$25 Amazon Gift Card and eBook Giveaway: The Empty Nesters by Carolyn Brown

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The Empty Nesters by [Brown, Carolyn]

About the Book

Title: The Empty Nesters

Author: Carolyn Brown

Release Date: August 20, 2019

Publisher: Montlake Romance

Summary

Dear friends and army wives Diana, Carmen, and Joanie have been through war, rumors of war, marital problems, motherhood, fears, joy, and heartache. But none of the women are prepared when their daughters decide to enlist in the army together. Facing an empty nest won’t be easy. Especially for Carmen. With emotions already high, she suffers an even greater blow: divorce papers. Diana understands the fury and tears. She’s been there.

With nothing to lose and no one at home, the girlfriends impulsively accept an unexpected offer from their elderly neighbor. The recently widowed Tootsie has an RV, a handsome nephew at the wheel, and an aim for tiny Scrap, Texas, to embrace memories of her late husband. Still grieving, she can use the company as a balm for her broken heart. So can the empty nesters.

Embarking on a journey of hope, romance, and healing, Diana, Carmen, and Joanie are at a turning point in their lives. And with the open road ahead of them, it’s just the beginning.

Jump Into Author Carolyn Brown’s Empty Nest   

Good morning, and thank you for inviting me to stop by to talk about my new book, The Empty Nesters. I’ll be giving all y’all a few of my favorite scenes and a little commentary during the time we get to spend together.

As Ma used to say on Golden Girls, imagine this—Carmen, Joanie and Diana have just dropped their daughters off at the recruiter’s office. They’ve managed to keep the tears at bay and put up a brave front, but now it’s time to let the tears loose.

“For the first time ever, Natalie and I won’t decorate the house for Halloween together. Nine months of carrying them, then we basically raised them on our own while our husbands were deployed or got sent someplace to train other officers. And now they’re gone, and we won’t see them for Halloween or Thanksgiving. And who even knows about Christmas? It’s not fair.” 

It’s always amazing what comes to mind during a sad time, isn’t it? Things pop into our heads that seem trivial in the face of the event, and yet, at the time, the good memories are what keep us sane.

Tootsie, their elderly neighbor, has just lost her husband, after they’d bought the huge RV and planned a trip to northeast Texas. She’s trying to convince the women that they need to get away from their empty nest for a while.

“You need to get away for a little while and get some perspective,” Tootsie said.

“Let’s pool our money and blow it all on a trip to Paris. We can shop and have lattes in little bistros,” Diana suggested. 

Joanie sighed. “That’s a pipe dream. We probably don’t have enough money to even get to Paris, Texas, between the three of us.” 

The three of them have known the support of each other through the past thirteen years, and just because they’re now alone in their homes, they have no doubt that the love is still there between them—and that it’s even stronger than blood sisters.

“We’re only half a block and a phone call away. If any of us feel the world dropping out from under our feet, we can get back together in less than five minutes.” 

I was amazed at how supportive all of them, including Tootsie, were of each other. They might disagree, but Lord help the person that tried to come between them, or who had the nerve to say an ugly word about one of them.

Everything happens for a reason and in the time that it should happen. I believe that with my whole heart. Diana had gotten her divorce years before the book opens, but she remembers the pain and anger of it all. Then she focused all her energy and time on raising her daughter. But now it’s her time to find a new love, and a new life—maybe with a younger man.

“That many trips into town on those roads would shake the hell out of their Caddy. And believe me, Aunt Tootsie treats that car like family.” Luke chuckled. “Age, on a truck or on a person, makes no difference. It’s how well they’re maintained that matters.” 

Why, oh, why, couldn’t he have smooth pickup lines like other men? Luke asked himself. What he’d just said could be taken as an insult. She might think that he thought she looked like an old pickup truck at her age, when in reality she was downright gorgeous. He wouldn’t be a bit surprised if she still got carded at bars when she ordered a drink. 

Thank you again, for inviting me into your world, and letting me talk about the amazing ladies (and Luke of course), from The Empty Nesters. Happy reading to each and every one of you!

