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Book Review: His Steadfast Love by Golden Keyes Parsons

2012-02-27T01:19:00.000-08:00

His Steadfast Love

Author: Golden Keyes Parsons
Paperback: 331 pages
Publisher: Thomas Nelson Publishers (November 1, 2011)
Amazon Link

Note: I received a review copy of this book free from BookSneeze. The review posted below is based on my personal thoughts while reading the book.

Ratings:

★ ★ ★

My thoughts:

His Steadfast Love is a Christian book about two people in love divided by the Civil War. Amanda Belle and Captain Littlefield romance blooms before the war started. The two met while attending a church service. When the Civil War erupted, Captain Littlefield went back to his duty as a captain from the Union Troop (North). Unexpectedly, Amanda's brother signed up to fight for the South - the Confederates States. As Captain Littlefield has so much respect for Amanda's father, being the town's only pastor, he formally asked Reverend Belle's permission to continue communicating with his daughter but was surprised when he refused saying that he simply cannot allow his daughter to communicate further to someone from the North.

The book is rich in American history, it was interesting to read something about the Civil War. In this book, the war started because the North wanted to free the slaves while the South didn't agree with this. I thought the book was okay for a historical novel though I wasn't sure about the romance part. I just didn't feel Amanda's connection with Captain Littlefield. I guess maybe because the author focused on the war. The slaves jargon also annoyed me in some parts of the book.

Overall, His Steadfast Love is recommended for readers looking for a good historical novel.

About the book:

In one of the most heartbreaking times in American history, a Southern preacher's daughter makes a tragic error that pits her against the very people she loves most.

It's the spring of 1861 on the Gulf Coast of Texas. Although Amanda Belle never thought she would marry, her attraction to Captain Kent Littlefield is undeniable.

When Texas secedes from the Union, her brother Daniel marches off to war to fight for the Confederate States and Kent remains with the Union troops.

Her heart is torn between the two men she loves and the two sides of the conflict. When she turns to God for help, Amanda expects direction and support, but hears nothing. Is God listening to her anymore? Does He not care about the atrocities of war-and whose side is He on?

The war is dragging on for much longer than expected, and Amanda struggles between the opposing philosophies of slavery. But after the death of her pastor father, she learns some hard truths about love, the human condition, and God's role in her life.

Amanda must trust God to bring her family through the chaos that threatens her home, her family, and the beloved state of Texas.

About the author:

Golden Keyes Parsons is a popular retreat and conference speaker, author of historical novels and an ordained pastor. Her book, "In The Shadow Of The Sun King," (Thomas Nelson Publishing), first in a four-book series based on her family genealogy, released Fall 2008, and was named a finalist in the ACFW's Book of the Year Debut Author category. The book chronicles the saga of the Clavell family in 17th century France, where, as French Huguenots, they suffer persecution at the hands of Louis XIV's Catholic government. The second book, "A Prisoner Of Versailles," was released September 2009. Book Three, "Where Hearts Are Free" is scheduled to release Fall 2010.

Guest Author: Andrew Gavin

2012-02-25T07:07:00.000-08:00

In constructing The Darkening Dream I wanted the meta-story to play off conventional tropes. Broadly, a cabal of ancient supernatural beings has sent one of their number to recover an artifact needed to destroy the world. And surprise, it turns out a group of teens are all that stands between them and Armageddon. How much more Buffy can you get? But that's just the high level. I also wanted to ground this preposterous scenario in real history and legend. So as a methodology, in designing my array of supernatural beings and occult practitioners I turned to historic sources. Before our modern science and technology rendered magic quaint, it was the domain of religion and superstition. Of belief. And each spiritual and magical system has its own framework. Proponents wrote out of certainty, out of faith. I merely dig up their writings and take them at their word.

Villains

What binds a group of ancient evil beings together? Not some grand principle of villainy. Evil is just extreme selfishness. But hatred can go a long way. The enemy of my enemy is my friend. So who from the ancient world has suffered the most? Might it be the old gods? Or those who worship them? Who offers sacrifice anymore to Osiris? Who fears the shadow of Anubis as they step from this world into the next? Who believes the beetle god Khepri drags the sun across the sky behind him? No one. And those that remember the glory days are pissed off. So who's been lurking around since the time of the pharaohs?

The Comte de St. Germain has, or so he told everyone in the court of Louis XV. Apparently, at the very least, he is party to the secret magics of Osiris, Son of the Earth, King of the Dead. The elixir of Osiris is said to prevent death. And so the comte, which is but one of his many names, has been lurking about for some time. But the old magics are not what they once were. Their power has diminished with their gods. So he whispers in the ears of kings, pulling on what strings he can, seeking allies where he can find them. And old gods may fade, but as long as a single soul still believes, they never die. Even the ancient blood gods and their vampire acolytes. Born in ancient forests of the north where men offered midnight blood sacrifice. Of their king, their Ancient Master, raised from the dead a hundred centuries past, nothing remains but pure fury. Hatred for the burning sun, hatred for his mortal prey, hatred for the new world of foul brick and lifeless steel. But in hatred, perhaps, there is common cause.

The Artifact

Clearly, the physical goal of our baddies had to be something really big. Something useful to them in their plots. The fall of antiquity was not about barbarians at the gates of Rome. No. The rising tide of monotheism was what really swept away the old order. So it is against God that our villains lash out.

And I found the perfect legend in the most unlikely of places. I was passing the time during Yom Kippur services by reading the story of Abraham offering Isaac for sacrifice (Genesis 22).

This has always been a passage of particular interest to me, dealing as it does with the nature of the relationship between man and God and the meaning of ritual sacrifice. But it was in the commentary that I noticed something peculiar, a cryptic remark that "the Ram in the Thicket is but one of ten special things created by God on the eve of creation." How's that for a magic seeker's wet dream. Back at home I dug into this and discovered that on the eve of the first Sabbath, before the creation of world, God created ten special things (which besides the Ram include the rainbow of Noah, the staff of Moses, and other goodies). These items are eternal, having existed before the universe, they have no temporal beginning or end. God, it seemed, placed the Ram into the trust of the Archangel Gabriel, who kept it in the Garden of Eden until Abraham needed it at Mount Moriah. Afterward, nothing of the Ram was wasted. Gabriel took the horns and brought one to Moses so that he could sound the arrival of the Ten Commandments at Mount Sinai. The other was kept by the archangel, hidden in the Garden, so that at the appointed time it might be brought to Elijah to sound the End of Days. This notion of a horn blast sounding the end of the world is a highly persistent meme. It's found not just in the Jewish traditions regarding the Messiah, but in the Revelations of John where seven angels (including presumably, Gabriel) sound the end of time and the Last Judgment. And also in diverse mythologies such as the Norse, where the Gjallarhorn shall announce the onset of Ragnarök. In the world of The Darkening Dream, all beliefs are simultaneously true, as brought forth and conceived by their believers. This means that anything as consistent as the horn legend is doubly true. Archetypal truth made manifest. And what of Gabriel's Horn? Eternity is a long time and the archangel flits hither and yon. Might not a busy seraph misplace such a thing... if only for a short time?

The Myriad Layers of the Esoteric World

How to properly envision a world in which vampires, the Archangel Gabriel, witchcraft, and Egyptian gods all exist? Many might just toss them together arbitrarily, but I wanted to find a framework consistent with traditional mysticism. Having read hundreds of religious and magical texts I have identified numerous
consistencies in the thought patterns of the esoteric mind.

By way of example, let's place ourselves in the mind of my protagonist Sarah's father Joseph. As a Rabbi, scholar, and mystic Joseph draws his world view from the Zohar and other great texts of the Kabbalah. In this conceptualization, which can be summed up as "hidden and not revealed," the world is a many layered thing, like an onion, with the portion we perceive merely the lowest of ten modalities, all simultaneously overlaid. The pure conceptualization of God pervades everything, and is the highest. Yet the human mind can not fully comprehend this level of divine and celestial purity. In between are various layers that express important truths like "Beauty" and "Wisdom."

In Joseph's orthodox world, God is all powerful, so powerful that even the Archangel Gabriel is but a manifestation of His Strength. The angel is not an independent entity, but a protrusion of God's will into these middle layers of reality. Joseph might actually see the angel, but in his mind, this is just his perception of an aspect of God leaking into the mortal layers. The human mind cannot comprehend the divine, so God softens the blow with the angelic form. As hard as this might be to get your head around, it seemed reasonable to extend this kind of framework to many forms of magic in the book. The villainous Puritan warlock, Pastor John Parris, works a school of traditional witchcraft, yet it too is based on layered perception of reality. For him, the magical realm is twisted into a less spacial form, with objects and people adjacent not just by physical proximity, but by the likeness of their form and nature. So, a person's hair, separated as it might be from their body, provides magical access to the owner. Likewise, his religious conceptualization allows for the layering of hell dimensions, separated by flame. With the help of his succubus lover he is able to step through these fiery gateways and bend the rules of time and space. While occasionally, as is the case with the Horn, the mythological drives the story, most often the structural needs of my plot demanded esoteric action. I therefore required interoperability between diverse magic systems in order to make the action work. For example, when Joseph wishes to protect his home from the intrusions of the evil Parris and the ancient vampire al-Nasir, he prays to invoke the archangels and align the physical rectangle of his house with the metaphysical form of King Solomon's Temple. For him this is an act of faith drawing on protective aspects of God's divinity. But Parris too is able to perceive this change in the nature of reality, albeit in his own terms. His plans to gain entry requires the construction of an elaborate ritual analog. Like a voodoo doll for a building. Just as the limbs of the doll can be broken, the metaphysical walls of the temple may be breached.

