Showing posts with label womensfiction. Show all posts
Showing posts with label womensfiction. Show all posts

Wednesday, March 9, 2022

Book Spotlight: Life Rolls Along by Linda Nielsen

Life Rolls Along 

by Linda Nielsen

Genre: Contemporary Romance/ Humor/Suspense


About the Book


Memorable characters move swiftly through a well-crafted plot. Punctuated with sharp humor, twenty-first-century romances blossom in spite of well-heeled parental attempts to manipulate others to do their bidding.


Terri Sue Ellen, nonsensical and faux refined, and Charles Covington, wealthy executive, have a prickly daughter, Delaney Mae Anne, who wants a husband . . . so they buy one using their wealth and prestige to seal the deal.


But after a four-week honeymoon, Skye Topple grasps the fact that he’s made a blunder in marrying the boss’s daughter.  


Life’s hilarious complications follow him as he embarks on a journey to sort through the shambles of his life’s choices when he returns to his humble beginnings in Big Sur where he tries to reunite with his family.

Blending truth with hyperbole, wicked humor ensues as scheming business partners and arrogant in-laws attempt to destroy Skye’s bold plans for his future.


When the bizarre son of a new business partner covets his wife, Skye realizes he’s ready to move on but not before he gets what he’s been promised.


He joins forces with RB, the unwanted step-brother of his wacky mother-in-law, and the men take part in an eccentric ruse, hoping the final cards fall in their favor.  How dangerous are they, and how far will they go?


Find out in the dramatic story that takes a humorous approach on classiness, opulence, family, and romance. 


About the Author


Former business woman and entrepreneur, Linda Nielsen, is involved in community work, actively supporting animal rights, no kill facilities, and finding home for senior pets.  

Her mother was a writer, her maternal grandmother wrote poetry and her paternal grandmother was an artist.  She jokes that artistic ability runs in her veins, but she has yet to discover her hidden ability to pain anything other than the bathroom walls.  

She and her husband have traveled through Eastern Europe, Asia, South America, Russia. Australia and the Baltic with backpacks, catching any flights that were available. But now that the world has changed, she admits to discovering more at home activities.

Linda enjoys wine tasting and credits the lesser known areas such as Calaveras County and the Lodi area in San Joaquin County as having some of the finest wines in California.  

She escapes from her computer by spending sunny mornings in her garden and has fun cooking but admits that not everything in the kitchen is a success. 

She thanks her fans and their ongoing support for keeping her focused when she’s writing and offering their feedback on both the story lines and her characters. 


Excerpt

Delaney looked puzzled. “Mother, what will you do when you get a pool? I thought you didn’t like to swim.”

“It’s an exhaustin’ exercise, and a person can get very wet, but it is a part of mah new physical fitness program, honey.  As one ages, one must step up to the challenges.  Ah even sought out our favorite hairstylist for advice.  The secret is that due to mah larger derriere, well, Mr. Freddie pointed out that ah needed me a hairstyle that would call attention to mah head and not mah bottom.” She sighed wearily, “Even though he is a toad, he does know hair.”

“I had no idea that could be done.”  Basking in her own emotional incompetence, Delaney, smiled her support. 

Why, maintainin’ mahself a good hair-do whilst swimmin’ about is essential. Ah read an article online that pointed out splashin’ around in an expensive pool was best as it produced more cool bubbles, and they could swim faster toward me so mah hot flashes would disappear quicker. To complete the picture, a pool boy is a mandatory accessory.  So, ah gotta get me one. Pronto!”  

“I understand now.” Delaney placed her head in her hands. “Anyhoo, what qualities are you looking for in the new hire?” 

“Nice physique, good bone structure, tall fellah, pleasant manner, a bright smile . . . a young man who fills out his swimmin’ shorts.”

“Oh, my! That sound very physical.”

“Indeed it is!” She looked at her daughter in shock. “Delaney Mae Anne, ya got to learn to think before ya speak.  Just how could an unphysical person instruct me on physical activities?  A man with a good package is a healthy man and will have the stamina to keep up with me as ah bustle along in mah swimmin’ accomplishments.”


On Amazon: http://www.amazon.com/-/e/B07CTZCK6W

 


Monday, September 13, 2021

Book Spotlight: The Seekers’ Garden by Isa Pearl Ritchie

 

The Seekers’ Garden By Isa Pearl Ritchie Genre: Women’s Fiction Book Description If you stand still for long enough, the past catches up with you…

Leaving behind the fragments of her old life, Marcia Reed-Wilton crosses the world to return to her dilapidated childhood home and dig up the weeds of the past.