***

Author Biography

Carolyn Brown

Carolyn Brown is a New York Times, USA Today, Publisher’s Weekly, and Wall Street Journal bestselling author and a RITA finalist with more than ninety published books. Her genres include romance, history, cowboys and country music, and contemporary mass-market paperbacks. She and her husband live in the small town of Davis, Oklahoma, where everyone knows everyone else, knows what they are doing and when . . . and reads the local newspaper every Wednesday to see who got caught. They have three grown children and enough grandchildren to keep them young. Visit Carolyn at www.carolynbrownbooks.com.

Social Media Links

Website: https://www.carolynbrownbooks.com

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

Goodreads: https://www.goodreads.com/author/show/13554.Carolyn_Brown

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Excerpt: The Deception by Kat Martin

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The Deception (Maximum Security Book 2) by [Martin, Kat]

When missing turns to murdered, one woman’s search for answers will take her to a place she never wanted to go…

 

After searching for her sister for two long years, Kate Gallagher is devastated when she’s called to the morgue to identify Chrissy’s body, the runaway teen the victim of a brutal attack. Guilt and grief send Kate into a tailspin. She failed Chrissy once…she won’t do it again. Even if finding her sister’s killer means following a lethal bounty hunter into the heart of darkness, placing both their lives in danger.

 

Working at Maximum Security has taken Jason Maddox down some dangerous paths, but never for a client he’s so drawn to, or for a case so monstrous. As clues lead them deeper into the city’s underbelly, connections to human trafficking draw them closer and closer to peril, but even Jase’s warnings can’t convince Kate to walk away. As the deadly operation puts a target on their backs, they’ll have to decide what matters most: the truth…or their lives.

Excerpt:

Dallas, Texas

“I’m sorry, Ms. Gallagher.  I know this is terribly painful, but unless there’s someone else who can make a positive identification–“

Kate shook her head.  “No.  There’s no one else.”

“All right then, if you will please follow me.”  The medical examiner, Dr. Jerome Maxwell, a man in his fifties with thick black hair threaded with gray, started down the hall, but Kate stopped him with a hand on his arm.

“Are you…are you completely sure it’s my sister?  The victim is definitely Christina Gallagher?”

“There was a fingerprint match to your missing sister.  I’m sorry.  We’ll still need your confirmation.”

Kate’s stomach rolled.  Her hand trembled as she followed the doctor down a narrow, endless hallway in the Dallas County morgue.  The echo of her high heels on the stark gray linoleum sent a sweep of nausea through her.

The doctor paused outside a half glass door.  “I warn you, this is going to be difficult.  Are you sure there isn’t someone you can call, someone else who could make the identification?”

Kate’s throat tightened.  “My father’s remarried and living in New York.  He hasn’t seen Chrissy in years.”

“And your mother?” the doctor asked kindly.

“She died of a heart attack a year after Chrissy ran away.”  For Madeleine Gallagher, losing both her husband and her daughter had simply been too much.

The doctor straightened his square black glasses.  “Are you ready?”

“I’ll never be ready to see my sister’s murdered body, Dr. Maxwell.  But I’m all Chrissy has, so let’s get it over with.”

The doctor opened the door and they walked out of a hallway that seemed overly warm into a room that was icy cold.  A shiver rushed over Kate’s skin and her heart beat faster.  As Dr. Maxwell moved toward a rollout table in front of a wall of cold-storage boxes, Kate could see the outline of a body beneath the stark white sheet.

Emotion tightened her chest.  This was her baby sister, only sixteen the last time Kate had seen her two years ago, before she had run away.

The doctor nodded to a female assistant in a white lab coat standing next to the table, and the woman pulled back the sheet.

“Dear God.”  The bile rose in Kate’s throat.  She swayed and the doctor caught her arm to steady her.

“Is this your sister, Christina Gallagher?”

Tears welled and slipped down her cheeks.  “It’s…it’s her.”

“I’m sorry for your loss,” the doctor said.

“Thank…thank you.”  Tears blurred her vision and her head swam as she walked out of the building into the sunlight and crossed the parking lot to her car.  She wouldn’t be returning to her office today.  She needed time to grieve.