Succubus from the source

For each of my supernatural beings I strove to draw upon classical source materials rather than rely on 20th century pop culture. My warlock, Pastor Parris, is a man of repressed passion based on serial killer profiles. His only emotional connection to the outside world has been through a series of dominating female figures. First his puritanical grandmother, then following her grisly demise, his succubus lover Betty. Like all magic in the world of The Darkening Dream, Betty is a conceptual product of her beholder. So I turned to The Malleus Maleficarum, the rantings of two 15th century clergymen, Heinrich Kramer and James Sprenger. This book, which translates as the The Witch Hammer, was used by the Inquisition as a handbook for identifying and persecuting witches and demons. Along with a five page essay on the mechanism by which Succubi and Incubi transfer semen, the Maleficarum has this to say about Succubi:

Devils have no lungs or tongue, though they can show the latter, as well as teeth and lips, artificially made according to the condition of their body; therefore they cannot truly and properly speak. But since they have understanding, and when they wish to express their meaning, then, by some disturbance of the air included in their assumed body, not of air breathed in and out as in the case of men, they produce, not voices, but sounds which have some likeness to voices, and send them articulately through the outside air to the ears of the hearer.

From this passage, we know that one of the means of identifying Succubi is that they do not move their lips when speaking, but manipulate the elements of fluid air near their mouths directly. Hence, in my novel, Betty does not open her mouth to speak, but the air in front of her shimmers as she does. In keeping with my fast paced action oriented novel, I never make an issue of this, but like thousands of other details in the book it is informed by the source. Clearly brothers Kramer and Sprenger knew what they were talking about, as they inspired thousands to burn at the stake.

The Power of the Word

With each different school of magic I tried to extract the historic flavor and mindset of past occultists. The mysterious Khepri, another of my villains, practices an ancient Egyptian magic entirely different from Parris' devilish thaumaturgy. The spirit of Egyptian magic often derives from the use of secret names and the spoken word — nay command. The sorcerer/priest orders, by way of his secret magic, the very gods and demons to do his bidding. So it is that when Khepri invokes the miniature sun which is his weapon, he cries these words from The Egyptian Book of the Dead:

Re sits in his Abode of Millions of Years. The doors of the sky are opened for me, the doors of the earth are opened for me, the door-bolts of Geb are opened for me, the shutters of the sky-windows are thrown open for me. I know you, I know your names; Release him, loose him!

By sheer force of his sorcerous will he demands the sun yield to him. And so it does.

Truth is Stranger than Fiction

By writing a modern fantasy adventure, but by grounding the magic and supernatural in tradition, I wanted to prove that the old adage really is true: Truth is stranger than fiction. The twisted imaginations of our ancestors, devoid of the distractions of the current age, were often far more creative than the half-assed creations of Hollywood and the like.

Book Review: Enemy Through The Gates by D.T. Dyllin

2012-02-23T04:47:00.001-08:00

Enemy Through The Gates

Author: D.T. Dyllin
Hardcover: 424 pages
Publisher: iUniverse (January 27, 2012)
Book Link

Note: I received this book free from the author, D.T. Dyllin. The review posted below is based on my personal thoughts while reading the book.

Ratings:

★ ★ ★ ★

My thoughts:

This is the first book to the P.J. Stone series, a very good story about dragons... aliens, and mixed with a very intense romance! I liked the main characters, P.J. and Bryn. They've been best of friends since five, they care about each other but the platonic love they shared over the years has grown into romantic love. I enjoy reading stories about best-friends turned lovers. I can totally relate to the situation, and so I had a good time reading the book. However, P.J. cannot date or be in love with Bryn. According to their laws, a seer (P.J.) cannot be mated to a guardian (Bryn). What would you do if you find out you are in love with your best friend but cannot be with him?

I am not a fan of science fiction genre, I rarely enjoy books with futuristic story lines but I was surprised I enjoyed reading this book. I liked the author's writing style. She wove a story of aliens and dragons believable to the readers.

While I enjoyed most part of the book, I was a little annoyed with the men in the story. I hate it when two (or more) guys fall MADLY in love with the main character. In this book, however, there is a reason why all men are attracted to P.J. That's one of the interesting twists in the story. Enemy Through The Gates is a great book, full of emotions! I am interested to read more about this series!

About the book:

P. J. Stone, like most eighteen-year-old girls, is a little boy crazy and somewhat obsessed with finding the perfect boyfriend. Some days she feels like she might be the last remaining virgin in her entire high school, and maybe even the entire tri-state area.

After a traumatic night at a friend’s party, P. J. realizes what she truly wants has been right under her nose all along. Bryn O’Bannon, her best friend and partner in crime since age five, is head over heels in love with her, and she feels the same about him.

But P. J.’s life isn’t that simple. She’s a member of a separate society that exists secretly among the rest of the world; the society raises gifted individuals to protect the world from interdimensional interlopers, and P. J. was taught to put duty before her heart. She is expected to choose a suitable mate in order to perpetuate the Seer line. Unfortunately, Bryn is a Guardian and is forbidden to date—let alone mate with—a Seer such as herself.

As if figuring out her love life isn’t complicated enough, P. J. begins having visions of a threat to her world only she is able to perceive. Now, she must concoct and execute a plan to avert world disaster while at the same time avoiding the dissolution of her love life.

About the author:

D. T. Dyllin was born and raised in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania. She now lives in Nashville, Tennessee, with her husband and very spoiled GSD. This is her debut novel.

Book Giveaway: The Darlings by Cristina Alger

2012-02-22T05:06:00.000-08:00

A sophisticated page-turner about a wealthy New York family embroiled in a financial scandal with cataclysmic consequences.

Now that he's married to Merrill Darling, daughter of billionaire financier Carter Darling, attorney Paul Ross has grown accustomed to New York society and all of its luxuries: a Park Avenue apartment, weekends in the Hamptons, bespoke suits. When Paul loses his job, Carter offers him the chance to head the legal team at his hedge fund. Thrilled with his good fortune in the midst of the worst financial downturn since the Great Depression, Paul accepts the position.

But Paul's luck is about to shift: a tragic event catapults the Darling family into the media spotlight, a regulatory investigation, and a red-hot scandal with enormous implications for everyone involved. Suddenly, Paul must decide where his loyalties lie-will he save himself while betraying his wife and in-laws or protect the family business at all costs?

Cristina Alger's glittering debut novel interweaves the narratives of the Darling family, two eager SEC attorneys, and a team of journalists all racing to uncover-or cover up-the truth. With echoes of a fictional "Too Big to Fail" and the novels of Dominick Dunne, "The Darlings" offers an irresistible glimpse into the highest echelons of New York society-a world seldom seen by outsiders-and a fast-paced thriller of epic proportions.

GIVEAWAY GIVEAWAY GIVEAWAY

Penguin is giving away a paperback copy of The Darlings. This is open to readers and bloggers from the US and Canada, and must be 18 years old and above.

To join the giveaway, just follow Bookingly Yours, leave a comment with your email or comment and email me at kaori.books@gmail.com with the subject "Cristina Alger giveaway". This give away will end on March 7 and the winner will be announced shortly thereafter.

GOODLUCK!!!

Guest Author: Luke Benoit

2012-02-21T04:58:00.000-08:00

ALL STORMS PASS; The Anti-Meditations
Author, Luke Benoit

I started writing a book 2 ½ years ago without really knowing it.

It turned into a book of meditations called ALL STORMS PASS; The Anti-Meditations.

Meditation is a funny word.

People generally come up with a picture of a man sitting quietly cross legged on a mountain top or under a tree chanting. And there are many definitions of meditation. In this context, I think we are simply talking about a reading meant to quiet and produce thoughtful pause and maybe some increased clarity.

People always ask me right away “Why ‘Anti-Meditations’ or ‘What does ‘Anti-Meditations’ mean? The most real answer is that those words just presented themselves to me in an inspired way that told me to use them that way. But the point also is that the meditations in this book are very different from meditations in “regular” meditation books like the Hazelden Meditation books series or the Language of Letting Go” meditation books by Mellody Beatie.

Those books are generally day by day entry books with constructive hope messages and suggesting tools that someone in struggle or dealing with addiction or codependency can use to handle difficult situations or even just a difficult day.

The meditations in ALL STORMS PASS are not dated or daily numbered. And while they are meant to engender hope, they also deal some pretty dark themes. They often present as puzzles that are designed to make the reader stop and think and ruminate. And the book really works best when it’s read with 2 or more people and the meditations can be used as springboards for discussion. They focus on difficult relationships and codependency but also on striving for personal spiritual growth and realizing solid and strong Self-Esteem.

This is the kind of book that could almost be a coffee table book that you pick up in a moment of confusion or need for clarity, open randomly and maybe receive a message you need about exactly where you are. The print in the pages is very large making the book about 645 pages but filled with lots of white space on purpose. It weighs about 2 ½ pounds and feels very substantial in the readers hand and the cover and it’s picture of storm clouds clearing makes you stop and pay attention.

I started writing the meditations as a teaching tool. I was running therapy groups at a lock-down acute care mental hospital for patients who had tried to commit suicide, were severely depressed or were hearing voices or dealing with other psychoses. The groups were lower functioning and sometimes hard to get going or moving. So I got idea to start bringing ideas into the group to use as that “springboard” or jumping off point to give the groups a shape. Initially – and you can see this in the book – the ideas were more simple. Somewhere along the way, they morphed in process and turned into the more complicated thoughts and meditations that appear in the book. The progression is actually very visible and obvious because the timeline of their writing has been preserved. They appear in the same chronologic order in which they were written.

