#Spotlight: Growth and Change Are Overrated by Tom Starita #giveaway #humor

 

Genre: Humor, Satire 

Growth & Change Are Highly Overrated is a twist on the classic coming-of-age story that takes a unique and comic look at what we all fear— having to grow up and abandon our dreams.

For a charismatic man like Lucas James, life is a breeze because everyone else provides the wind. This adolescent front man for a mediocre cover band has been mooching off of his fiancée, Jackie, for years until she finally decides she's had enough. Faced with reality and having no income to support his carefree lifestyle, Lucas James abandons his principles and gets a job working in the stockroom at "That Store." How does he cope with this new found sense of responsibility?

He casually steals...

After a life spent bucking authority, how will Lucas James deal with his manager, 'Victor the Dictator'? How long can he tolerate Ralph, a starry-eyed coworker who desires nothing more than to be best friends? Will Lori, a twenty-something cashier, be like everyone else and fall for his charms? Will he ever find a place to live? And is "growing up" just another way of saying "selling out"?

Goodreads * Amazon

Tom Starita is the author of two novels, "Two Ways to Sunday" and "Growth and Change Are Highly Overrated" and makes an impact on everyone he encounters. When asked for her thoughts about him, Oprah Winfrey said, "Who?" Tom Hanks refused to respond to an email asking for a quote and former Mets great Mookie Wilson once waved to him from a passing taxi.

Originally from Staten Island, NY Starita has now found a home in the beautiful beach community of Stratford, Connecticut with his wife Shannon and their dog Lola. He remains a loyal fan of the New York Mets.

Website 

Follow the tour HERE for special content and a giveaway!

$25 Amazon

a Rafflecopter giveaway

The Murderess Must Die by Marlie Parker Wasserman #historicalfiction #women #giveaway

Book Details:

Genre: Historical Crime Fiction

Published by: Level Best Books

Publication Date: July 6, 2021

Number of Pages: 250

ISBN: 978-1953789877

Purchase Links: Amazon / Goodreads

I want to begin by saying that I give this book the 5 stars it deserves. It was unbelievably well written. The character development was impeccable. The book is historical fiction but more historical than fiction. The author did an amazing job in using her primary resources to investigate the life, the murder, the trial, and subsequent end to the life of real-life person, Martha (Mattie) Place. From this point, I shall tell you that Mattie was the first women ever to die by electric chair. This is not a spoiler but a fact and the premise of the entire book. So, at this point dear readers, you may think that I loved the book. I did give it five stars after all.      

The truth of the matter is...no, I hated it! I hated it so much I kept reading it. I read it because it was a great book but in the same manner I loathed it, the tragedy of it disgusted me. The book begins with Mattie's life. A life full of poverty and abuse. A life full of death all around her as siblings, family, and friends died. Animals dies to as she was the daughter of a farmer who slaughtered animals to survive.

It carries through abusive marriages, giving up a child, and being ostracized by her second husband who favored his daughter many times over her. It poured out how women were second class citizens in the 1800's only risen to a different station in life because of the husband they might marry. At this time, women were not allowed to vote but the ideals were on the horizon with Susan B. Anthony and Caddie Stanton leading the way. Theodore Roosevelt was the governor of New York. Mattie knew of these people.

Ultimately, her station in life would fail her. The author's resources revealed a court system run by men. A court system that Mattie had to navigate with several inept lawyers and newspapers that never agreed on anything. A system that that had only electrocuted men in a fairly brand new invention, the electric chair.

Mattie's story unfolds in first person accounts that waver back and forth throughout the book. (Again, this is the brilliance of the book.) Details are revealed that may have helped Mattie in her tragic story but again, may not have. Some of these accounts are fill-ins and possibilities of different outcomes but in any case, still leads to one conclusion. None-the-less, it makes readers ponder, maybe feel for her, and want to discuss her, just as the papers did to sensationalize her in the 1800's. 

Did she do it? History says so, but the details of history has been known to fail before. Even though her fate has now been sealed, at least Mattie is finally getting a voice to tell her story, her way.

Yes, I hated everything that happened throughout this book but I urge you to read it, to know, and maybe learn something and decide for yourself.

Disclosure: I received a copy of this book from the author. The views here are 100% my own and may differ from yours. ~Michelle 

Author Bio:

Catch Up With Marlie Wasserman: Marlie Parker Wasserman writes historical crime fiction, after a career on the other side of the desk in publishing. The Murderess Must Die is her debut novel. She reviews regularly for The Historical Novel Review and is at work on a new novel about a mysterious and deadly 1899 fire in a luxury hotel in Manhattan.

www.MarlieWasserman.com

Giveaway can be found HERE

The House On Crow Mountain by Rebecca Lee Smith

 

About The House on Crow Mountain

 Cozy Mystery Publisher ‏ 

 ‎ Wild Rose Press (July 14, 2021)

Paperback ‏ : ‎ 310 pages

ISBN-10 ‏ : ‎ 1509235914 ISBN-13 ‏

: ‎ 978-1509235919

Digital ASIN ‏ : ‎ B095Z6DG45

When her aunt suffers a stroke, New York portrait artist Emory Austen returns home to the North Carolina mountains to mend fences and deal with the guilt over her husband's senseless death. But that won't be as easy as she hoped.

