Thursday, October 29, 2015

'Shelter From the Storm' by Kristen Ethridge


Blurb:

SOMETIMES THE PERSON STANDING IN YOUR WAY IS YOUR ONLY HOPE

As the director of the Port Provident Animal Shelter, Becca Collins had devoted her life to helping the furriest residents of Port Provident. When a special Labrador retriever, Polly, needs her help on the eve of Hurricane Hope, Becca can’t say no—even if it means she’ll have to ride out the hurricane on Provident Island. When she shows up on the doorstep of local veterinarian and Army veteran Dr. Ross Reeder, Becca throws a wrench into Ross’ plans to evacuate himself and his combat-weary former service dog, Cookie.

Ross and Becca are used to disagreeing with one another, but they soon realize the only way they’re going to survive the wrath of Hurricane Hope is to put their differences aside and work for the good of the animals who depend totally on them. As they discover they have more in common than they thought and work to rebuild the Texas beach town where they’ve both put down roots, Becca learns secrets about her past that threaten to change the whole direction of her life.

As Becca struggles with love, faith, and lies, will she still need the shelter she’s found in Ross’ arms or will the aftermath of the storm take away everything they’ve worked to build?

HURRICANE HOPE: ONE STORM CHANGES PORT PROVIDENT FOREVER…AND FOR GOOD.



 http://bit.ly/SFSBook

Read an excerpt:

“What are you doing here?” Ross knew his greeting sounded more like an outburst, but he was confused and running out of time. There wasn’t really an opportunity for pleasantries. Not that anything was ever pleasant when stubborn, head-in-the-clouds Becca Collins was involved.
“Well hello to you too. I figured you’d be gone by now.”
As usual, she made virtually no sense. “So why are you here? And what are you doing with Polly? Where’s Eloise McCaw?”
A wind gust freed several strands of hair from the front of Becca’s dark ponytail and blew them across her face. She tucked them behind her ear, where they promptly blew askew again. “She’s on a bus to San Antonio with her granddaughter. They wouldn’t let her take the dog.”
“So someone from the city called the shelter?” Ross kept watching the flutter of the wayward locks of hair.
“I volunteered. I was behind them in line. Polly’s owner wouldn’t go unless she knew Polly was safe. But she’s in bad health and couldn’t stay behind with Polly. The shelter is closed. The last dog left the island earlier today, headed up to a shelter in Montgomery County. I was following behind.”
“On the public evacuation bus?”
She pursed her lips and nodded briefly. “Yes. We don’t all make a doctor’s salary. Some of us have to take advantage of other available resources sometimes.”
Ross could hear the bitterness in her words. It was like listening to a lemon.
“What do you need from me?” Now he knew how Becca and Polly came to be together. He still wasn’t sure, though, why they were on his clinic’s porch.
She reached into a bag at her feet and pulled out a folded-up white bag. “Dog food. They didn’t leave me with enough kibble and I’d rather not change Polly’s food if I can avoid it since she’s on a special diet.”
“Dog food? That’s it?” This was far less complicated than most of the plans Becca dreamed up. “I’ve got some in the back. You two can come inside if you’d like.”
Becca shrugged, then leaned over and picked up the bag at her feet. “Okay.”
Ross held the door open as the pair walked in, then went back to re-open the storage room he’d just locked. When he came back, carrying two bags of Polly’s prescription food, he saw Becca standing in front of the television in the waiting room. Her shoulders slumped under the straps of the backpack. Her whole demeanor changed from what it had seemed to be only moments before.
Ross placed the bags at Becca’s feet, and Polly gave each a hearty sniff.
“What’s wrong?” He asked.
Becca waved a hand at the TV screen. “They just closed the Causeway. We’re stuck.”
“No, they aren’t closing the Causeway until four. TxDoT had a press conference a couple of hours ago. They won’t close it until the wind hits a certain speed.”
She shook her head and pointed at Rick O’Connell. “It wasn’t the wind. It was the storm surge. Provident Bay is rising faster than they expected. The waves and current are proving to be too much for the Causeway. They are saying there may be structural damage below the surface of the water now. It’s definitely closed. We’re trapped. This is getting a little too real, too fast.”
“Tell me about it.” Ross watched the motion of the gray clouds overhead and the sustained shaking of the branches in the trees. “How about I drive you back to the shelter? I’ve got a truck with four-wheel drive. That should be able to get us through this. The high school isn’t too far away.”
A small light caught in her eyes. They were a rich velvet brown. Ross had never noticed that before.
“You’d do that for me?”
“For Polly,” Ross said, then grinned broadly. “She’s one of my favorite patients.”