People’s reactions to these were STRONG right away and I began making copies of these and giving them to everyone I worked with and then people started waiting for them. Then I started emailing them out of people until I was sending them to about 180 a day and they developed their own following.

And somewhere along the way someone told me that I needed to write a book of these and incorporate them into a volume and “Poof” 2 ½ years later, here is ALL STORMS PASS.

I have loved doing this project. While it hasn’t started selling a lot of copies on Amazon yet, I can’t seem to keep enough books in my hands. Since January 10, 2012 when the book went up on Amazon (I self-published this book through Amazon’s CreateSpace) I have been through four cases of books. I can’t keep enough on hand for the requests I am receiving to buy them. When I go lecturing as a Life Coach, the books have consistently sold out and I have had to take mail orders home to fill.

The reviews for this book have been AMAZING. Right now, on Amazon, the book has 10 – 5 Star rating reviews (highest) and 1 – 4 Star rating. And the ratings on GoodReads are also excellent and those are all 5 Stars.

But maybe the neatest thing of all about ALL STORMS PASS has been the deepening connection that the project has brought about for me and my parents as it has progressed. My parents really love the book and I have kept in very close daily touch with them telling them about every exciting step that has happened along the way. They are so happy that I wrote this book and it just keeps bringing us closer.

It’s very much like we’re doing this together.

Amazon Reviews Link
GoodReads.com Reviews

Find me on FaceBook

Luke Benoit LifeCoach
All Storms Pass: The Anti-Meditations by Luke Benoit: Self-Esteem Help Book

It's Monday! What are you reading?

2012-02-20T01:05:00.000-08:00

"It's Monday! What are you reading?" is a fun meme hosted by Sheila @ Book Journey. This is where we share the books we have read last week and our reading plans for this week.

Read and Reviewed

Discordia by Morgana Gallaway (5-star)

Nickels by Karen Baney (4-star)

Lost Mojo by Kris Sedersten (5-star)

Books for Posting Review

Currently Reading:

Anna Lee Cooper has a secret mission. That's why she starts a pet washing business at her family's car wash. Pretty soon, Anna Lee is up to her elbows in soap and fur. And trouble. Neighborhood bully, Roland Tuttle, just won't leave her alone. Anna Lee will do anything to hang on to her hard-earned money--even if it means taking on Roland all by herself.

But things aren't always as they seem. When Roland's family gets in a jam, Anna Lee has to decide if helping them is more important than completing her own secret mission.

In My Mailbox

2012-02-19T01:03:00.000-08:00

IMM (In My Mailbox) is a weekly meme hosted and created by Kristi at The Story Siren.

This is a way to share books we received for review, bought, and borrowed from friends or library.

Received for review

Four D consists of four chapters: “Space”, “Four Rooms”,
“The Principle of Luidgi”, and “Guest”.
“Space” is a story about disappearances. The characters lives in a world of disappearing people and objects, which might or might not be important. In such a flexible reality, one should not get used to or attached to anything. However, the main character falls in love and finds a best friend despite all risks. To top it all off, he is visited by Space—the power that stands behind all the disappearances.
“Four Rooms” is a story about a young woman called Elise. Elise had always been a prisoner of her own mind. But at some point everything took a turn. She had to make a stand when she found herself at a life changing situation in a dark room with four doors. She has to open all doors and enter every room with its own mystery and secrets and has to do it immediately. Going through the four rooms is a challenge Elise has to complete to find something she needs so badly – the truth.
“The Principle of Luidgi” is a story about Luidgi. Luidgi has everything: a beautiful girlfriend, a good job, a lovely apartment, trusted friends but instead of being happy and grateful he’s sick and tired of it all. Luidgi decide to change everything despite all costs.
“Guest” is a story about the character who wants to meet the Guest. Finally one day he makes decision to do “it” and Guest arrives. Now all his questions are about to be answered, but is it really what he wants?
These tense mysterious stories with incredibly engaging plots will not leave any reader feeling indifferent.

Hex signs protect every barn and outbuilding. Babies disappear at birth. When a brick wall unearthed at the site of a new restaurant collapses, and raw sewage carries hundreds of baby bones into the pit left behind, it looks like the devil's made Three Bridges his playground.

Pallas is a friendless teen from a backwater village on a forgotten shore. Born a slave like everyone around her, people hate her clothes, her parents… especially her strange name. Pallas doesn’t believe in the gods except to blame them for drowning her mother. But she’s forced to shelve her moody cynicism when she accidentally rescues an obnoxious cat. Suddenly caught in a celestial war, Pallas must do the unthinkable – champion the very goddess she hates. Masquerading as a mythic princess, she convinces everyone she’s a child of Atlantis. Jealousy hounds her at every turn as she battles dangerous fanatics, a boorish prince, and a stunningly beautiful princess. Yet nothing can save her from certain doom, when the Volcano god reaches out to slay her. For how can a mortal fight a god?

P. J. Stone, like most eighteen-year-old girls, is a little boy crazy and somewhat obsessed with finding the perfect boyfriend. Some days she feels like she might be the last remaining virgin in her entire high school, and maybe even the entire tri-state area.

After a traumatic night at a friend’s party, P. J. realizes what she truly wants has been right under her nose all along. Bryn O’Bannon, her best friend and partner in crime since age five, is head over heels in love with her, and she feels the same about him.

But P. J.’s life isn’t that simple. She’s a member of a separate society that exists secretly among the rest of the world; the society raises gifted individuals to protect the world from interdimensional interlopers, and P. J. was taught to put duty before her heart. She is expected to choose a suitable mate in order to perpetuate the Seer line. Unfortunately, Bryn is a Guardian and is forbidden to date—let alone mate with—a Seer such as herself.

As if figuring out her love life isn’t complicated enough, P. J. begins having visions of a threat to her world only she is able to perceive. Now, she must concoct and execute a plan to avert world disaster while at the same time avoiding the dissolution of her love life.

Received as gift

The new blockbuster from one of the world's greatest storytellers delves into the life of Emma Harte—the original Woman of Substance—and the ambitious, passionate, and volatile women of the next generations.
Evan Hughes, Emma's American great-granddaughter, is trying to integrate into the powerful Harte family. She is caught between her estranged parents, her new family, and new love. But a dangerous enemy hovers in the background.
Tessa Longden, Evan's cousin, is battling her husband for custody of their daughter, Adele. When Adele suddenly goes missing, Tessa is forced to seek help from her half-sister Linnet—a woman who has been her rival all their lives.
Linnet, the most brilliant businesswoman of the four great-granddaughters, is desperately trying to show that she is the natural heir to her mother, Paula. But her glittering future at the helm of the vast Harte empire means many sacrifices, perhaps even the loss of her sister’s fragile trust.
India Standish, the traditionalist in the family, falls in love with a famous British artist from a working-class background. Madly in love, India is determined to marry him, no matter what her family thinks.
Evan, Tessa, Linnet, and India: four extraordinary women. Three generations of Hartes. One indomitable family whose loyalty binds them together and whose enemies want to tear them apart.

Guest Author: Lauren Carr

2012-02-18T07:41:00.000-08:00

In a Place Far, Far Away Only in My Mind, Or—

What’s a writer to do when she wants to humiliate someone but they won’t go along willingly?

During my writing career, I have discovered that people are both thrilled and anxious about the prospect of ending up in a book involving murder and mayhem. After meeting me, some have to wonder, “How does she see me in one of her books? A detective? A suspect? Oh, my heavens, certainly not a corpse!”

The Joshua Thornton mysteries are set in Chester, West Virginia; the small town where I had grown up. In A small Case of Murder, Joshua’s parents discover a dead body in the barn on my brother’s farm. Mark has fun telling people that actually no dead body was ever found on his farm. When researching A Reunion to Die For, I took a tour of the county prosecutor’s office. Hancock County’s prosecuting attorney thinks it’s a kick having a fictional counterpart.

However, while writing the Mac Faraday mysteries, I learned that when it strikes too close to home, some people would rather the author take her murder elsewhere.

My sister-in-law had asked me to set a murder mystery in her home town, a sweet summer place in Wisconsin called Pelican Lake. At the time, I was working on a storyline that wasn’t a good fit for Joshua Thornton. So I went to work on a new series set on a lake in a resort town modeled after Pelican Lake.

I had completed the first draft of It’s Murder, My Son in time for a visit from my sister-in-law. Excited about a murder set in her town at her request, she asked for all the details. When I mentioned that the murder victim was killed in her house, I was surprised to see horror on her face. Since her home and property had a unique design and layout, anyone knowing her could easily tell that the murder took place in her home.

For the sake of family harmony, I decided to do a re-write.

As luck would have it, my family started vacationing at Deep Creek Lake in Maryland. Like Pelican Lake, this Maryland town is a resort area. It was child’s play to pick up my murder in Pelican Lake and plop it down in Deep Creek Lake, until I asked the local police department to let me portray them as a bunch of idiots.

In the storyline for It’s Murder, My Son, homicide detective Mac Faraday discovers that his birth mother is the late Robin Spencer, America’s Queen of Mystery and he is her sole heir. Upon learning that he has a half brother, police officer David O’Callaghan, he moves to Deep Creek Lake to meet him.

Mac is drawn into the murder investigation of his neighbor after Gnarly, his inherited German shepherd, drags home a dismembered head. When he sees that the chief detective is an incompetent, Mac joins David in the investigation. It is the perfect opportunity to get to know his brother better. But, as luck would have it, Mac ends up making David the prime suspect.