Next door, Mrs Everglade struggles to maintain her independence in spite of her increasing frailty. Sixteen-year-old Lea escapes into her poetry to cope with depression until meeting Alex, a much more potent distraction.

Meanwhile, Iris leaves her career on a whim to embark on an adventure of an entirely different kind, moving to a sleepy seaside town to write a book.

On the other side of the world in opposite seasons, Zane, vocalist for a popular band is haunted by cryptic dreams that lead him home.

A few twists of fate and a buried secret leave these individuals deeply and unexpectedly connected.

The Seekers' Garden is a lush and captivating exploration of loss, growth and spirituality, revealing the way connections form in unlikely places. About the Author

Isa Pearl Ritchie is a New Zealand writer with a PhD in social science. She writes novels for adults and for young people. Her novel Fishing for Māui was named one of the best books of 2018 in The Listener Magazine and was a finalist in the NZ Booklovers awards2019. She has also written articles for The Spinoff, Pantograph Punch and Organic NZ. Isa lives in Wellington. Website: http://www.isaritchie.com Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/isapearlritchie Twitter: https://twitter.com/isapearlritchie Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/isapearlritchie Amazon: https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B09B1DV5SG Goodreads: https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/58724256-the-seekers-garden EXCERPT: If you stand still for long enough, the past catches up with you. The phrase came back to Marcia Reed-Wilton as inevitable as the sun rising. She took one final look around her home. Her eyes came to rest on the wall clock, its antiqued second hand obscuring the view of the first as it struck VII. She listened to its grandfather in the hall chime seven times as she assessed the things that were left in the room, relics from the past twenty years of her life: her mahogany furniture and beautiful hand-sculpted pottery in bright turquoise, olive, tamarillo, butternut, all of these familiar, comforting things.

William’s possessions were still scattered deceptively here and there: car magazines on the coffee table, overcoat hung next to the door. She was afraid to touch them. Anyone looking at the scene would assume it was a home in which a man and a woman lived. How wrong they’d be; he hadn’t lived here for months, and she hadn’t felt alive since his death.

She said goodbye to the Impressionist paintings she loved and that he had gently mocked although he had surreptitiously relegated his grandmother's flowery watercolours to the guest room and hung her bolder tastes on the proudest walls in the main living spaces. She focused her attention down at the suitcase at her feet, packed with bare essentials, tools and trinkets small enough to carry halfway around the world. Something stirred in the back of her mind.

Marcia had dyed her long, dark hair with bright red henna, leaving the grey streaks a striking garnet. She brushed it away from her tear-stained face, walked towards the cherry-wood hallway table, pulled open the lowest drawer, and extracted a small wooden box. She opened the lid, revealing beautifully painted cards. She cut the deck and stared for a moment at the picture: a young, vibrant being playing a pipe and walking merrily off a cliff over a ravine, a dog following happily behind. The card was numbered 0, the Fool.

An obviousness dawned on her, painted lavishly over the calm façade she had been wearing these past months. At some point, fear becomes irrelevant. You have no choice but to trust the universe and take the leap: surrender. It was something she had been telling herself for years, but at that moment, it was real. She looked back down at the printed card in her hand. This is the first step in a journey. She spilt the cards out on the floor and selected the twenty-two major arcana. Then she quickly put them in order, back in the box, and into her bag as she heard the horn of her taxi sound outside. She hurried out into the thick London summer night, all sentimentality forgotten.

Marcia clutched her boarding pass tightly as she walked through the terminal. She distracted herself by gazing at the horizon out of the wall-to-wall airport windows where she was confronted by a ghost. Every time she recognised his jacket, his cologne, his hair cut, she was faced with the impossible reality of William’s presence. For the first few months, she had seen him everywhere, as if her mind was reaching out for the familiar, trying to fill the space that he used to occupy, which was now a bottomless pit, a black hole that destroyed and consumed everything around it until she felt it was all she was. The figure stood at the airport window, silhouetted in a posture that was as familiar to her as breathing. Something irrational stirred in the back of her consciousness, hope that was buttery and light, but as he moved, the glitch in her mind vanished, and she was empty again. How long will it take…? She wondered, before all the pieces of me realise he’s gone forever?

She felt her nervousness building as she boarded the plane, flanked by blank-faced flight attendants. As she took her seat, the anxiety was unbearable. What about her herbs? What about the mail? She comforted herself in the knowledge that she had good friends who she could call upon, understanding friends who knew the importance of her leaving even if they could not understand her motive. They thought she was running away from her grief, and indeed, this did feel a bit like running away, but where she was going, she had no friends or comfort, nothing. She was not escaping the past but following her intuition, and, holding tightly to the last shred of sanity she had left, she was going to face her past head-on.