Kate slid in behind the wheel and shoved her key into the ignition.  Fresh pain struck so hard she couldn’t breathe.  Instead of starting the engine, Kate put her head down on the steering wheel and started to weep.

 

Jason Hawkins Maddox sat at the old fashioned long bar in the Sagebrush Saloon, a country western hangout with a juke box in the corner for dancing.  Tonight he was there on business, meeting an informant he hoped would give him a lead on the fugitive he was hunting, Randall Darren Harding.

Harding, a cement contractor, had been arrested for the brutal murder of his ex-girlfriend.  He’d been out on bail when he’d decided to flee instead of standing trial, where most likely he would have been convicted.

From what Jase could find out, Harding was a rotten, self-centered, mean-tempered bastard, the kind who could wind up killing again.  He’d strangled his girlfriend in a fit of rage, but a fancy lawyer had gotten him out on bail.

The reward for catching him was a fat fifteen percent of his million and a half dollar bond.  Jase planned to collect.

Thus his meeting with Tommy Dieter at the Sagebrush Saloon.

It was relatively early, a little after nine p.m., but the place was already more than half full.  The décor was rustic, with a sea of wooden tables.  A big dance floor dominated the interior, the juke belting Willie Nelson for the couples that were

In the mirror in the carved oak back bar across from him, he could see himself on a bar stool next to a little guy in a blue Texas Rangers baseball cap.  The little guy made Jase look even bigger than his six-foot four-inch, two hundred twenty pound frame.

So far Tommy hadn’t showed, but he wasn’t due for at least another hour.  In the meantime, Jase was enjoying the local scenery, his attention fixed on the tall blonde with the pretty face, sexy curves, and amazing cleavage, but then half the guys in the bar were watching her.

In a short jeans skirt, a pair of cowboy boots, and a bright pink tank top, she had danced five times in a row.  If he weren’t there on business, he might ask her for a turn around the floor himself.  Jase watched the blonde dancing with a lanky biker too short for her, too skinny, and a few years too young.

She wasn’t meant for the boy biker, but she was just Jase’s type, luscious, with legs that went on forever.  And as she slid her arms around the boy biker’s neck and he pulled her close, clearly uninhibited.  It didn’t take much to imagine the way she’d feel moving beneath him.

He picked up his beer and took a drink.  He’d been watching her all evening.  The good news was, she’d been watching him, too.

When the song came to an end, she left the boy biker and walked right up to him, the heels on her boots pushing her closer to his height.

She smiled.  “You like to dance, cowboy?”

“Depends.”

“On what?  The song?”

“Who I’m dancing with.”

A dark blond eyebrow went up.  “Is that right…”

“That’s right, darlin’, and you’ll do just fine.”  Without waiting for a reply, Jase swept her onto the dance floor.  She felt good in his arms, fit him just right.  She was a good dancer, but so was he.  He was a Texan.  He’d done all the usual things a Texas boy did.  Played football, drank beer down on the river, rode horses, and two-stepped.

“What’s your name?” he asked as he whirled her around the floor

“Kate.”  She smiled.  “You’re Hawk.”  Her smile widened into a grin that etched a dimple into her cheek and he felt a jolt of heat.  “I like it,”  she said.  “It’s sexy.”

“You think so?”  As the song came to an end, he drew her off the dance floor into the shadows, took a chance she wouldn’t slap his face, and kissed her.

She softened against him and kissed him back, and he took it a little deeper, felt the rush hit his system.  Since they were standing in a bar full of people, he didn’t let it go too far.

Kate ran a finger along his jaw.  “You looked like you’d be a good kisser and you are,” she said.

“We can go outside and I’ll show you just how good I can be, but it’s gotta be up to you.”

Something flickered in her big brown eyes and for a moment  her bright smile faded.  “I need that tonight.  Just this once, just to help me forget.”  Her bottom lip trembled an instant before her saucy grin returned.  “Come on, cowboy, let’s go.”