While rewriting It’s Murder, My Son, I was surprised when the local police department refused to cooperate in my research. Unlike the Hancock County sheriff (a protagonist) in the Joshua Thornton mysteries, the sheriff in Deep Creek Lake (an antagonist) would only give me a tour of the jail if I brought my toothbrush and planned to stay a while. The resistance was understandable. Even though I promised disclaimers in my acknowledgements about my work being completely fiction and not based on anyone real, the police department was concern about their image.

So, out of respect for the real law enforcement, I created a fictional resort town resting on the shores of the real Deep Creek Lake and had a blast doing it.

In my previous series, my imagination was fence in by the boundaries of Chester’s realities. While I was able to move the barn on my brother’s farm, I couldn’t get away with placing a twenty-five story high-rise on Carolina Avenue. Nor could I change the town’s history to fit a storyline.

When a murder mystery is set in a real town, readers expect the writer to be true to the facts. Even with a work of fiction, readers familiar with the area have a hard time forgiving authors when they rewrite their hometown’s history or change the streets. Even if the author had a legitimate reason for making the change, to the reader, it looks like sloppy research. For example, a woman once told me that she had stopped reading a series set in Washington DC when the writer had placed an exit ramp off Rock Creek Parkway that wasn’t there.
When I sat down to create the setting for It’s Murder, My Son, like a bird set free from a cage, my imagination opened its wings and soared. Since this was my town, I had the freedom to do with it as I saw fit.

Thus, Spencer, Maryland, was founded.

Nestled in a corner of Deep Creek Lake, Spencer is named after my protagonist’s ancestors. As the descendent of the town’s founders, the character of Mac Faraday has political influence that he otherwise couldn’t have inherited.

Since my first draft had already been on a lake in Wisconsin, I duplicated that setting in Spencer, but added some of my own touches. Mac Faraday’s cedar and stone home rests at the end of the most expensive piece of real estate on Deep Creek Lake. The peninsula houses a half-dozen lake houses that grow in size and grandeur along the stretch of Spencer Court, which ends at the stone pillars marking the multi-million dollar estate that had been the birthplace and home of one of the world’s most famous authors.

My fictional setting’s affluence is born out of necessity. While this lakeside town is small, it also has its own police department. In order to make that feasible, I had to make Spencer a getaway for the rich and famous.

From the lakeshore, Spencer’s border stretches up and over a mountain, on top of which rests the Spencer Inn, a resort and spa, which is also part of Mac’s inheritance. Ironically, before his windfall, he couldn’t have afforded to eat there.

While it is fun to create a fictional setting, the writer does need to keep hold on the reins. The setting needs to fit with the surrounding area. Readers familiar with Deep Creek Lake would never buy an exclusive resort town like Spencer on their shores if in fact the area was an impoverished swamp. In reality, Deep Creek Lake is a popular vacation spot for people from Washington, Virginia, West Virginia, Pennsylvania, and all the surrounding areas. The million dollar homes in my setting fit right in with the real vacation houses that dot the lake and mountainside.

Writing It’s Murder, My Son, and the second and third book in the series Old Loves Die Hard (released April 2011) and Shades of Murder (coming Spring 2012) has been an amazing ride, and will continue to be. As a writer, it is exhilarating to let your imagination go free without the reins of reality. Who knows, maybe in Max Faraday’s fourth adventure, I’ll have him go into a galaxy far, far away—or was that already done?

Lauren Carr
Writer

Lauren Carr fell in love with mysteries when her mother read Perry Mason to her at bedtime. The first installment in the Joshua Thornton mysteries, A Small Case of Murder was a finalist for the Independent Publisher Book Award. A Reunion to Die For was released in hardback in June 2007. Both of these books are in re-release.

Lauren is also the author of the Mac Faraday Mysteries, which takes place in Deep Creek Lake, Maryland. The first two books in her series, It’s Murder, My Son and Old Loves Die Hard have been getting rave reviews from readers and reviewers. The next book in this series, Shades of Murder, will be released in spring 2012. This will be Lauren’s fifth mystery.

The president of Acorn Book Services, Lauren is also a publisher, consultant, editor, cover and layout designer, and marketing agent for independent authors.

Lauren is a popular speaker who has made appearances at schools, youth groups, and on author panels at conventions. She also passes on what she has learned in her years of writing and publishing by conducting workshops and teaching in community education classes.

She lives with her husband, son, and two dogs on a mountain in Harpers Ferry, WV.

Visit Lauren’s websites and blog at:
E-Mail: writerlaurencarr@comcast.net
Website: http://acornbookservices.com/
http://mysterylady.net/
Blog: http://fromthewritersstudio.blogspot.com/
Amazon Link: It's Murder, My Son

Follow Friday

2012-02-18T05:08:00.000-08:00

It's time for the weekly hop!! If you want to join the fun,

visit Alison Can Read for the link.

Q: I like unique names for characters and am looking forward to coming up with some when I start writing. What's the most unique character name you've come across?

A. I love unique names! Weeks ago I was discussing this with my friend, she's preggy and she's gathering unique names for the baby but there are those too unique that may pass being "weird" names. I guess if one finds it annoying, it's on the weird side.

I recently finished reading this book, Discordia by Morgan Gallaway, about a demon who fell in love with a human. The main character in the story is named Astaroth. He is a demon then that's okay but if it is for human, that's irritatingly unique. The names (she was reincarnated twice) of the human girl were also unique. Her first born name is Mona and from the original name, she became Muna and then finally Mana. That's interesting thought that a human when reincarnated, he/she would name after her original name.

Another one is Faladan Fala, a newscaster or TV host from the book Petchy Maligula by Stan Carter. While I was reading the book, there was a constant Christmas melody in my mind whenever the guy's name is mentioned. Who would name their child something like that? Even if it's only in the story, if it's annoyingly unique there's a chance I won't enjoy reading it. I don't know if it's just me, but really, too unique could make me stop reading a book. How about you?

Guest Author: Paige Dearth

2012-02-17T22:20:00.000-08:00

Since I was young I made up stories in my mind. It was my ultimate escape from my rough upbringing. While most children make up stories that bring them joy, my stories were always dark. These stories, darker than my real-life, helped me to cope.

Believe Like A Child is a graphic novel. It’s written in a sexually explicit manner so that readers feel the horror of child abuse, sexual exploitation and rape. There is nothing pretty or light about these subjects. However, while the subject matter is harsh, the novel is written so that readers can enjoy a fast paced suspenseful thriller with a sturdy narrative.

I like reading dark, dramatic fiction novels, stories that makes your guts twist, keeping you on the edge of your seat and making you come back for more. It’s like watching a horror movie and putting a hand over your eyes with your fingers spread out like the feathers of a peacock because you don’t want to see what will happen next, but you can’t stop yourself from looking.

Believe Like A Child was written as a compelling dramatic thriller. However, there is a point to this work of fiction that is worth mentioning. The narrative describes the real horrors of child abuse and how one act of abuse can, and often does, continue throughout a person’s life. A young victim becomes vulnerable because of their need to validate themselves as a normal person. It is so easy for the abused to go from one horrible situation into another.

After reading my book, my hope is that readers will better understand that exercising simple kindness to those in need can be impactful. Kindness doesn’t have to cost money rather it’s an emotional investment.

Alessa, the protagonist of Believe Like A Child, craves these moments, small acts of kindness. They are integral to the story and how she manages to survive on her own. Like Alessa, we all need and want people to care about us. It takes little effort to reach people in a way that matters. I hope Believe Like A Child leaves my readers with an acute awareness of the power they hold. The next time you are in a store, at work, standing in line at the bank or wherever, and you see someone with that look of sorrow, and we all know that look, just reach out with a pleasant smile or a nice compliment. It’s in those moments that we can help people instead of pretending that we don’t see them. Remember, that person could easily, so easily, be you.

Book Review: Nickels by Karen Baney

2012-02-16T00:54:00.000-08:00

Nickels

Author: Karen Baney
Paperback: 356 pages
Publisher: Karen Baney (November 28, 2011)
Amazon Link

Note: I received this book free from the author, Karen Baney. The review posted below is based on my personal thoughts while reading the book.

Ratings:

★ ★ ★ ★

My thoughts:

Niki Turner has been hurt in the past, lost her parents to an accident and God also took her brother a few years after the accident. This is the main reason why she doesn't want to keep anyone close to her heart. She is afraid of meeting other people simply because she might lose them too.

She wants nothing from other people and then she found herself working with Kyle Jacobs, Marcy's (Niki's best friend) brother. Niki is attracted to Kyle but she fears any romantic relationship with him won't last so she's shutting him out. However, Kyle is determined to win her heart.

At first, I didn't feel any connection with the main character, Niki Turner. I was kind of annoyed with her attitude although I was really trying my best to understand her situation. When Kyle Jacobs appears in the story, I began to like Niki. I began to understand her situation. Kyle is one sweet guy and I liked him instantly. He is also carrying a not-so-good past but I'm glad it didn't take too long for him to realize that digging up the past does no good. I enjoyed reading the story. Though there's one more thing I just couldn't believe in the story. When Niki's brother died, Kyle didn't know about it! It's just unbelievable because Kyle's sister is Niki's best friend! And to think that more than eight years has passed and Marcy never told her brother about it??

All in all, Nickels is a sweet story of trusting and finding love again. I found it a good Christian novel though I think it is "too clean" for my taste. If you want a "hard core" Christian novel, you might one to pick up this book.

About the book:

Niki Turner has finally arrived. Her career as a Software Engineer is soaring—she has just been offered the company’s most sought after account, Helitronics. Life would be perfect, if she could stop her roommate from playing matchmaker.

Then Kyle Jacobs mysteriously re-enters her life. As painful memories resurface, his presence turns her life upside down and threatens to waylay her career. She must find a way to work with him—after all, he’s the helicopter flight consultant for the new flight control system she’s coding.