Author Bio:

The writing bug bit Kristen Ethridge around the time she first held a pencil. A 2012 Romance Writers of America Golden Heart Award Finalist, Kristen was discovered by Harlequin through their 2012 So You Think You Can Write contest.

Kristen is the award-nominated author of the best-selling Port Provident series with Harlequin’s Love Inspired line and Laurel Lock Publishing. The first two books in the Port Provident: Hurricane Hope series, Shelter from the Storm and The Doctor’s Unexpected Family, each reached No. 1 on the Amazon Hispanic-American literature chart. Her favorite stories are filled with love, laughter, and happily ever after--and her favorite happily ever after is the story of God's love. Although she has fun creating characters, Kristen's favorite people are her family. She lives in Texas with her husband, children and a self-important poodle. Keep up with Kristen by joining her newsletter list and her author pages on Amazon and Facebook. You can also visit her online at any of the places below:


Monday, October 26, 2015

'The Winners' Guide: An Unconventional Guide to Living the Life of Your Dreams' by K.A. HIll


Blurb:

You're working longer hours, doing mundane and unfulfilling work - just to live within your means and pay your ever-increasing bills, taxes and debts? It feels like life is passing you by. You're getting older day by day and you sometimes find yourself thinking, what is the point? Is this really what life is about? The Winners' Guide is an avant-garde, inspirational true story of how an unhappy, uneducated young man finds himself stuck in a job he hates, working tirelessly just to make ends meet. Through an unfortunate chain of events and stroke of luck, he is gifted with knowledge that completely changes his life for the better, sending him on a breathtaking journey full of exciting twists and turns, romantic encounters, and incredible highs and lows. A roller coaster journey that would help him discover true love, success and happiness in the process.

Read an excerpt:

They say it’s all about timing.

One month later, Nice suddenly became a different town. I’d met some wonderful people, but they’d gone their own separate ways. I don’t care what anybody says, it’s not the place – it’s the people. I began to wonder if it was where I was supposed to be and the answer seemed simple: I’d go somewhere different and repeat the process.

I boarded my flight, feeling mildly disappointed to be leaving. In love with the French Riviera; the peaceful atmosphere stimulated my creative process, which in turn developed my ability to find happiness in the simple things: good coffee, luxurious farmers’ markets and the sound of classical music being effortlessly played by the talented busker in the square. The divine contentment I felt haunted me in such a way that any slight change in energetic frequency of my surroundings would leave me feeling discontented. But I’d made my decision to leave and was determined to see it through.

Arriving in Barcelona mid-afternoon, I left the cool, air-conditioned terminal building to be greeted by a humid heat, a stark contrast to the warm but breezy environment I’d grown accustomed to. Not much thought had been invested into my decision to move to Spain; I’d done it on a whim having spent numerous summer holidays there when I was younger. I was fond of culture and assumed it would all be much the same: laid back, relaxed, good food and Sangria. Little did I know it’d be like a busy day in Central London during a persistent heatwave.