Someone in the quirky little town doesn't like Emory. Is it the sexy architect who needs the Austen land to redeem himself? The untrustworthy matriarch? The grudge-bearing local bad boy? Or the teenage bombshell who has raised snooping to an art form? Even the local evangelist has something to hide. Who wrote the cryptic note warning her to "Give it back or you'll be dead? And what is 'it'? As the clues pile up and secrets are exposed, Emory must discover what her family has that someone would kill for.

About Rebecca Lee Smith

Rebecca lives with her husband and a dog named Wilbur in the beautiful misty mountains of East Tennessee, where the people are charming, soulful, and just a little bit crazy. She's been everything from a tax collector to a stay-at-home-mom to an award-winning professional actress and director. When she's not churning out small-town cozy-ish mysteries, she loves to travel the world, go to the Outer Banks for her ocean fix, watch old movies, and make her day complete by answering the Final Jeopardy! question. Her Southern roots and the affectionate appreciation she has for the rural towns she lives near inspire the settings and characters she writes about.

Author Links Website - https://rebeccaleesmith.com/ 

Purchase Links - Amazon - B & N -

Book Excerpt

Could it be something of Kent's they were after? Something he’d kept hidden? He was good at keeping secrets. In fact, he’d been a master at it. After his death, I’d packed the few possessions he hadn’t moved out of the apartment and sent them to his parents. I’d kept nothing except the gold wedding band he’d thrown at me from across the room and his cell phone.

Kent’s death.

Hard to even think those words, much less say them out loud. It was all still so surreal.

Maybe everything that had happened in Bitter Ridge was karma. Maybe the Universe was finally giving me exactly what I deserved. Kent's death had been my fault. And no matter how much he had deceived me, or betrayed me, or reduced my sad little trusting heart to shrapnel, I could never forgive myself.

I laid my head on my knees and closed my eyes. I rocked my body back and forth, like a child trying to soothe itself when sleep will not come. Then at last, in the cool dark shadows of the night, I began to cry.

Oh, God, I am so sorry.

I hadn’t loved Kent for a long time. At the end of our marriage, I hadn't even liked him. But I had never wished him dead.

    

Frankie Shep Suspense Novellas: Choir Loft Murder, Survival Instinct, Mystery Bones Murders by Karen Randau #giveaway #spotlight #thrillers #novellas

 

Choir Loft Murder

Frankie Shep Suspense Novellas Book 3

Genre: Mystery, Suspense

Her fiancé a murderer? As she digs for the truth, she must fight to survive a plot to frame the man she loves.

Frankie Shep has endured too many tragedies in her life. When she finally dares to love again, a revengeful plot threatens to cancel her wedding plans and send her fiancé to death row. But this feisty modern-day rancher won't stand for it.

A member of the church choir dies from a blowgun dart to a vital artery, and the murder weapon implicates Quint. Frankie is shocked to discover Quint was a champion blowgun competitor but quit the sport after a family disaster. And now he’s refusing to talk about his fate.

So she takes it on herself to track down the killer before Quint accepts a life-altering plea deal. She's devastated when she unearths his motive for the crime. But someone else lurks in the shadows, and that's who she's determined to find. Little does she know the killer follows her every move, ready to strike her down when she gets too close.

Can she unravel the vindictive plot before she becomes a crazed killer's next victim?

Choir Loft Murder is the riveting third book in the Frankie Shep Suspense Novellas series. If you like engaging heroines, twisty plots, and eerie settings, then you’ll love Karen Randau’s pulse-pounding thriller.

Buy Choir Loft Murder to expose a ruthless murderer today!

Goodreads * Amazon

Survival Instinct

Frankie Shep Suspense Novellas Book 2

When rescuers don't come, she must fight to save herself, a toddler, and a dog from unthinkable odds, but a mass murder wants to make them his next victims.

Frankie Shep’s secret has haunted her since the deaths of her husband and young son. Just when she thinks her life is back on track, tragedy strikes again. Her flight crashes on a lofty peak in Colorado’s Rocky Mountain National Park. She has no food, water, or shelter in arctic conditions. She awaits certain death.

Instinct kicks in when she finds the only other survivors, a toddler and a small dog. She taps into skills she learned as a child to overcome unspeakable odds. But the guy who crashed the airplane will do anything to guarantee that all witnesses perish.