Can she forget the past and see him as the new man he has become? Or will her resentment keep her from finding what she has always been searching for?

About the author:

Karen Baney, in addition to writing Christian historical fiction and contemporary romance novels, works as a Software Engineer. Spending over twenty years as an avid fan of both genres, Karen loves writing stories set in Arizona.

Her faith plays an important role both in her life and in her writing. Karen and her husband make their home in Gilbert, Arizona, with their two dogs. She also holds a Masters of Business Administration from Arizona State University.

Blog Tour: The Last Way Station Mega Book Tour

2012-02-15T00:05:00.000-08:00

Tracking a Moving Target: Staying Relevant for Today's Young Adult Readers

Jon Reisfeld

At the risk of dating myself more than a little, I’m reminded, at times like this, of that classic song from the ’60’s Broadway musical "Bye, Bye Birdie." The song I’m referring to is, "Kids." Its refrain went something like this: "Why Can’t They be Like We Were, Perfect in Every Way: What’s the Matter with Kids Today?"

The concept behind those lyrics was that the advent of "Rock ’n Roll" had turned the younger generation into something completely alien to their parents. Those poor saps. The moms and dads of that bygone era had no idea how easy they had it. Fast forward half a century and, today, generational reinvention is in full swing. Not only do our kids listen to different music, they do it on entirely different technology platforms — platforms that, themselves, are in a near constant state of change. Today's "kids" are masters of mobile communications, social media and so much more. They not only try on new haircuts, and experiment with new drugs, but they explore completely new norms in sexual orientation! All the while, they’re growing up in a world that’s flatter, faster and scarier than ever before.
So imagine how fast, and agile, a moving target they have had to become: Our kids, the next generation, living on life’s razor-sharp, ever-bleeding, edge. How do you keep Young Adult fiction relevant under such circumstances?

That’s the question we’re bringing to a panel of three Young Adult fiction writers. Each author approaches his writing differently and, not surprisingly, employs a completely different strategy for staying "relevant."

All three authors are featured in "The Last Way Station Mega Book Tour,"a new concept in virtual book touring, in which authors take part in tag-team guest blogs, like this one. The tour, which I founded, is named in honor of my book, The Last Way Station. Click here to take your chance at winning a Kindle Fire in the tour’s official Sweepstakes and then here to learn more about our featured authors and their books.

And now, let’s get on with our discussion. First writer up is Andrew Cotto, author of the novel The Domino Effect.

Andrew Cotto

"Relevancy, to Me, …is Capturing the Universal and Timeless Components of Their Adolescent Experience."

Andrew quickly explains that Domino Effect is a coming-of-age story that’s a bit of a "cross-over" title, in that it appeals to young and not-so-young adults. Its protagonist, the charismatic Danny Rorro, formerly of Queens, is completing his adolescence as a student at Hamden Academy, where he finds himself cut off from his family, his old neighborhood and friends through a series of "painful defeats."

Cotto maintains creative relevance by keeping his eye on the Big Picture. "Relevancy, to me, when writing to a teen audience, is capturing the universal and timeless components of their adolescent experience," he says. "In writing Domino I didn't spend a lot of time worrying about ’today’s teens’ but focused, instead, on any teen, at any time, over the last 30 years or so."

Why does he think his type of "relevance" is so important? "It’s essential," Cotto says, "to capture the magic and the tragic of those unforgettable years, but I don’t think it’s important to be on top of current trends or even in the current time. (My novel is set in the early 1990’s)."

"Life is life. There’s more to be said about experiences that are universal and timeless than for those that only pertain to a particular moment in history. Look at the "YA" books that are most beloved (To Kill a Mockingbird, The Outsiders, Catcher in the Rye, Stand by Me). These are classics, not bound by relevancy to teens during the time they were written, but to teens (and adults) who can relate to their experiences and themes generation after generation."

Excerpt from Domino Effect:

Prologue

A famous writer once said that anybody who survives childhood has enough stories to tell for the rest of their lives. I survived, barely, and high school was the hardest part. Especially the last year. And to tell the story of my last year of high school, I have to start with the first year. Then the second. And the third. These first three parts will be quick and painful. I promise.

First Year

I had a lot of things going for me before high school started. I had friends, kids I’d grown up with, kids that met every morning on the sidewalk in front of my place. Everyday I’d take the lead by doing something nuts, like grabbing a watermelon from the fruit stand so the owner would chase me down the block. Or I’d have a seat at the sidewalk cafe and make like the big guys drinking little cups of coffee with their pinkies in the air. Once in a while, out of nowhere, I’d drop a pack of firecrackers in the gutter and let the morning explode for a minute. Stuff like that. Harmless stuff. But good stuff anyway, and the guys always laughed and followed me to the school yard where they didn’t mind when I picked the worst guy first.

We’d play all morning with just a stick and a ball and a strike zone spray-painted against the wall. The same wall that held our names. Up top, higher than the rest, was my name: Domino. Everybody called me that even though my real name was Danny. Danny Rorro. I’d lived in that Queens neighborhood my whole life. My mother grew up there, too. She’d come from Sicily with her parents when she was eight years old. Same house that we lived in. My father was from an Italian background, too, but from all over New York. His mother died when he was a kid, from Tuberculosis or something, and he spent his childhood being shipped off to different relatives and foster homes. He was into music, mostly drums, and at 18 he joined the service and spent the next four years touring the world with the Air Force band. After he got out, he met my mother at the Roseland Ballroom in Manhattan, and she brought him home to Queens.

Everyone liked my father. He was funny and smart and what people around called a stand-up guy. He always talked to me about doing the right thing. About looking out for other people and helping them whenever I could. He talked a lot about his heroes, like Bobby Kennedy and Martin Luther King. I listened. I always listened because Pop was my hero. And I wanted to be like him, talk like him, act like him, and everything. So that's why they called me Domino, because my father’s name was Dominick, and in Italian ’ino’ kind of means little, so “Little Dom” translated into Dom-ino. Everybody called me Domino, except my mother who called me Daniel, and my father, who called me Pal.

And by the time Pop called me home for dinner, the summer before high school started, I’d been out on my own for most of the day with my friends. After playing ball all morning we’d go to the pizza parlor and get slices with the money in our pockets, and afterwards we go back to the school yard or maybe, if it was real hot, we’d go down to Spaghetti Park and watch the old timers play bocce, or maybe we’d kick around the Italian Ice stand, under the awning, licking ices and talking a million ways around what was going on with our bodies, our muscles growing and our veins pumping with this crazy energy that lead to the kind of things we knew next-to-nothing about, but wanted more than anything in the whole world.

And even after my father called me home, and I had dinner with my parents, I kept thinking about those things me and my friends talked about under the awning of the Icey stand, and that taste of watermelon stayed with me through dinner. And the best part, the best part of the whole summer, was that after dinner I got to walk down to Geenie Martini’s house.
Geenie Martini was the cutest girl in my class. She was short and brown-eyed, had what people around called a great set of lungs. Her father was a plumber and into the races, so he’d be out most nights at the track. Her mother wasn’t around at all, so Geenie’s grandmother came downstairs most nights, and Geenie and I would share a love seat in the front parlor while Nonna watched her programs in the next room. Under the blare of the television and the switching of the scenes, Geenie and I would whisper in the fake light and touch each other best we could until her father came whistling up the stairs. I felt kind of invincible back then, untouchable, like the super heroes in the comic books I collected.

Kelli Sue Landon

"I Stay Relevant …by Speaking in Their Voice"

"I stay relevant to my audience by speaking in their voice, writing in first person. I match the voice to the character's personality. It's important for teens to relate as they read. It's actually pretty easy if you have teens in the family or if you watch them talk on talk shows - pay special attention to their phrasing. For example, I used the word "like" mulitple times in the dialogue from Tami Simmons in Sudden Moves."

Excerpt from Sudden Moves

“Don’t worry about her!” said Tami on the school bus ride home.
I turned to her from the window. “I didn’t even say anything!”
“Yeah but I can tell you are, like, spacing out or something. What is with you wanting to know why she left? Who cares?”
“I do!” I was flabbergasted at her attitude. “Mom will shoot me if she knew I loaned out that book!”
“Oh yeah, I forgot about that. Did she take it with her to Florida?”
“She said she wasn’t going to. She wasn’t done reading it yet and didn’t wanna lose it,” I explained.
“Well, then you can have someone go into the house and get it for you. You know, like a realtor or something.”
We had to talk pretty loud to hear our voices over the excited freshman kids who were anxious to get home. They reminded me of animals who were locked up in the zoo and were now getting to run free in the jungle.

“Who says they are going on a vacation then not come home?” I was mortified. “That makes no sense. I wonder if anyone in Deedee’s class has asked about her.”
“Who?” Tami asked, fishing through her backpack.
I took a deep breath. “Deedee Thompson. Katie’s sister.”
“Oh, that little girl who is always hanging around her house? That’s her sister?” She retrieved a small bag of cheese curls and ripped it open.
“Yeah, supposedly. They must be half sisters or whatever.”
“Sounds like their mother has hot pants or something,” Tami said with a chuckle.
“Tami!”
“What, you think they were, like, in an accident or something?”
Tami’s suggestion crossed my mind just minutes before. She always seemed to take a lucky guess at what was in my head.

Kelsey Miller

18-Year-Old Kelsey Miller Hit on a Different Strategy: Start Writing Young!