The warm, muggy air made my clothes stick to my skin as I lugged heavy baggage onto the metro system, causing concern about the decision to leave tranquillity for this bustling sauna to linger in my mind. Perhaps I just needed to give it time, I thought, spending the next few days seeing the city, determined to give the place a chance. There was something misaligned, a subtle anxiety in the pit of my stomach. Had I been looking for a high-paced environment it would have been perfect but I needed somewhere more relaxed, somewhere I could be creative and focussed.

Deciding Barcelona wasn’t home, I searched the web for the cheapest flight available and Amsterdam came up first. Surely it would be more chilled out, I thought. Blissfully unaware of the mayhem that awaited, I booked the flight, and suddenly found myself on the plane just as the thrust kicked in.

‘Fuck, it’s going to be cold there.’ I thought, as the realisation that Amsterdam was geographically parallel to London sank in. Must soldier on, too late to go back now. Before I knew it, I was checking into a hostel as two exceptionally stoned chaps stared at my luminous pink t-shirt and Hawaii style short shorts like I was a fish out of water.

I was, but I’d waste no time in exploring the city, finding my way to Burger King for a Whopper with cheese and regular Coke (I asked for Diet) served by someone so high that health and safety would’ve shut the place down, before continuing onto the nearest Internet ‘café’, where I spent at least twenty minutes hopelessly flicking through the same browser tabs.

Barely able to string a functioning sentence together, I floated my way back to the hostel and climbed into bed and slept like a baby, waking up refreshed and ready to conquer the world. I’d spend the following days half-heartedly looking for an apartment only to realise I lacked the self-discipline required to avoid the seduction of the endless temptations lining the streets. Money was dwindling; gallivanting around Europe was costly, and considering my position I asked myself,

“Where am I was supposed to be?”

Giving up on my journey would have meant giving up on myself – it wasn’t an option. The inevitable impending financial collapse meant I might never have another chance to do this again. However, I recognised that these experiences were all just constant reminders of just how content I was in Nice. Why did I leave? Why did I fear not being able to meet new people, when I’d done it so easily before?


Buy links

About the author:

K.A. Hill (born July 22, 1988) is a down-to-earth, yet eternally positive, eccentric, daring and lovable Scottish author, entrepreneur and speaker, who has made it his personal life mission to inspire millions of people to escape the rat race, find their purpose and live their dreams.

Sunday, October 25, 2015

'Eternal Love' by Jeremy Bennett


Blurb:

Leah moves rocks and opens the entrance before swimming into it. As she descends into the depths of an ocean cave, the water temperature drops, but inside her chest beats the heart of a lion and she makes all the necessary twists and turns until she finds herself at a dead end. How far would you go for a loved one? Eternal Love is a story about a love so deep and powerful that nothing can stop it. Jeremy and Leah's lives take them on adventures with twists and turns that nobody could expect. This funny, wildly imaginative, and highly adventurous Christian love story is a story within a story involving death, mystery, substance abuse, crime and crooked cops. Starting off with a murder the reader is led down a rabbit hole of attraction, jealousy, envy, lies and deceit as the protagonist goes through hell to break out of the prison in which she's in.

Buy links

Author Bio: 

Jeremy Bennett was born in 1981 in a metropolitan area of Southern California. Starting in the second grade he was told he had a gift for writing, and wrote several short stories through his adolescence and in college, but after the death of his high school sweetheart he truly tapped into his gift and was inspired to create a magical, uplifting and entertaining novel called Eternal Love.

Tuesday, October 20, 2015

Mathew Chase, author of 'Finding Home,' on the therapeutic aspect of writing

finding home tour banner

Please welcome author Mathew Chase to the blog today. His powerful memoir Finding Home tells about his tumultuous life, while also providing some therapeutic relief. Today, he shares with us how much writing this book helped him. Thank you, Mathew, for doing this.


I found writing this story to be very therapeutic. It was interesting to me how I discovered there was still information to be learned from my past. Things that I felt I had dealt with and put away were looked at in a new light or from a new perspective. I knew for years that I wanted to write my story. Getting started was the hard part. After that everything seemed to just flow.