Can Frankie save her troupe and find redemption she seeks? Or will her secret die with her when they become the killer’s next victims?

Buy Survival Instinct now to find out!

Mystery Bones Murders

Frankie Shep Suspense Novellas Book 1

A stalker terrorizing her land. When dead bodies link to her past, can she survive a plot to destroy her future?

Frankie Shep holds a shameful secret close to her heart. Plagued by guilt over her husband and son’s deaths, the feisty modern-day rancher isolates herself with just her animals for companions. But she’s shocked when a human bone exposed during a storm reveals evidence of a brutal seventeen-year-old crime.

As her nightmares become a harsh reality when more gruesome remains surface, Frankie starts to track down a shadowy serial killer after discovering her father is missing. And she fears a looming threat is right at her back door, ready to strike her down.

Can she dig up the truth before she’s buried deep in a lonely grave?

Mystery Bones Murders is the gripping first book in the Frankie Shep Suspense Novellas series. If you like engaging heroines, twisty plots, and eerie settings, then you’ll love Karen Randau’s pulse-pounding thriller.

Buy Mystery Bones Murders to unearth skeletons today!

Karen Randau authors fast-paced mystery, thriller, and suspense books, including the Frankie Shep Suspense Novella series, Rim Country Mysteries, and Deadly Reception (a stand-alone novella as one of seven of the Tawnee Mountain Mysteries box set written by best-selling and award-winning authors). Her Rim Country Mystery novel, Deadly Payload, was a finalist in the Book Excellent Awards and the Beverly Hills Book Awards.

She’s a lifelong writer, both for fun and as a professional in marketing communications. She retired in 2018 from the international relief and development organization Food for the Hungry, where she frequently blogged about topics related to social justice and poverty. She holds a degree in journalism/public relations. A native of the southwestern U.S., Karen lives with her husband in Arizona.

Website * Facebook 

Follow the tour HERE for special content and a giveaway!

$15 Amazon 

a Rafflecopter giveaway

The Garret Cooper Series: The Greatest of These, Roads to Redemptions, by Greg Wendleton #spotlight #giveaway #thriller #mysteries

 

The Greatest of These

Garret Cooper Series Book 1

Genre: Thriller, Mystery

What happens when a global pandemic, a life-saving vaccine and a criminal conspiracy come to a boiling point? Garret Cooper is a naïve, paid assassin who is leading a double life. Conspiring against him and looking for a massive payday are his mentor and former teammates. When they attempt to frame him for murder, conspiracy and treason, he must question everything he thought was true, and confess his hidden life to his wife. In this first book in the series, Garret Cooper uses his wits to overcome the obstacles he faces on the beautiful island of Maui.

The Greatest of These is a fast-paced page-turner that will capture your imagination...a must-read!

Goodreads * Amazon

Roads to Redemption

Garret Cooper Series Book 2

Garret Cooper continues his search for Conrad Bishop and Jackie Ming throughout Central America in this, the second book in the Garret Cooper Series. While Garret and Fonda attempt to establish a new life on Maui, the threats posed by the dangerous fugitives continue to threaten their existence. Conrad finds himself embroiled in a feud and Jackie battles demons that continue to haunt him. Friends, both new and old, lend assistance to the manhunt as well as the efforts of many men to find a better path in life...their personal road to redemption.

Greg Wendleton is a resident of Overland Park, Kansas where he lives with his wife, Jan, and their Chocolate Labradoodle, Chief. Greg and Jan first met in Hawaii while attending Radford High School. Their fathers were both career Air Force NCOs. Life took them in different directions until they reunited thirty-five years later. They have four adult children, all of whom are married, and four amazing grandsons.

After more than forty years in food service sales, Greg retired due to a rare eye malady. Afflicted with Anterior Ischemic Optic Neuropathy which left Greg unable to drive or travel alone, he discovered a new passion. Always harboring a desire to write, but lacking the time to dedicate to the craft, his recent life changes opened new doors.

“The Greatest of These”, an action/suspense novel introduces Garret Cooper, a flawed man who must overcome his own demons to rescue his father figure from imminent death. The author utilizes exotic settings, current events and a touch of self-deprecating humor to develop his characters and to create his stories.

“Roads to Redemption”, book two in the Garret Cooper series was released on July 16, 2021, and “Judgement”, book three in the series is slated for release in late 2021.

Facebook * Instagram 

Follow the tour HERE for special content and a giveaway!

$10 Amazon giftcard,

Signed paperbacks of the two books

-1 winner each!

a Rafflecopter giveaway

The Dawn Crusade by #Spotlight #Giveaway #Action/AdventureBooks #comingofage #YA

 

Genre: Action, Adventure, Fantasy, Coming of Age

 

Thirteen years ago, a curious star fell to the island of Somerset. That night Ike Ryder met Alina, the little girl who fell from the heavens.