Since I am still a teen, I think I have an advantage at being able to stay “relevant” for my audience. It’s easy to know what teens and pre-teens like because I am going through all of it myself. But I will say that social media also is very important in accomplishing this. Through things like Twitter and Facebook, I can keep up with current slang and the latest things that everyone is talking about. Another way I keep my work in line with my audience is to actively visit the young adult shelves in bookstores. It is imperative to create a book that has what the reader is looking for. I can’t tell you how many times I’ve read a book that used slang incorrectly or was cheesy. It was really annoying, and I couldn’t take the book seriously. If you want to succeed in the young adult genre, you have to be fully committed to creating something that young adults will enjoy. You can’t skip corners here; they will know it. The best way to keep up with what this demographic is doing is to read what they’re reading. And besides, why not? There are some really amazing YA books out there.

Excerpt from Retribution.

The Vampire kept the headlights off until she had driven away from the houses. Noticing her calm, Faolan wondered how many times she had snuck out of people’s homes. Probably many, many times. “So where are we going?” Faolan asked after a minute.
The Vampire shrugged. “I don’t know, just around. Don’t you ever do that? It’s the act of driving more than the destination. I find that just driving is what calms me down. It keeps my mind off…things.”
Faolan knew better than to ask what sort of things. “I know what you mean. I do the same. I go for a walk, though. I don’t have a fancy BMW to drive.”
The Vampire smiled faintly. “I don’t know what it is, but whenever I’m driving I feel so peaceful. Maybe it’s because the activity’s one of the only things that requires virtually no thinking. It’s repetitive, stop here, turn there. Sometimes I just drive to look in people’s windows. I know that sounds creepy, but it isn’t meant to be. Most of the time I just want to see what they’re doing, these perfect strangers, what their life’s like. Often I wish I’m in there, too, completely ignorant, living a normal life. The majority of people really don’t know what the real world is. Our world, I mean.”

Faolan could not muster a reply. He had never entertained the idea that maybe the Vampire was as unhappy with her life as he was with his. He had always assumed she acted that way because she wanted to, but now the Vampire sounded as if she had no choice, like she was forced to live such a way. The thought was slightly disturbing.
“Ah, well, I can’t say that I’ve ever done that, but I guess I get what you’re saying. Sometimes I wonder what it would be like to live in a normal family, away from them and all the responsibilities of the Family,” Faolan said.
The Vampire looked at him and not the road. “You would be able to go to college, then.”
Faolan was surprised she understood so quickly what he meant but would never admit aloud. He realized that perhaps the Vampire was able to do so was because she felt the same way. “Y-yes. That’s right.” He hesitated. “Didn’t you say you wanted to go to college?”
Her face clouded. “Yeah. College: the epitome of normality. Something I always wanted and could never have. That was before, when it was actually possible, but not anymore. I would have had one more year of high school left.”
“I just graduated.”
The Vampire was startled. “You did?"
“Yeah. All the wolves go to the local school. There’s subjects even the elder Family members can’t teach us.”
“I didn’t know that. I never would have expected—”
“That we’d actually get an education? Unfortunately only a high school diploma is enough for the Family.”
“Oh.” The Vampire concentrated on the road, trying to act like she didn’t care that she would never get to graduate also.
Feeling inconsiderate, Faolan’s expression softened. “I’ve got news for you. Senior year’s not that great. You’re not missing anything, believe me.”
The Vampire’s mouth pulled up in a self-deprecating smile. “Oh, yeah? Is that so? What about junior year? Or sophomore year? Am I missing anything there?” Faolan gasped. The Vampire continued, “That’s right. You didn’t think about that one, did you? I’ve been a Vampire for two years, not a couple months. You seem to have forgotten that. If there’s anything that ruins your life, it’s the change. My life was effectively over. You forget I was changed when I was fifteen. A newly born Vampire doesn’t have time for things as mundane as school. I had enough problems without worrying about crap like homework.”
Faolan refused to believe her sarcastic façade. The Vampire wanted to go to school, perhaps even more than he did. School was normal, and normal definitely couldn’t describe either of their lives. “Wait!” he cried.
The Vampire swerved into the other lane at his outburst. “What?” She asked warily.
“How are you doing this?”
“What are you talking about?”
“This.” Faolan motioned to the car. “How are you driving? Fifteen-year-olds don’t generally know how to drive. If you changed before learning, when did you learn? You had other things to worry about, after all.”
She shot him a withering look. Shifting uncomfortably in her seat, the Vampire answered, “More fifteen-year-olds know how to drive than you think. I’ve never had what you would call a conventional existence. I learned how to drive. Period.”
“So your license is fake,” Faolan mused.
The Vampire snorted. “I have a fake life.”
She had a point. Faolan supposed the small details were not important; he just tried to keep the conversation going. Otherwise their impromptu trip would be awkward, and Faolan was sick of awkward conversations.
“I’m sorry you couldn’t finish school,” he said after a moment.
“Me too,” the Vampire agreed. She sighed. “I’m sorry you can’t go to college.”
“Me too.”

Thank you, Jenai, for allowing our authors to share their thoughts about writing YA fiction, and their book excerpts, with your readers. - Jon Reisfeld

Book Giveaway Winner: A Discovery of Witches by Deborah Harkness

2012-02-14T21:09:00.001-08:00

Congratulations!!!!

Luvdaylilies

I just sent the confirmation email, please reply with your mailing details.

Thank you to the publisher, Penguin for the book giveaway!

If you didn't win, please check out other book giveaways by next week :)

Book Review: Lost Mojo by Kris Sedersten

2012-02-13T00:47:00.000-08:00

Lost Mojo

Author: Kris Sedersten
Paperback: 290 pages
Publisher: Infinity Publishing (October 7, 2011)
Amazon Link

Note: I received this book free from the author, Kris Sedersten. The review posted below is based on my personal thoughts while reading the book.

Ratings:

★ ★ ★ ★ ★

My thoughts:

As usual, the author managed to scare me once again. This book is cleverly written just like her first book, Mojo. I couldn't stop once I started reading Lost Mojo. The scenes are really pretty scary and now I could hear dead people whispering "It's calling...". No, I was just kidding with the whispering thing but it still scares me whenever I remember those scenes in the book especially the dead kid in the stairs. Yay!!! Days after I read the book, I still sleep with the lights on. This is one great horror book that could give you sleepless nights. I greatly recommend Mojo and Lost Mojo!

Note to those who have read the first book Mojo: Lost Mojo is the second book to the Mojo series although this one is a prequel. I skipped reading the first pages of this book and only learned that this is a prequel when I was almost past the first quarter of the book. My mistake. And so I have learned that it is important to never skip the first pages of the book especially if it's a series.

About the book:

Six small-town teenagers decide to make a ghost hunting documentary for a school project. Their exploration throws them blindly into the realm of the paranormalbe careful what you look for.

About the author:

Kris Sedersten is a Nursing Home Administrator and RN Consultant in her home town of Harvard, NE. where she lives with her husband, Paul. Kris has a passion for the unexplained. In her spare time, she leads a paranormal investigations team and occasionally works as a producer on Nebraskas longest running paranormal radio program, Exploring Unexplained Phenomena with host, Scott Colborn. She also enjoys writing fiction and sharing her faith in unconventional forums. Combining her passions has led to a series of books she is working on titled, The Mojo Series. If youve got mojo; watch for upcoming releases.

In My Mailbox

2012-02-12T01:09:00.000-08:00

IMM (In My Mailbox) is a weekly meme hosted and created by Kristi at The Story Siren.

This is a way to share books we received for review, bought, and borrowed from friends or library.

Received for review

Guest Author: Amy Lignor

2012-02-11T09:34:00.000-08:00

A New Kind of Hero!

Seeing as that the lady who runs this blog is a fan of the ‘paranormal romance’ genre, I began to think about the history of the romantic hero. I used to do that every Monday night when Jack Bauer came on the screen and saved the world in 24 hours, but this time I thought about the true heroic men who have graced the pages of literary marvels. It seems funny when you look back now and realize that Mr. Darcy is still the one most women of all ages see as the most romantic male in the history of literature. Heck, even my own nineteen-year-old daughter saw Pride and Prejudice a while back and now makes sure to watch it when she feels down and out.

Times have changed, of course. When the beautiful Edward began climbing trees and throwing moony-eyed looks in Bella’s direction, the world went nuts; they waited with breathless anticipation to see how it would all end up. And even though the guy had no heartbeat, had the ability to attack you while you slept, and was cold-as-ice, he still remained her supernatural soulmate choice over the much warmer (and hotter…no offense) werewolf.

The supernatural romantic hero always has one very important trait, besides the fact that he’s more beautiful than any human or nonhuman alive. This hero must be tormented in some way. He must have one of those hearts (even if he’s heartless) that can break when the woman he loves causes him pain. So I wondered…what would fans like to see from a supernatural being that wasn’t tormented? What if he was the ultimate guy - the hot guy from everyone’s dream - but was already with his so-called soulmate when our story began? This is why Matt was created.

Matt is a warrior angel. Now, that doesn’t mean he’s one of the ‘fallen,’ it means he was an angel who actually chose the road of the warrior. He trained in the ‘pit,’ he learned how to use every sword, shield and scythe in order to do his job down below, and when he sets off for a life of freedom the girl he loves and was actually ‘made for,’ is right beside him.

I also began to think about taking this hero and having him run smack dab into the real forces of evil - humans. Let’s face it, human emotions - heartbreak, envy, jealousy, obsession - we‘ve got them all, and it would be absolutely fun for me to put a perfectly innocent species into a world where his heart is now more important than his head. Could the ‘good guy’ remain good? Or, would he eventually have to play dirty in order to keep up with the handsome human males who are simply better at wooing and winning because they’ve had more practice?