I often found myself thinking wow I did that, I survived and made it through. I can’t believe how young I was for having gone through that and been able to recognize the situation I was in. Looking back on it all now. I can see that it was all worth the ride, even the bad parts. We can’t truly appreciate the good without the bad, the sun without the rain. Life wouldn’t be a test if we had all the answers. Just proves to us that all any of us really need is a little bit of time to figure it out.


Finding Home - Front Cover While safety and peace seem like they should be birthrights, some of us are born into situations that simply don't allow for these niceties. With a father who sold drugs and a mother who depended on them, the world felt anything but calm to author Mathew Chase.

Growing up in one of the toughest parts of Philadelphia, Mathew learned things in his first few years of life that most of us never have to learn, like how to survive hunger when there's no food in the house and no one there to notice . . . how not to cry or show fear while being beat with a shoe by a foster parent . . . how to mask any signs of vulnerability when passing the dealers and gangsters on the street . . . or how to fight when one or a bunch of kids jump you on your way home from school.

Somehow, Mathew knew he had a choice. He could conform to the status quo and become a victim of the mentality generated by this environment, or he could find a way to break free and build a different kind of life. Joining the U.S. military at age 18 as an exit route from what he'd known forever seemed like a promising solution, but it carried an exacting price tag of its own.

Mathew's childhood began to seem like it had been easy compared to the brutality of training and fighting in Iraq while witnessing the slaying of friends who had become like brothers. Would Mathew ever find home? Follow the author's journey through seemingly endless challenges and failures to understand how these selfsame circumstances mold him into a mature and courageous man. In Finding Home, pain and heartbreak are transformed to what they truly are - stepping stones to ultimate strength and personal freedom.

Buy on:

Amazon | B&N | Xlibris Publishing Co.

 
Mathew Chase's Facebook Page | Literary Addicts
 


Follow the tour


Giveaway ends November 2nd, 2015 at 11:59 pm EST
a Rafflecopter giveaway

Friday, October 16, 2015

'Finding Home' by Mathew Chase #Blast & #Giveaway

finding home tour banner

Finding Home - Front Cover While safety and peace seem like they should be birthrights, some of us are born into situations that simply don't allow for these niceties. With a father who sold drugs and a mother who depended on them, the world felt anything but calm to author Mathew Chase.

Growing up in one of the toughest parts of Philadelphia, Mathew learned things in his first few years of life that most of us never have to learn, like how to survive hunger when there's no food in the house and no one there to notice . . . how not to cry or show fear while being beat with a shoe by a foster parent . . . how to mask any signs of vulnerability when passing the dealers and gangsters on the street . . . or how to fight when one or a bunch of kids jump you on your way home from school.

Somehow, Mathew knew he had a choice. He could conform to the status quo and become a victim of the mentality generated by this environment, or he could find a way to break free and build a different kind of life. Joining the U.S. military at age 18 as an exit route from what he'd known forever seemed like a promising solution, but it carried an exacting price tag of its own.

Mathew's childhood began to seem like it had been easy compared to the brutality of training and fighting in Iraq while witnessing the slaying of friends who had become like brothers. Would Mathew ever find home? Follow the author's journey through seemingly endless challenges and failures to understand how these selfsame circumstances mold him into a mature and courageous man. In Finding Home, pain and heartbreak are transformed to what they truly are - stepping stones to ultimate strength and personal freedom.

Buy on:

Amazon | B&N | Xlibris Publishing Co.

 
Mathew Chase's Facebook Page | Literary Addicts
 


Follow the tour


Giveaway ends November 2nd, 2015 at 11:59 pm EST
a Rafflecopter giveaway

Sunday, October 11, 2015

'White Knight' & 'For Real' (The Courage Series Books 2 & 3)' by Staci Stallings

The Courage Series Book 2


Hoping for some excitement and a little extra money, A.J. Knight signed up to be a Houston EMT. However, when he did, he never thought about the life-and-death situations he'd be put into or the lives that he might be called on to save. Worse, he never so much as considered the lives that might be lost under his watch.