Kat Martin Bio

Kat Martin

New York Times bestselling author Kat Martin is a graduate of the University of California at Santa Barbara where she majored in Anthropology and also studied History. Currently residing in Missoula, Montana with her Western-author husband, L. J. Martin, Kat has written sixty-five Historical and Contemporary Romantic Suspense novels. More than sixteen million copies of her books are in print and she has been published in twenty foreign countries. Kat is currently at work on her next Romantic Suspense.

PURCHASE LINKS

AMAZON

Kindle https://www.amazon.com/Deception-Maximum-Security-Book-ebook/dp/B07N42GTRB

Hardcover https://www.amazon.com/Deception-Maximum-Security-Kat-Martin/dp/1335007695

Barnes & Noble

Nook https://www.barnesandnoble.com/w/deception-dwayne-t-martin/1125448252?ean=9781488054327#/

Hardcover https://www.barnesandnoble.com/w/deception-dwayne-t-martin/1125448252?ean=9781335007698#/

KOBO

https://www.kobo.com/us/en/ebook/the-deception-25

GOOGLE

https://play.google.com/store/books/details/Kat_Martin_The_Deception?id=ATaFDwAAQBAJ

ITUNES

https://books.apple.com/us/book/the-deception/id1450623296

INDIEBOUND

Hardcover https://www.indiebound.org/book/9781335007698

Publishers Weekly Review

https://www.publishersweekly.com/9781335541895

https://bit.ly/2PVYzoZ

KAT’S WEBSITE

https://www.katmartin.com/

CONTEST LINKS

Monthly Contest: https://www.katmartin.com/monthly-contest/

SOCIAL MEDIA

Twitter: https://twitter.com/katmartinauthor

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

Goodreads: https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/43705315-the-deception?

Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/KatMartinAuthor

Book Giveaway: Cowboy Joel and the Wild Wild West by The Gagnon Family

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$25 Amazon Giveaway: Bachelor in the Boondocks by River Ames

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Bachelor in the Boondocks
by River Ames
Genre: Clean Contemporary Romance
Jared Sherman has been coerced into spending six months of his life in the
small Missouri town of Green River. His uncle wants to merge their
businesses, but before the older man will talk business, he’s made
it a pre-condition of the agreement that his nephew move to Green River.
Jared, a big city sophisticate, is having trouble wrapping his mind around
country living. He feels as if he’s traded in his life in the fast
line for a sojourn straight out of a rerun of the “Andy Griffith” show.
Except, Jared doesn’t remember an episode that had Sheriff Andy standing in
the buff with only a flimsy pair of frilly curtains preserving what’s
left of his dignity while being surrounded by the broken glass of his
bedroom window.
Cue Amelia Greene.
“Call 911, and I’ll break your arm.”
She can understand him not wanting anyone else to see him in this bizarre
situation, but his tone is unacceptable.
Being the good neighbor that she is, and because it was her younger brother
whose baseball smashed through Jared’s window, Amelia helps Jared
free himself from the shards of glass essentially holding him hostage.
Jared Sherman is a man who’s counting the hours until he can escape the
confines of country living. Another countdown is underway, however.
He’s counting down the next time he can steal another sweet kiss from a
woman who’s so devious he can’t figure out how she manages to be
so darned seductive. Maybe by wearing her flaming hair in a bun,
going about in long-sleeve blouses, and forgoing expensive perfumes,
she’s discovered a sure-fired way to entice even the most
dyed-in-the-wool bachelor.
Who would have ever thought the natural look could inflame a man’s
desires?
Good grief, she was literally the girl next door.
But, he was a man who had no intention of living in the boondocks, minus
the docks.
River Ames spent the first eighteen years of her life in Southern
California. Here is a partial list of some of the cities in which she
lived: Pasadena, South Pasadena, Duarte, El Monte, Arcadia La Puente,
Lomita, West Covina, Pacifica, Santa Monica, Palmdale, and Hacienda
Heights. In some of those cities, she lived at six different
addresses. In the city of La Puente, River’s family lived in four
different houses on the same street. The non-glamorous reason for all
the moves was habitual eviction necessitated for non-payment of rent.
It was an interesting way to grow up.
River attended twenty-six different elementary schools, two different
junior high schools and four different high schools. In one
elementary school, she was a student for only three days.
Perhaps, because she was so frequently identified as the “new girl,”
the pattern of River being an observer instead of a participant in
the interactions going on around her seemed a logical fit for her
personality.
When she was thirteen, River read “Gone with the Wind.” She
skipped three days of school in order to finish the book in one
sitting. Disappointed in Rhett for “not giving a damn,”
River wrote her own sequel–in long hand, on three-hole punch,
notebook paper. The opening line? “Tomorrow dawned bright and
fair.” In less than fifty pages, Scarlett had been transformed
into Jane Eyre and Rhett had fallen in love with her all over again.
After Southern California, River has spent the next part of her life living
in the semi-rural town of Idaho Falls, Idaho. She is a graduate of
Idaho State University, majoring in Health Education Sciences and
Addiction Counseling. She’s worked the past ten years at a Behavioral
Health Center where she assisted children, teenagers, and adults
committed in a 24/7 secured facility because of mental health
challenges they are experiencing.
River’s books celebrate the good-natured humor that lays at the heart of most
of our human predicaments. The conflicts are significant, yet it is
her characters and their quirky (yet somehow universally relatable)
thoughts, words, and choices that reflect a light-hearted peek into a
world we wish was real. The amazing thing is that these worlds are
real to readers for the time they visit there.
Readers have said: “In a River Ames book, one minute I’m laughing out
loud, and the next I have a lump in my throat.”
River is currently readying a historical novel, “Gideon’s Justice.”
This three-part novel is Book I in a three volume western series set
in the Colorado Territory.
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$10 Amazon Giveaway: The Siblings O’Rifcan Series by Katharine E. Hamilton