As Until Next Time began to take shape, I thought a great deal about the paranormal romances that have become the biggest ‘Romeo & Juliet’ tragedies this generation has ever known…and I wanted to be unique. In most ‘triangles’ the reader already knows pretty early on who’s going to be the friend and who the soulmate is that the girl will eventually choose, but what if being a human changed all the rules? As this series is continuing in my own home with Book II now closed, I very much wanted to know if Matt and Emily could keep their faith and love in one another in a world that was ripping them apart?

Perhaps the warrior angel will be a new way to look at our beloved romantic triangle. But will he top Mr. Darcy? Come on, guys. The man was elegant, classy and said: “I love you most ardently.” That line alone will live forever. What I can give you is how Emily sees Matt when it all begins…

His eyes were the color of the thin line that separated the ocean from the sky. His gaze was that brilliant horizon that kept her steady so she wouldn’t lose herself in the wide majesty of the stars, or the treacherous depths of the ocean. Their souls were one, keeping each other on the right course, oblivious to the rest of the world.

Unfortunately, the world came knocking on their door…

Until Next Time, Everybody.
Amy

The Angel Chronicles web site:
http://www.the-angel-chronicles.com

The Angel Chronicles Facebook page:
https://www.facebook.com/#!/pages/The-Angel-Chronicles/168932393209654

Until Next Time GoodReads page:
http://www.goodreads.com/book/show/13319888-until-next-time

Amy Lignor's Facebook:
https://www.facebook.com/alignor

Amy Lignor's Twitter:
https://twitter.com/#!/HelloWritersAmy

Amy Lignor's Website:
http://www.thewritecompanion.com/

Amy Lignor's Blog:
http://hellowriters.wordpress.com/

Amy Lignor's GoodReads:
http://www.goodreads.com/author/show/5222068

Tribute Books website:
http://www.tribute-books.com

Tribute Books Facebook:
http://www.facebook.com/pages/Archbald-PA/Tribute-Books/171628704176

Tribute Books Twitter:
http://www.twitter.com/TributeBooks

Tribute Books Blog Tours Facebook:
https://www.facebook.com/pages/Tribute-Books-Blog-Tours/242431245775186

Until Next Time: The Angel Chronicles, Book 1 Summary
How does a girl choose between the one who steals her heart and the one who owns her soul?

Matt and Emily were created for a specific job. Raised and trained as the ultimate angel/warrior team, they are sent down to save, defend, judge and forgive, depending on the 'life' they've been assigned. What they don't realize is that the power of human emotions, such as love, anger, passion and fear can take over even the best of souls, causing them to make mistakes and follow paths that lead to confusion and heartache.

When the reason for their training is finally revealed, the angel/warrior team find themselves thrust into a world they know nothing about. Matt takes over the life of Daniel, a young man with a great deal of baggage. Emily becomes Liz, a girl living in a remote village who relies on nothing more than her own strength to survive. A violent storm erupts one night, and framed in the window of Liz's establishment is a frightening face. Let in by the soul of a Good Samaritan, the two visitors bring with them a past full of secrets that could literally change an angel's path and a warrior's plans.

From murder to redemption, this angel/warrior team must find a way to keep the faith they have in each other in a world that's ripping them apart.

Amy Lignor's Bio:
Amy Lignor began her career at Grey House Publishing in northwest Connecticut where she was the Editor-in-Chief of numerous educational and business directories.

Now she is a published author of several works of fiction. The Billy the Kid historical The Heart of a Legend; the thriller, Mind Made; and the adventure novel, Tallent & Lowery 13.

She is also the owner of The Write Companion, a company that offers help and support to writers through a full range of editorial services from proofreading and copyediting to ghostwriting and research. As the daughter of a research librarian, she is also an active book reviewer.

Currently, she lives with her daughter, mother and a rambunctious German Shepherd named Reuben, in the beautiful state of New Mexico.

Book Giveaways Winners: The Last Way Station by Jon Reisfield and Mad Gods by Athanasios

2012-02-10T21:22:00.000-08:00

Congratulations to:

HannahH (The Last Way Station E-book)

Marjorie/cenya2 (The Last Way Station and Mad Gods Paperback copies)

I just sent the confirmation email guys.

Thank you to Jon Reisfield and Athanasios for the book giveaways!!

Book Review: Discordia by Morgana Gallaway

2012-02-06T03:59:00.000-08:00

Discordia

Author: Morgana Gallaway
Hardcover: 470 pages
Publisher: St. Bride's Press (December 1, 2011)
Amazon Link

Note: I received this book free from the author, Morgana Gallaway. The review posted below is based on my personal thoughts while reading the book.

Ratings:

★ ★ ★ ★ ★

My thoughts:

Discordia tells the story of a demon Astaroth who fell in love with a human girl, Mona. Astaroth broke one cardinal rule of Hell, to never let any human see their true form and Mona saw him in his true form. Because of this, one of the Hell's lawyers, Belial demanded that Astaroth should get Mona to Hell in two more of her lifetimes or else Astaroth will be thrown in true hell and Mona's soul will be transferred to Belial.

According to the agreement, Mona will die at the age of eighteen every lifetime and it seems every time Astaroth would try to damn Mona, she always finds a way to be good. He needs Mona to be damned because he can't lose her to Belial, a true demon of Hell. Time is running out. It's Mona's one last life, Astaroth needs to damn Mona or he will forever lose her.

Discordia is a great Hell story which I really did enjoy reading. This book reminds me of the Succubus series by Richelle Mead but this one talks about what is in Hell. The author also provided illustrations on each Hell's circle. I liked how the author wove the story. I enjoyed reading all Mona's lifetimes and her visit in Hell. One thing I found amusing in the story is that every human needs to get the Special Transit Visa in order to enter Hell (as guest). It's one unique journey to hell. This book is highly recommended for readers looking for a unique experience.

About the book:

"I have a confession to make.
My name is Astaroth, and I am a demon.
Yes, that kind of demon: dweller of the Hell realms, servant of Lucifer, all of it. My job is to torment humanity, and that's the part that comes easy."
A demon forges an unlikely relationship with the human soul he's supposed to tempt into damnation in this bold re-imagining of Dante's Divine Comedy.

Several thousand years ago, a routine temptation goes awry when Mona - a young Hopi woman - saves the life of a snake who happens to be the adored pet of Old Testament demon Astaroth. The encounter sparks a crisis for Astaroth when he breaks a cardinal rule of Hell.

Across Mona's multiple incarnations on the Purgatory (Earth), Astaroth must prove to his fellow demons that he still has what it takes to be part of Hell's inner circle ... but his solution will change the afterlife forever.

About the author:

Morgana Bridget Gallaway was born on a full moon in March, 1983. She grew up in Portland, Oregon, and learned to love books, bake cookies, and shoot guns. Woefully unpopular in high school, she overcame her dislike of social events to study at (and graduate from) the University of St Andrews in Scotland, where attendance at charity balls was just as important as lectures and exams.

Armed with a double degree in geography and international relations, she set forth to find a traditional job, only to discover that no one was interested in her knowledge of world capitals or her skills in navigating cocktail parties. It was then that she decided, on a suggestion from her mother, that she would write novels.

Inspired by her previous travels through the Middle East and Africa (and motivated by the idea of living on a few dollars a day) she moved to India and wrote her first novel, The Nightingale. Braving monsoons, over-friendly shopkeepers, intestinal disease, snow leopards, and immigration police, she persevered and emerged twenty pounds lighter, with a manuscript in hand.

Ever since, she has found good fortune at being published and living in England, Texas, and Arizona. She is already hard at work on her next project.

It's Monday! What are you reading?

2012-02-06T01:39:00.000-08:00

"It's Monday! What are you reading?" is a fun meme hosted by Sheila @ Book Journey. This is where we share the books we have read last week and our reading plans for this week.

Last Week Read and Reviewed

A Discovery of Witches by Deborah Harkness (5-star)

Catch and Release by James Twerell (3-star)

The Last Way Station by Jon Reisfield (5-star)

Tears of Min Brock by JE Lowder (2-star)

Time Donor's Wanted by Russell Scott (4-star)

Books for Posting Review

Currently Reading:

Six small-town teenagers decide to make a ghost hunting documentary for a school project. Their exploration throws them blindly into the realm of the paranormalbe careful what you look for.

In My Mailbox

2012-02-05T01:28:00.000-08:00

IMM (In My Mailbox) is a weekly meme hosted and created by Kristi at The Story Siren.

This is a way to share books we received for review, bought, and borrowed from friends or library.

Received for review

International cable TV journalist Charlotte Ansari and her Asperger’s son are caught literally in the crossfire of history when terrorists, the CIA, Mossad (Israeli intelligence) and the Vatican all converge in a pulse-pounding search for two relics that could eviscerate Christianity and forever change the balance of power in the world.

Three decades ago, Charlotte’s mother suddenly vanished with no trace. The mystery was never solved. Then suddenly, on the same day that Charlotte’s home is attacked by terrorists, her son receives an email from the grandmother that he has never known. The coded message catapults Charlotte and her son on a dangerous mission to India and Kashmir to find the only objects that can save the old woman’s life. Unfortunately, Charlotte and her autistic son don’t know what they are looking for.

The Shekinah Legacy is a thriller in the tradition of Dan Brown, Steve Berry and James Rollins. In this provocative novel, author Gary Lindberg uses the form of the thriller to explore the limits and perils of belief

Guest Author: Rabbi Yitz Wyne

2012-01-31T03:43:00.000-08:00

Life is Great…Let me Prove it to You!
By: Rabbi Yitz Wyne

Happiness is that feeling you get when you appreciate that life is good. It is not a selfish or trivial pursuit—it is a very important issue.Living joyfully is very attainable. All people need is the right combination of wisdom and skills in order to do this.