Eve Knox understands what it's like to have life ripped away in an instant. After the death of her first and only love in an unimaginable tragedy, she is struggling to go on with a life that seems to have been stripped of its former meaning. Hurting and alone, Eve knows her friends are just trying to help her cope, but their attempts to fill the void in her heart are starting to smother the spirit she once had. She sees no point in searching for love a second time, what happens when a second-chance love shows up in a way she never saw coming...


http://amzn.to/1Lf4YxO


The Courage Series Book 2


Blaine Donovan has a secret, but so far his plan to keep the rest of the world in the dark about who he really is and what’s really going on in his life has worked. If he can just finish school before the demons catch up with him, he knows he can make life make sense once again. However, when he runs into Melody Todd, a semi-friend he had thought was long-gone, life takes a turn Blaine wasn’t at all expecting.

Still hurting from watching her best friend marry someone else, Melody Todd has given up on dating, guys, and herself. In fact, when Blaine shows back up in her life, she does what she always does with the eligible guys who look her way—she sets him up with someone else. But Blaine soon proves to be much different than he at first seems. Too many things are not adding up the way they are supposed to, and the more Melody digs, the more she sees that the Blaine she knows is not the real Blaine at all...


http://amzn.to/1K2MIGl


Read more about Book 1, including an excerpt, here.


About the author:

A stay-at-home mom with a husband, three kids and a writing addiction on the side, Staci Stallings has numerous titles for readers to choose from. Not content to stay in one genre and write it to death, Staci's stories run the gamut from young adult to adult, from motivational and inspirational to full-out Christian and back again. Every title is a new adventure! That's what keeps Staci writing and you reading

Social media links:

Friday, October 9, 2015

#BookBlast 'Doomed Soul' by Robert Boomsliter

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Doomed Soul A man without faith shares his views as the end of life approaches.The views are reflections on religion, morality and death.The deeply religious will find little of interest here and may find some of the material incomprehensible. Some moderates who have noticed twinges of doubt or discomfort in certain beliefs may find some explanations for those feelings.

The faithless will probably understand it all. It is the author's hope that for them, it will be a pleasant read.





Buy on Amazon




About the author:

Robert - Doomed SoulI am a retired electrical engineer, my career of 41 years spent mostly in Silicon Valley, California. I was one of those extremely fortunate individuals who enjoyed their work so much that it seemed unfair that I should be paid to perform it.

My profession required some technical writing but I never aspired to author anything that would be interesting to the general reader. Doomed Soul is my first attempt to do so and I hope that its introduction is a clear explanation why I chose to do it.

I currently live in Florida with my wife Babs and two bichon frise dogs named Boomer and Gabby.

Find Robert on Goodreads and connect on Literary Addicts

Wednesday, October 7, 2015

#FREE through 10/9 'Sanctuary' by Pauline Creeden

sanctuary book bub

SanctuaryeBookLeft Behind for the Hunger Games Generation


In a heart-racing thriller described as Falling Skies meets The Walking Dead, Jennie struggles to find a safe place for what's left of her family. But it seems as though there is no place sacred, no place secure. First the aliens attacked the sun, making it dimmer, weaker, and half what it used to be. Then they attacked the water supply, killing one-third of Earth's population with a bitter contaminate. And when they unleash a new terror on humankind, the victims will wish for death, but will not find it…

When the world shatters to pieces around her, will Jennie find the strength she needs to keep going?


Buy on Audible / Amazon (Free until 10/9)/ Paperback



Pauline CreedenPauline Creeden


Pauline Creeden is a horse trainer from Virginia, but writing is her therapy. In her fiction, she creates worlds that are both familiar and strange, often pulling the veil between dimensions. She becomes the main character in each of her stories, and because she has ADD, she will get bored if she pretends to be one person for too long.