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The Siblings O’Rifcan Series
Books 1- 5 Boxed Set
by Katharine E. Hamilton
Genre: Clean Contemporary Romance
FIVE sweet romances in ONE boxset!
One family. Five incredible stories.
Claron
Tossing her belongings into a suitcase and escaping heartbreak seemed like
the best idea for Rhea Conners. She’d simply travel across the
ocean to visit her grandfather in Ireland and heal. Then she’d come
back. Simple. But what she doesn’t expect is to find solace and
healing in the form of the O’Rifcan family. One member in
particular: Claron.
Claron enjoyed his life farming the land his grandparents gifted him. He
lived his life quietly and contentedly, until Rhea arrived. He’d
steered clear of relationships and entanglements since his last
heartbreak, but something about Roland’s granddaughter twists him
up inside. Something about Rhea has him rethinking his life of
solitude.
Two hearts. One chance. Can Rhea and Claron overcome past hurts to make a
new beginning?

 

Riley
Charm, beauty, and the promise of a new adventure had Heidi Rustler eagerly
flying across the ocean to visit her best friend, Rhea Conners. Heidi
needed a change of scenery, a change of pace, and a little
excitement, and that is the promise that awaited her in Ireland.
However, Rhea’s stories of the incredible family she’d come to
know intrigued Heidi the most. Particularly the stories of Riley O’Rifcan.
Riley loved his life. He spent his days traveling for work, loving on his
family, and flirting with feminine faces. He never once thought about
settling down. Until Heidi. The bold and beautiful woman from Texas
stampeded into his world and challenged his commitment-free and
easy-going lifestyle.
Two hearts. One chance. Can Heidi and Riley recognize their opportunity
for a new and different kind of adventure?
Layla
Beautiful, flirtatious, and charming are just a few of the words that describe
Layla O’Rifcan, and she is proud of them. She enjoys the art of
flirting and entangling the hearts of handsome men with her own. But
with her eyes set upon starting her new business, she might just miss
the one man that could change her life for the better.
Delaney Hawkins loves his job. Yes, he may work too much, but he is happy
with the direction his life is headed. All until he meets Layla
O’Rifcan. The spunky O’Rifcan sister who bewitches him from the
start has him trying to balance work with what he hopes to be a
budding relationship.
Two hearts. One chance. Can Layla and Delaney set aside their work and
ambition to take a chance on love?
Chloe
Strong, sweet, and beautiful not only describes Chloe O’Rifcan but also the
flowers she works with. As her brother’s wedding approaches, Chloe
finds herself neck deep in wedding planning and projects that require
the help of a dear friend.
Conor McCarthy is one of the closest friends to the O’Rifcan family, but
he’s also a talented carpenter hopping from one project to the
next. But when Chloe asks him to build an archway for a wedding prop,
Conor finds himself working hand in hand with the youngest sister,
and he can’t help but be impressed by Chloe’s skill and her sweet heart.
Two Hearts. One Chance. Can Chloe and Conor progress from family friends
to more?

 

Murphy
Grit, determination, and independence had Piper O’Beirne setting her
roots in Galway. The successful manager of one of the hottest pubs in
the city, she never dreamed of moving or starting over. Until Murphy.
Murphy O’Rifcan loved his work. He spent all his time grooming his pub to
be the best in County Clare. However, the hectic demands of the pub
had him looking for help from the one person he knew he could trust,
but the one person he knew did not want to move to Castlebrook. He
found his professional pursuit of Piper twisted along the way and he
wished Piper would accept the job for other reasons. Him.
Two Hearts. One Chance. Can Piper and Murphy learn to work together at
the pub and in love?

 

Grab your copy today!
Katharine E. Hamilton graduated from Texas A&M University with a Bachelor
of Arts in History and uses her knack for research in all her
stories. She is a Southern Belle with a pinch of sass, and when she
is not writing she can be found chasing around her toddler son,
driving around the ranch, or baking delicacies for local parties and
events. Katharine currently resides on a ranch in South Texas where
the skies and rivers, in all their beauty, rejuvenate the soul.
Follow the tour HERE
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$25 Amazon Gift Card Giveaway: Falling for Her Bodyguard By Amy Vastine

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On Tour with Prism Book Tours

Falling for Her Bodyguard
(Grace Note Records #4)
By Amy Vastine
Contemporary Romance
Paperback & ebook, 384 Pages
August 1st 2019 by Harlequin Heartwarming

She needs his protection…

But can he protect his heart?

Radio personality Kelly Bonner isn’t convinced she needs a bodyguard, especially one as intensely good-looking as Detective Donovan Walsh. Yet beneath Donovan’s tough-guy facade is a man struggling to raise his sister’s children. A man Kelly could care about…if he’d let her. Now she’ll have to find a way to convince her big, bad bodyguard that his family—and his heart—are safe in her hands.

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Excerpt:

He scooted his chair closer to Kelly’s and reached for her hand. “What do you want to do today? I was thinking we could do a little self-defense training.”

“I need to find a new place to live.” She held his hand in both of hers.

“You’re serious about that?”

“I can’t go back there. My lease is almost up. I was thinking about actually buying a place once I signed my new contract at work. When you’re in radio, you run the risk of having to move from town to town. A new contract at K104 means I can put down some roots finally.”

“Roots are good.” He intertwined his fingers with hers and lifted her hand to his lips. “We can fire up my laptop later and search the web for the best house in Nashville to put down roots.”

Her smile was crooked and perfect. “You think we’ll find the right house if that’s what we put in our Google search?”

“Why not?”

She leaned in close and he wanted to kiss her just like he had wanted to kiss her on the stairs earlier that morning.

“Why are you guys up so early?” Graham’s voice startled them both.

Donovan pushed away from Kelly. “Your sister wanted doughnuts. We brought some home for you.”

“Well, we have some parts of doughnuts for you,” Kelly said, flipping open the lids to the boxes. “This one was my favorite, this one is your sister’s favorite, and your uncle is an eighty-year-old trapped in a thirtysomething’s body and this was his favorite.”

“I don’t know what you’re talking about,” Donovan said. “I am very young at heart.”

Graham narrowed his eyes as he checked out the decimated doughnuts. “Did you guys eat part of every doughnut? How are you not sick from eating all that?”

“We’re going to go downstairs and do some self-defense training. One of the moves we’re going to learn is how to barf on the guy so he runs away from you,” Kelly said.

“Wow. If I’m an eighty-year-old, you’re a twelve-year-old in a twentysomething’s body.”

“Twenty-year-olds think barf is funny,” she argued.

“No one thinks barf is funny,” Graham countered.

“What?” Kelly dared to look shocked. “Avery, do you think barf is funny?”

“Barfing is gross!” Avery yelled from the couch.

“Not even the seven-year-old thinks it’s funny,” Donovan said with a laugh.

“You guys need to get a sense of humor.”

“Uncle Donovan?” Avery said, running into the kitchen.

“Avery?”

Her little face scrunched up in pain. “I don’t feel good. I think I ate too many doughnuts.” Before Donovan could respond, she threw up all over him and it was the least funny thing he’d ever experienced.

Other Books in the Series

Catch a Fallen Star

About the Author

Amy Vastine has been plotting stories in her head for as long as she can remember. An eternal optimist, she studied social work, hoping to teach others how to find their silver lining. Now, she enjoys creating happily ever afters for all to read. Amy lives outside Chicago with her high school sweetheart husband, three teenagers who keep her on her toes, and their two sweet but mischievous pups.

Website│Goodreads│Facebook│Twitter│Pinterest

Tour Schedule

Tour Giveaway

1 winner will receive a $25 Amazon Gift Card, a Reading is my Superpower custom-made sign, an autographed copy of The Girl He Used to Love and a bookmark (if winner is outside US then they would receive an ebook and egift card only)

Ends August 21, 2019

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Spotlight: The Missing Fairy Princess by Walter Salvadore Pareira

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The Missing Fairy Princess by Walter Salvadore Pereira

~ Book Tour~
11th to 17th August
About the Book:
“The Missing Fairy Princess” is the story of a 16-year-old fairy princess pitted against a powerful witch. The witch has stolen a potent new mantra developed by a colleague, ruthlessly snuffing out a brilliantly innovative mind.  She then hatches an elaborate plot to frame an adversary for her misdeed.  Her intention is to exact sweet revenge from her foe and at the same time, get away with the theft.  The victim, caught in her vicious web, is doomed to disgrace and a life sentence on a harsh penal colony. Meanwhile, the witch learns from her crystal ball, about an imminent threat from a fairy princess wearing a pink tiara.  To ward off that threat she kidnaps the fairy princess, wipes her memory clean and then turns her into a two-year-old girl.  
Unfortunately for the culprit, she has goofed up by kidnapping the wrong fairy princess, Merlyn, instead of Ashlyn, her twin.  The mistake turns out to be the undoing of the witch because Ashlyn proves to be her nemesis.  The brilliant fairy princess exposes the cobweb of misleading evidence fabricated by the witch, ultimately unmasking her.
If you love mystery, whodunit, with a dash of magical realism and sci-fi, this book is for you.
Book Links:

Cleanliness

“Cleanliness” ~ a topic which has featured so prominently in Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s speeches whenever he addressed gatherings across the country, Swachh Bharat!
Despite the rigorous drive by the central government, it is disheartening that except in small pockets, the larger picture that emerges is that there has been no appreciable improvement.
Why is it so difficult to inculcate the habit of cleanliness in us Indians?  This question gives rise to a plethora of others.  Is it inborn and so deep-rooted that it has become uncorrectable?  Have we been always like this and have fallen into a rut!
Certainly, not!  History attests that for bygone centuries India had an unblemished record as a much admired country.  Our hospitality matched our wealth and surroundings.  Our famed structures like Taj Mahal and Qutub Minar attracted visitors from all over the world, praising our land.  Given such a glorious background, how does one explain the degeneration to present abysmal depths?
Also, one mustn’t forget that the issues of overall cleanliness and environment damage although distinctly separate, are definitely correlated.  One has to take a look at the pathetic condition of our famed river of Ganga which at places reeks of raw sewage, despite 22,000 crores claimed to have been spent during the last four years.  In Mumbai, the Mithi river has been reduced to an open sewer and is an eye sore, again after humongous amounts of public money supposedly spent on cleaning it.
Those born in 30’s and 40’s would agree with me that the conditions in those days weren’t as pathetic like those one sees today.  There is a plausible theory that the industrialization was the cause of the fast deterioration.  If that indeed is the case, then it inevitably gives rise to a serious question; one of dereliction of duty. Unquestionably, the finger of blame points squarely at the watchdog authorities, including the governments at the centre and the states.  Were they so consumed in their eternal fights for power that ‘minor’ issues such as the blatant environment damage taking place so openly all over the country, were ignored overriding the persistent grave warnings from the environmentalists.  In the process, some of those politicians succeeded in turning the national calamity to their advantage, abetting the defaulters by fraudulent means by lining their own pockets. 
I am sure we could discuss this issue for hours, but at the end, it would emerge as a classic example of the ‘fence feeding on the crop’!  The present policy of the ‘carrot and stick’ hardly has shown a worthwhile improvement.  It seems imperative that sterner and punitive measures are called for.  
I cannot resist the temptation of quoting an interesting anecdote. There is the proven case of a tiny state in the Far East which was struggling to come to terms with filth and squalour and a true visionary leader transformed it into a country which is now proud of its environmental achievements.  Many years ago, a visitor stepped out of the International Airport and even as he was looking for a cab, succumbed to the habit of spitting.  In the blink of an eye, a marshal materialized and gave the man a receipt for 500 dollars in local currency, pointing to a prominent notice prohibiting spitting.  Apparently, there was further misery in store for the despondent visitor.  Another marshal handed him a pail and a groom and ordered him to clean a stretch of around 100 feet as a token punishment.
There is a colloquial saying that you cannot expect one’s hand to produce the results what a stick alone can do. May be it is time for our authorities to shift gears and adopt tougher legislation to discipline the legions of errant citizens blatantly spitting and littering.  Many years ago, it was a common sight to see people urinating at dark corners, with the result one had to block one’s nostrils while passing such stinking spots.  Subsequently, someone came up with a brilliant idea of putting up ceramic tiles with the picture of prominent deities at such places, the results were noteworthy.  Unfortunately, the idea didn’t have the desired results in curbing spitting.
Mere sloganeering will not help!  The change has to take place at the grassroots level. The parents and teachers have a greater role to play in moulding the young minds.  A recent advertisement on TV comes to mind where a child sees her mother throw a wrapper in a park and replicates it later at a public place.  The rebuke from mother has the kid saying the former did exactly the same thing in the park, causing acute embarrassing as well as realization of her folly in the mother.  It pains one to see even educated youngsters indulging in wanton littering from the trains, buses or cars involving plastic bottles, wrappers and plastic sachets with little regard to the environmental damage they are causing.  That also applies to the disgusting habit of spitting which we have formed maybe due to of our pan-chewing habit.
I can recall yet another significant effect of the role of the teacher.  My granddaughter was in the first grade then.  One day we saw her coming home inconsolable, tears rolling down her cheeks even though she had left her class a good 10-15 minutes earlier.  The reason as it transpired was that the teacher has explained to the class how unscrupulous builder were irresponsibly cutting down trees to make way for new buildings, thereby destroying what the nature has taken centuries to build.  Such was the impact on the young mind of a five-year-old that she was prepared to take part into a demonstration against the errant builders.
Precious moments are ticking and with every passing minute, the mankind is racing towards an inevitable tryst with doom.  The nature sounded a number of loud warnings, but if we stupidly continue to ignore them, we would be dropping the proverbial axe on our own feet.
About the Author:
After spending over 25 years in the Middle East, the author, aged 75, now leads a retired life.  He lives with his wife and son in Thane, near Mumbai. He has been passionate about writing from his early days.  His first book was a fast-paced sci-fi novel titled “This Nightmare is for Real”, was self-published. That was followed by a historical fiction titled “Bheem – The Sage of Madhavpur”, again a self-publication.  A third book, a fairy tale titled “The Missing Fairy Princess” which was published on Kindle Select during the first week of June 2019, while a fourth on the oft-discussed topic of cross-border terrorism titled “The Carnivore has a Heart” is slated for publication shortly thereafter again on Kindle Select.
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