My first book, Life Is Great! Revealing the 7 Secrets of a More Joyful You!, was written for the happy and the soon-to-be happier with the firm belief that everyone benefits from living a more joyful life.

Specifically, I focus on:
• Learning to choose to live with more joy
• Appreciating each moment as it occurs and savoring every blessing that comes to you
• Beginningto feel more optimistic and living with a true and lasting positive attitude
• Discovering greater meaning and purpose in your life and enhancing your passion for living

The goals of the book are simple:
• Developing a more positive self-esteem and build genuine self-confidence,
• Improving your relationships and strengthening your powers of reasoning,
• Having the determination and enthusiasm to pursue and accomplish meaningful goals.

This book will teach each person how to become happier and will empower him or her to make the lives of others better as well. It will help people unlock the chains that are holding them back from happier, productive lives.

I believe this book will resonate with people for different reasons at different times. Therefore, it is important to read the book in its entirety and live with the information for a while. When you go back to the book again, simply open to a page and start reading from there. The content will mean something different this time through.

While the book is not focused on religion, one of the most important roles I have as a congregational Rabbi is to be available and present for the members of my congregation – I took a lot of inspiration from these people and poured it into the book. Every day I encounter people who need encouragement and a little wisdom from the ages to help reset their life’s course a bit.

Sometimes that means listening as they share with me something meaningful to them, sometimes it means offering advice on things such as family matters, and other times it is simply smiling and saying hello when they come to services on Shabbat. Helping people see the meaning in their life’s challenges and motivating them to take advantage of potential opportunities is a daily activity for me.

The book is dedicated to one of my ultimate passions – my wife and our six children, of whom I am eternally proud.

For more information, to read excerpts from the book, or to purchase the book, please click here.

Rabbi Yitz Wyne is a first-time author as well as host of Las Vegas’ most listened to weekend radio show, “The Rabbi Show™” broadcasted and streamed live Sunday mornings from 9 a.m. to 11 a.m. on 720 AM KDWN. He is an ordained Orthodox Rabbi as well as founder and spiritual leader of Young Israel Aish synagogue in Las Vegas and Las Vegas’Joyful Living Club.

Book Giveaway: A Discovery of Witches by Deborah Harkness

2012-01-30T03:07:00.000-08:00

About the book:

In a sparkling debut, A Discovery of Witches became the "it" book of early 2011, bringing Deborah Harkness into the spotlight and galvanizing fans around the world. In this tale of passion and obsession, Diana Bishop, a young scholar and the descendant of witches, discovers a long-lost and enchanted alchemical manuscript deep in Oxford's Bodleian Library. Its reappearance summons a fantastical underworld, which she navigates with her leading man, vampire geneticist Matthew Clairmont. Harkness has created a universe to rival those of Anne Rice, Diana Gabaldon, and Elizabeth Kostova, and she adds a scholar's depth to this riveting story of magic and suspense.

PARANORMAL ROMANCE GIVEAWAY!!!!

Penguin is giving away a paperback copy of A Discovery of Witches. This giveaway is open to readers and bloggers from the US and Canada, and must be 18 years old and above.

To join the giveaway, just follow Bookingly Yours (book review 5-star), leave a comment with your email or comment and email me at kaori.books@gmail.com with the subject "Deborah Harkness giveaway". This give away will end on February 13 and the winner will be announced shortly thereafter.

Goodluck!!

Guest Author: Richard Shiver

2012-01-28T00:54:00.000-08:00

Characters & Conflict.

Think back to the last book you read. Can you remember the names of the main characters? If so take a moment to think about what their biggest conflict was during the course of the story. If you’re able to do so the writer knew what they needed to do to create a believable character.

As living, breathing, human beings we all face some level of conflict on a daily basis. Be it with our social or physical world, in personal relationships, or with our own nature. Our conflicts can involve a boss or coworker we’d rather not have to face, a lover, or even our emotions and desires.

Without the character there can be no conflict, and without conflict there is no story. All you’re left with is a dry inventory of the elements of the set upon which the character is destined to live. There is nothing present for the reader to become emotionally invested in.

That is the job of the writer. To get the reader emotionally invested in the story.

The description of a man walking down the street gives a reader nothing to attach any significance to. No matter how brilliant the prose, nor how witty the metaphors; it’s still just a guy walking down the street. An event forgotten by the reader as soon as the passage passes from the page. But if while the man is walking he is fighting with himself over his feelings for a certain other character in the tale, conflict has been introduced. Will this other character feel the same way as he? What will happen if they don’t? And the potential for more conflict grows. From this conflict the true depth of the character emerges .

In Shadows of the Past I delve into the internal conflicts of two men on opposite sides of the battle between good and evil. Jack Griffith can not escape the memories of the day, as a young man in Southeast Asia, that he walked hand in hand with an ancient evil residing in the depths of his soul. Nor can Sam Hardin put to rest the promises of what could have been had it not been for a weakness that brought about the untimely death of his wife. Struggling with these internal conflicts they are thrust into the ongoing battle between good and evil.

Book Review: A Discovery of Witches by Deborah Harkness

2012-01-26T21:53:00.000-08:00

A Discovery of Witches

Author: Deborah Harkness
Paperback: 592 pages
Publisher: Penguin (Non-Classics) (December 27, 2011)
Amazon Link

Note: I received this book free from the publiser, Penguin (Non-Classics). The review posted below is based on my personal thoughts while reading the book.

Ratings:

★ ★ ★ ★ ★

My thoughts:

The book tells the story of Diana Bishop, a daughter of two powerful witches. Her parents were murdered by humans and because of this, she is reluctant to use her witch power. When she accidentally discovers an old magical manuscript, every creature in the city came stalking her. They all want to have this magical manuscript and they would kill Diana if they have to.

When Matthew Clairmont hears that the long-lost magical manuscript is found by a witch, he starts stalking her too. He befriends Diana with the intention of stealing the manuscript from her. After a few days with Diana, he develops an unwanted attraction, he accidentally falls in love with her and that is forbidden. A vampire cannot mate with a witch, or else they will be destroyed!

I loved this book! A very long book, 592 pages but I finished reading this in just three days! The author wove a great story of witches, vampires, demons, and other supernatural creatures. The story is captivating and full of emotions. I laughed and cried with Matthew and Diana, oh their forbidden love affair. I loved Matthew's mother Ysabeau and her companion Marthe. Oh I love almost all the characters and the story setting...

This is the first volume for the All Souls Trilogy and I can't wait to read the second book, Shadow of the Night which will be released on July 10, 2012. This is highly-recommended for lovers of paranormal-romance.

Deborah Harkness is a professor of history at the University of Southern California. She has received Fullbright, Guggenheim, and National Humanities Center fellowships, and her most recent scholarly work is The Jewel House: Elizabethan London and the Scientific Revolution. She also writes an award-winning wine blog.

Guest Author: Fernando E. Sobenes Buitron

2012-01-24T02:34:00.000-08:00

I wrote “The Evil Visitor” in 2009 with the idea of creating a book that would be different from those that we who are accustomed to reading. I wanted to create a story that take the reader into a kind of roller coaster, ascending and descending between terror; suspense, drama and mystery. I tried my book had the necessary action and realism (despite being supernatural terror) to wrap the reader in its content.

There are some parts in my book where I try to tell in a very detailed way the dangers and fears that its characters live. This led me to visit places like: forests, churches and cemeteries and I even had to lay down on a tomb to try listening to the sounds that you can perceive in these places and to try to transmit them to the readers. My military and police experience helped me to be able to complement my novel which I hope to reach many readers.

Here is the synopsis:

Northern Kuwait 1991 during the Persian Gulf War. Peter Donovan, lieutenant in the US Army, commanding a group of soldiers; walks into an ambush in the Iraqi desert and as a result a massacre occurs. There he finds an amulet that he puts in his pocket without knowing that it contains a hidden power; and because of it, has his first terrifying encounter in a grave underneath the sands of the desert with an evil being that takes him to death's door.

Several years pass after these events and Peter, after leaving the Army, moves to a place in the United States where he settles down, gets married and begins a family. It's beautiful place where people live happily far from the stress of the big city. Others that live there also enjoy the pleasant climate, tranquility and beauty of the place with its lake and wonderful forest.

Peter serves as the town sheriff and gets together on the weekends with some other families. Their lives continue with peace and happiness until the day when they play with the Ouija Board, using the amulet that Peter brought from the Iraqi desert. They unintentionally open the door for evil to enter their lives; destroying them, sowing fear and death. Paranormal phenomena, blood-curdling demon possessions and tragic deaths create a climate of suspense and terror in this work.

This novel deals with the matter of the fight between good and evil. One of the protagonists, Father Josh Carter, fights again his principles and everything he learned in seminary when he realizes that the Church contradicts itself and doesn't comply with its own precepts. He begins to doubt his faith and his religious superiors and proves to his dismay that he has been deceived, which tears him apart emotionally.

The work also deals with the theme of exorcism and the vision that the Church has towards it, and the manipulation that occurs in these situations. Problems of a mental nature are conveniently used as methods of propaganda and to control the faithful. This novel immediately grabs the read and is geared towards adult readers, people who enjoy emotions that are strong and that make them identify with the characters their lives, fears, loves, and sufferings. It is a lively, emotional novel, full of suspense.

You can read the prologue and the first three chapters of my novel on mi blog:
http://elvisitantemaligno.blogspot.com/p/evil-visitor.html

I want to thank to Jenai for giving me the opportunity to publicize my work.
Best regards…