Follow Pauline Creeden: Website | Facebook | Twitter

'To Protect & Serve (The Courage Series)' by Staci Stallings


Blurb:

To save others' lives, they will risk their own...

Houston firefighter, Jeff Taylor is a fireman's fireman. He's not afraid of anything, and no situation is too dangerous to keep him on the sideline if lives are at stake.

Lisa Matheson runs a semi-successful ad agency that's on the brink of falling apart. Her employees are incompetent, and her schedule has become exhausting. When she takes on a client with a brilliant idea for a big conference, she thinks that maybe, finally this is her lucky break. However, the fire station wasn't what she had in mind for finding conference speakers. When she falls for a handsome but shy firefighter, it's possible that life might just be going her way for a change. The only problem is she can't control Jeff and the death wish he seems to have...

An Amazon #1 Best Seller for Contemporary Christian Romance novels, “To Protect & Serve” is truly Christian romance at its very best. Filled with faith, hope, and love, Christian romance Kindle books aim to inspire women and men alike while giving them exceptionally romantic love stories they will not soon forget. “To Protect & Serve” fits that category perfectly. These real life characters are not perfect but are struggling to learn to live, while finding faith and love in the process. It can easily fit on your shelf of the most inspirational books.

"Staci Stallings writes Christian romance of the purest and sweetest kind!"

Read an excerpt:
“I won’t let you fly away.” Jeff stepped over to Lisa, careful to keep the kite in the air as he reached down for her hand. One second of hesitation, and her slim, smooth hand latched onto his. She stood, and he didn’t miss the brush she did to the backside of her jeans. Gently he pulled her farther away from the tree, and out into the open field where he transferred control of the kite to her. “It’s not hard.” 
However, the second she took control, her face set as if she was working on a micro-chemical component in a laboratory that might explode at any moment. His gaze chanced over her. 
“Hey, this is supposed to be fun, remember?” he asked, but with only inches separating them, even he was having trouble remembering that. 
“I’m not very good at fun,” she said, and he noticed how her whole body set to alert at the very word. 
“Well, then we need to work on that.” Carefully he reached around her, and although the curve of her arm was only a breath from his, he managed to keep just that much distance between them. “Roll some out.” His hand helped hers without touching it. 
“Aren’t you worried about highline wires?” she asked. 
He laughed. “Look around you, do you see any highline wires?” 
She brushed the hair out of her face from the breeze. “Well, no.” 
“Here, let’s sit.” He folded himself onto the grass. 
Her gaze jumped down to him nervously. “What?” 
Reaching up, he took her hand, and his brain said that highline wires weren’t the only electricity conductors in the area. “It’s okay.” He pulled her down next to him. However, she sat like a rod, and the inches she put between them felt like miles. “Here. Man, you’re using way too much energy.” Gently he took her shoulders and pulled her back until her head was resting on the top of his thigh. “Now relax.” 
“Relax,” she said as though she was having to tell herself how to do that. 
“You don’t do this much, do you?” 
“What? Fly kites?” 
“Not work.” The middle of his chest filled as he looked down at her, the breeze blowing the loose strands of hair across her face. Softly he reached down, caught them, and wound them back around her ear. 
“No,” she said, and her eyes turned liquid when her gaze caught his. After a moment, her gaze traveled back up to the kite. “No time.” 
“There’s always time for the things that are really important.” 
She squirmed. “Work is important.” 
“So is this.”
http://amzn.to/1FTMy9i

About the author:

A stay-at-home mom with a husband, three kids and a writing addiction on the side, Staci Stallings has numerous titles for readers to choose from. Not content to stay in one genre and write it to death, Staci's stories run the gamut from young adult to adult, from motivational and inspirational to full-out Christian and back again. Every title is a new adventure! That's what keeps Staci writing and you reading

Social media links: