want to seem condescending, but he couldn’t help feeling superior to the crouching lowlifes he’d noticed slinking away as Julia led him into the village. These were apparently her neighbors. Who was she to cast aspersions on his life in Goozle Earth?
“My life doesn’t suck,” he said, smiling as always. “In fact, I can’t imagine being happier than I am. I have a good job at Celebrity Solutions, a nice condo, hundreds of friends, and two wonderful pets. Everything I want is delivered to my door within thirty minutes by an Amazzond drone.”
Julia laughed. “Guess who drank the Kool Aid!”
“Kool Aid?” Kool Aid® was Smith’s favorite beverage.
“Try thinking an original thought and see what happens.”
He stared back uncomprehendingly.
“You know,” she teased. “Say something more than 140 characters long.”
What was she talking about? Did she seriously expect him to violate the Terms of Service? She spoke fluent English® but used words he’d never heard before, like “freedom” and “privacy.” He’d heard that connectivity could be poor in rural areas, where the inhabitants—known as “Yahoos”—often expressed eccentric, paranoid ideas. Obviously, for whatever reason, he and Julia weren’t connecting. Still, there was something about her that affected him in a surprising, unfamiliar way. He later learned that it was called “sex®.”
Author Contact Links
Twitter: @BHart_man
LEGENDS & LEGACY
When Our Worlds Collide
About the Book:
Akriti has led a pretty much sheltered life.
Zayn has been shuttled from city to city when he was growing up.
She is comfortable watching her life from the sidelines.
He wants to feel rooted to a place he can call ‘home’.
They meet each other quite by chance.
And both seize the chance to be someone they both need in their lives:
For Zayn, it’s a ‘Partner-In-Crime’.
For Akriti, someone who just knows how to be there for her…
When their worlds collide,
It is not what either of them expected it to be.
Zayn has a steady girlfriend. And Akriti has a crush on him.
What happens when these two become friends?
The biggest adventure of their lives? Or the road to heartbreak?
What happens when two completely different people collide?
Do they become friends? Or, is their friendship doomed from the start?
‘When Our Worlds Collide’ is the story of two twenty-three-year olds, Who are finally growing up and finding their feet in the world.
A tale of friendship and love, crushes and betrayals, messes and second chances, Marriage and divorce… and the elusive happily ever after!
Book Links:
Goodreads I Amazon
What inspired When Our Worlds Collide?
(Background of how I came up with the plot.)
I guess the thing that I intrigued me was the fact that it’s not always about the happy ending. Sometimes, it just the story that is more important. Because if every girl who fell in love with a guy, got her feelings reciprocated and rode off into the sunset, it wouldn’t be real life. It would be a fairy tale. I did not want to write a fairy tale. I wanted to write a story that seems real, that people could relate to.
So I thought about this girl called Akriti who develops a crazy crush on a guy she meets quite by accident. She realizes later on that she would never act on those feelings because he has a girlfriend. A girlfriend that I did not put in the story as an obstacle, but as something that is very much a part of our lives. How often have you heard the joke, “everyone I like is either gay or taken?”
When I first began to paint Zayn with words, he was not called Zayn. He was called Piyush. In a short story called, “The Walk” (which is up on my blog), Akriti and Piyush take an evening stroll through Gariahat, talking nineteen-to-the-dozen. But once I concluded that short story, I felt as though there was more to their story. They could not just be friends who met up, walked and talked.
I began to piece together their histories, how their lives would intertwine with each other, how they would be drawn to each other’s lives like magnets against all odds. I wrote out the entire plot outline, added the secondary characters of Ayoub, Suzanna and Surbhi. (Each of them scheduled to appear for an interview of their own on my blog.)
Akriti and Zayn’s story basically tests the limits of their friendship. I am sure people can relate to it. They would be able to relate to the drama, the fun and the heartbreak that accompanies crushing on your friend.
After fleshing out the story a little, I decided to do something that I had never done in my earlier works. I decided to introduce characters from another work of fiction of mine in this story. The other novella would then act as a companion to this novella. So, that was a lot of fun. We will let you guess who those characters might be because we want readers to tell us who they want to read about next!
A question that I am sure will be asked of me is if this story was based on real life. Well, I am always inspired by real life. In fact, sometimes I put people I know into my stories. One such example for this particular tale is Suzanna was inspired by Diptee di, and she picked out the name herself. Although she named her character after the Suzanna from Ruskin Bond’s short story and novella, Susanna’s Seven Husbands. I just insisted on using a different spelling.
As for who Akriti, Zayn and Ayoub are based on: well, some elements for Akriti were borrowed from some pretty women I know. Ayoub was a figment of my imagination, and Zayn had been based in part on someone that I used to know. But my imagination made him into someone I wanted him to be. Not the person that he really was.
Coming back to When Our Worlds Collide, I was determined to tell the story of a mad crush and how it ends realistically in the story. Do they get their fairy tale happy ending or don’t they? You will just have to read the novella yourself to find out.
About the Author:
Aniesha Brahma knew she wanted to be a writer since she was six years old. She was schooled in Dolna Day School and went on to pursue B.A., M.A., and M.Phil in Comparative Literature from Jadavpur Univeristy. She currently lives in Kolkata, with her family and five pet cats. The Secret Proposal was her debut novel, followed by The Guitar Girl. She was a contributing author with her story The Difference, in the anthology: Voices, Old & New. When Our Worlds Collide is her third work of fiction, and first novella.
Stalk Links:
FOOLING AROUND WITH CINDERELLA
AUTHOR: Stacy Juba
GENRE: Chick Lit/Sweet Romance
COVER DESIGNER: Mark Juba
What happens when the glass slippers pinch Cinderella’s toes?
When Jaine Andersen proposes a new marketing role to the local amusement park, general manager Dylan Callahan charms her into filling Cinderella’s glass slippers for the summer. Her reign transforms Jaine’s ordinary life into chaos that would bewilder a fairy godmother. Secretly dating her bad boy boss, running wedding errands for her ungrateful sisters, and defending herself from the park’s resident villain means Jaine needs lots more than a comfy pair of shoes to restore order in her kingdom. First in the Storybook Valley series, a blend of sweet romance, chick lit, and fairy tale fun.
Dylan wheeled his chair around and pointed to the castle poster. She followed his thumb toward the girl in an elegant white and gold gown. “I need a Cinderella.”
Jaine stared at Dylan to gauge whether he was kidding. Oh God, he wasn’t kidding. As he lowered his hand, tightness lodged in the pit of her stomach. “Cinderella?”
“Since you’ve been coming here for so long, you probably realize Cinderella is our centerpiece character. She sits on her throne all day, posing for pictures. She leads story times in the castle and appears during our weekend Meet and Greet Fireworks Gala.”
“What happened to the regular Cinderella?”
“She didn’t work out.” He fiddled with the pens poking out of a ski boot-shaped shot glass. “One of my cousins plays the part a couple days per week and fills in when she can, but her schedule doesn’t allow her to fulfill our full-time needs. It’s the middle of July and I’m tired of fooling around with Cinderella.”
He grinned, his dimples diverting her from the princess problem. “That didn’t come out right. But you know what I mean. It’s getting frustrating, Jaine. I’m having a hard time finding someone reliable.”
She bet that Cinderella wouldn’t get tired of fooling around with him.
Stacy Juba got engaged at Epcot Theme Park and spent part of her honeymoon at Disneyland Paris, where she ate a burger, went on fast rides, and threw up on the train ride to the hotel. In addition to working on her new Storybook Valley chick lit/sweet romance series, Stacy has written books about ice hockey, teen psychics, U.S. flag etiquette for kids, and determined women sleuths. She has had a novel ranked as #5 in the Nook Store and #30 on the Amazon Kindle Paid List. When she’s not visiting theme parks with her family, (avoiding rides that spin and exotic hamburgers), or writing about them, Stacy helps writers to strengthen their manuscripts through her Crossroads Editing Service. She is currently writing the next books in the Storybook Valley Series, Prancing Around With Sleeping Beauty and The Cinderella Curse.
CRAZY DUMPLINGS
 Dumplings. Wontons. Jiaozi. This remarkably simple food is found throughout Asia and in Chinese restaurants and kitchens around the world, but have you ever filled a dumpling wrapper with chicken? Lobster? North American Plains Bison? Hardly anyone has! The Crazy Dumplings Cookbook features over 100 recipes with some of the craziest and most delicious dumpling filling recipes you will ever see. From Chicken Taquito Dumplings to Timey-Wimey Dumplings to a dumpling for your dog, Crazy Dumplings will show you all the crazy things you can stuff into a dumpling wrapper for an easy meal or snack.a Rafflecopter giveawayMY REVIEW
*****
(five stars)
For Dumpling Lovers and Daring Gourmets;(Or just for fun cooks)
The recipes are very good and well explained. This is a daring book as so much one would never expect can turn into a delicious dumpling. Aside from the expected Asian fare, the book has recipes for anything you can imagine. The wide array includes; Maple pork and apple dumplings, Chicken taquito dumplings and pizza dumplings.
The book is very well organized in categories, I can’t wait to try the dessert dumplings! Crazy Dumplings has great extras, with a wide array of dipping sauces to compliment the dumplings. A great conversion table for international cooking. The images and illustrations are very clear and very professional .  Amanda Roberts is an American writer, editor, and teacher who has lived in China since 2010. She has an MA in English and has published books, short stories, articles, poems, and essays in publications all over the world. She blogs about her life in China at TwoAmericansinChina.com and also heads the Women Writers of Shenzhen writers circle. She can be found all over the internet. Contact Information
Website
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