Now Ike Ryder is on the cusp of manhood and being called to join his father's decade-long war, a fight he vehemently opposes. Before Ike is forced to take up arms, a messenger from the island of Somerset's Great Spirit visits him. Ike is named the Great Spirit's new champion and called to make a perilous journey to the Spirit's sanctuary. While all of Somerset seems to doubt Ike's abilities as a warrior, he resolves to reach the Spirit and use her power to end the bloodshed plaguing the world of Dawn.

Miles from Somerset, Alina fights alongside the Knights of Tenshi, the legendary peacekeepers of Dawn. After most of their regiment is killed in an ambush, Alina and the few survivors race to warn Somerset of a coming invasion. Although she and the other Knights fear their enemies of war, the real danger may come from someone much more sinister...a foe with supernatural powers and a growing collection of faces.

Add to Goodreads

Amazon * Apple * B&N

Dawn Crusade - A Tale from Somerset from Dawn Crusade on Vimeo.

Passionate about storytelling, E. Reed devotes much of his time to writing and producing. He studied Media Production at Pepperdine University graduating as valedictorian. A native of Southern California, Eric enjoys swimming in the ocean, exercising, and cooking.

Dawn Crusade is the first novel in a fantasy action and adventure series. Published at the age of 22, E. Reed is an author you will anticipate seeing a lot more of with a growing collection of great novels.

Website 

Follow the tour HERE for special content and a giveaway!

$25 Amazon gift card + signed print copy of the book

a Rafflecopter giveaway

#Review: The Midnight Library by Matt Haig #fiction #novel

This book is an incredible  poignant look at the time in between life and death.

What may seem like the most depressing and no- life lived, can actually be the life that is being lived beautifully if only it can be seen. Or maybe the life that seems so wonderful is not at all.

Our life's choices not only affect ourselves but for ever single person we encounter.

The author's well written story unfolds in such away that it allows us to take a glimpse into one person's life...their library so to speak and how her different choices of life depended on how she chose. Ultimately she has to choose to live!

Wonderful quotes and references to Waldon and Thoreau only enhance a beautiful book that deserves its 5 stars.

Disclosure: I borrowed a copy of this book from my local library. The views here are 100% my own and may differ from yours. -Michelle

Itty Bitty Kitty and the Rainy Play Day by Joan Holub #childrens #series #childrensfiction

Since it was raining today, it seemed appropriate to read this picture book by one of my favorite authors.

Itty Bitty Kitty is anything but itty-bitty. So when it starts to rain Itty and owner Ava get stuck inside.

They eventually find things to do but it causes chaos around the house and trouble for mom and dad.

As the rain stops, fun begins again...maybe...but does Itty like being outside? Hmm?

I love the larger than life pet cat with bold colors coupled with the author's fun play with words.

4 stars. Disclosure: I received a copy of this book from the author. The views here are 100% my own and may differ from yours. - Michelle

Seed School: Growing Up Amazing by Joan Holub #review #childrens #growing #plants

 

This is a sweet little book that I think should be read in the classrooms at the beginning of the school year.
A class full of different seeds are learning about growing and how they will grow. There is one seed with a "hat" that tries to find himself and fit in.
The book starts in the Fall and carries all through the winter into spring. The seeds learn about photosynthesis, which of course, the reader does too.
The seed with the hat sings about growing and tells fun jokes. Eventually, all the seeds grow into something great and so does the "lost" seed. *smiles*
The writing is awesome. The illustrations a bit cheesy for me but do get the point across and do their job.

I give this 5 stars
Disclosure: I received a copy of this book from the author. The views here are 100% my own and may differ from yours. -Michelle

#Review: Outlawed by Anna North #western #historicalfiction #women

This book is a retelling of the Hole in the Wall gang with "Billy" The Kid. This time though, the whole gang is a group of women thrown out of their homes for the most idiotic reason, that is, most of them could not have children.

The story is told in first person from the character, "Doc"
as she tells her tale of living among the gang and treating ailments.

The book was not fast paced as one might imagine, but actually a slow burn kind of western comparable to what you might see in a spaghetti western movie. Descriptions of places and people were ok.

The only real disappointment of the book was the ending. It felt abrupt and more like a cliff hanger. The author definitely left it open for sequels.

Good read overall. 4 stars.

Disclosure: I am incredibly happy to have gotten a copy of this book from my local library. The views here are 100% my own and may differ from yours.- Michelle

Seasons of Reading Readathon-High Summer #hsreadthon #readathon

 This readathon started today. It is month long for August so you can join anytime. If you don't have a blog you can chime in on Goodreads, Facebook, and Instagram as well. Just make sure, as I am doing right now, that you declare you have started and link back to HERE

Have fun!

Michelle

PS. I generally do not list the books I am going to read because I never get as far as I think I will. I have started "Outlawed" and will get that one done for sure.