Monday, July 6, 2020

Book Spotlight: Sky Queen by Judy Kundert


Sky Queen
By Judy Kundert
Genre: Women’s Fiction

It's 1967, and Katherine Roebling is a Chicago-based stewardess caught between the hold of highflying travel and the call of her Native American ancestors just as the women’s movement is taking the US by storm. As she vacillates between an ever-present mystical ancestral feather and her alluring stewardess life of excitement and travel, she embarks on a journey from one adventure to the next―each episode bringing her closer to her predestined calling. A chance meeting with a college student from Athens, Greece at a Chicago Playboy Mansion Press Party and her visit to the Oracle of Delphi intertwine with Katherine's discovery of the treasure inside herself. Ultimately, she gains wings that allow her to glide over society’s barriers; she abandons the so-called glamorous life she’s been living, creates her own path, and embarks upon a new career at the Smithsonian in DC―one that will take her on a miraculous experience of personal growth and uncharted paths.


About the Author 


Judy Kundert, a recipient of the Marquis Who’s Who Excellence in Authorship award, loves storytelling, from folk and fairy tales to classics for elementary school children. She authors award-winning middle-grade novels designed to inspire and intrigue children. After she left her career as a United Airlines stewardess, she earned a Bachelor of Arts degree from Loyola University, Chicago and a Master of Arts from DePaul University, Chicago. Most recently, she completed a master’s Certificate in Public Relations and Marketing from the University of Denver. For fun, she likes reading (usually three or four books at a time), watching movies from the oldies to the current films, traveling, biking, and hiking in the vast Colorado outdoors with her husband. Learn more at www.judykundert.com.

Links 






Friday, September 22, 2017

Book Spotlight: Luna Rising by Selene Castrovilla (Excerpt + Giveaway)

Luna Rising
By Selene Castrovilla
Genre: Women's Fiction

About the Book


Life begins at thirty-eight for Long Island mom and writer Luna Lampanelli, when she kicks her secretly gay husband to the curb. She's got her freedom, but what she wants is love. Luna knows she doesn't need a man to exist, but try telling that to her heart. Against the advice of Sunny, her snarky best friend, and Jiminy, the cautioning voice in Luna's head who just won't shut up, Luna sets course to find a mate. Luna speed and on-line dates her way into several short-lived, surreal relationships. There's Ari, the humorless Israeli who refuses to assimilate – to America, and to humanity. There's Alex, the young and handsome ex-crackhead who informs Luna he doesn't want to be monogamous—while they're in bed. There's Memphis, the wild-eyed sadomasochist. There's Red, angry and crippled, who becomes the catalyst for Luna to join Sex and Love Addicts Anonymous. But before Luna can proceed to recovery, she meets the elusive but oh so appealing Trip. He's emotionally unavailable and has the Madonna-Whore Complex, but how can Luna (aka "whore") let him go when she enjoys his dry wit so much, and his body even more? Humorously haunting and packed with unspeakable truths, Luna Rising follows a woman's funny and heart-breaking struggle to relate with un-relatable men and an un-relatable world, and to figure out something even more un-relatable: herself.

About the Author 

Selene Castrovilla debuts in women’s fiction with Luna Rising, but she’s no stranger to publishing. An award-winning teen and children's author, Selene believes that through all trends, humanity remains at the core of literature. Her novel Melt, Book One of the Rough Romance Trilogy, received six honors including the IndieReader Discovery Award Grand Prize for Fiction. Revolutionary Friends: General George Washington and the Marquis de Lafayette, her third nonfiction picture book about the American Revolution, was the recipient of four awards including Booklist Top Ten Biography for Youth, International School Librarians’ Honor Book and Eureka! California Reading Association Honor Book. A companion book, Revolutionary Rogues: John André and Benedict Arnold, is hot off the presses. Selene holds an M.F.A. in Creative Writing from The New School and a B.A. in English from New York University. She lives on Long Island with her two sons and too many cats, where she sits on her deck in the summer, fall and spring (and at her picture window in the winter) and writes. She loves the color purple and coffee. Selene plays well with others, but with words even better. She is so grateful to do what she loves. National Book Award winner Jacqueline Woodson calls Selene “a writer worth watching.” Visit www.SeleneCastrovilla.com.

On Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/SCastrovilla/
On Twitter: @SCastrovilla

On Amazon: https://www.amazon.com/Luna-Rising-Selene-Castrovilla/dp/0991626192 On Goodreads: https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/32963894-luna-rising
On B&N: https://www.barnesandnoble.com/w/luna-rising-selene-castrovilla/1125286165


AUTHOR’S GIVEAWAY: $50 Amazon card plus signed copies of Luna Rising and Melt by Selene Castrovilla!

a Rafflecopter giveaway


An Excerpt

I’m gonna try dating again,” Luna told Joe, her boxing coach. They were doing pad work— jabbing, hooking, ducking, slipping and talking about love.
“Don’t do it. You ain’t ready,” he said. “Uppercuts!”
“Gee, thanks.” She drove her fists up into the pads until the bell rang.
“Rest. Hey, you want me to lie, or what?”
“Possibly.”
“What makes you all gung-ho to do this? You need to get laid?”
“No . . . well, I guess maybe yes . . . But that’s not it. I just feel good. I’ve been living alone for nine months. I’ve been okay.”
Not exactly true . . . she’d nearly fallen apart every time something in the house broke down. But she wanted to concentrate on the positive. She’d survived. That was positive.
“What’s your game plan?”
“I thought I’d try CraigsList.”
            “CraigsList? Are you shitting me? That’s where you buy a table, not get a date.”
            “Yesterday, I heard a guy on Howard Stern say he met someone on CraigsList. It was love at first sight.”
            “That’s ridiculous. That ain’t love.” The bell rang again. He held up his right pad. “Double hook. Twist on your heel!”
            Luna complied, or at least she thought she did.
            “TWIST!” he hollered. “Holy shit, for months I been telling you to twist. What does it take?”
            She tried again. She responded to being yelled at. “Better,” he said. “Twenty. Go!”
            Luna twisted and thudded, twisted and thudded. In the background Cher crooned “If I Could Turn Back Time.”
Joe said, “It took me six or seven years to fall in love with my wife.”
            Luna almost fell over mid-twist. “Really?”
            “Yeah. In the beginning I would’ve told you it could never happen. But people can grow on you.”
Twist, thud, twist, thud.
Over and over, catching Joe’s steady blue eyes in-between each move.
Then he said, “Love is a consequence.”
             Twist, thud¸ twist, thud. “That’s an unusual concept,” she said.
            “It’s true,” he said. Then he said, “Jab, jab, double left uppercut.”
            She struck the pads silently for a few moments. Consequence seemed almost a dirty word, although she didn’t know why. Maybe it was too grown up.
            Luna liked the immediate.
            She asked, “What about the Zen saying, ‘leap and the net will appear?’”
            Joe said, “You’re mixing metaphors. Jab, jab, right, right uppercut.”
            Thud, thud. “Am I?” Thud, Thud.
            He laughed. “What the hell do I know about metaphors? Sounded good, though.”
            The bell rang. Joe yanked off Luna’s gloves, tossed them to the corner under the mirror, ripped the Velcro seal on her wraps and unraveled her. The wraps landed in a heap at her feet. “Let’s go,” he said.
            He put a thirty-pound weight on what Luna called “the butt machine” and motioned her on. She stepped onto the platform, bent under the shoulder lift, spread her feet so they were centered, pulled the safety bar out and pushed up, lifting the weight on her shoulders.
            Lift, squat. Lift, squat. The first couple were never bad. She said, “Don’t you at least believe in unconditional love?”
            “The only unconditional love we have is for our kids.”
            Up, down. Up, down.
            By the fourth she was feeling the strain in her thighs and her rear. She felt it in her chest too, which stopped her from responding.
            Up, down. Up, down.
            Up, down. Up, down.
            Her legs were trembling. “Jesus, Joe…” she managed.
            He said, “Jesus wasn’t really sacrificing anything to die for our sins. He knew he was going to heaven. I don’t have that kind of faith.”
            Up, down. Up, down.
            Up, down. Up, down.
            Was he even keeping count here?  “I have to stop,” she told him.
            “Two more.”
            Up. “Uhhhh!” Down. “Uhhhh!”
            Up. “Uhhhh!” Down. “Uhhhh!”
            “And rest,” Joe said.
            Luna slid the locking bar forward and moved out from under the shoulder rest. She wobbled down.
            That’s why she paid him – she’d never push herself this far.
            She leaned against the machine for support. In between recuperating huffs she said, “So you’re saying even Jesus didn’t offer unconditional love?”
            “I’m saying he had nothing to lose. It was a no-brainer for him.”


Wednesday, September 13, 2017

Book Review: Curva Peligrosa by Lily Iona MacKenzie

Curva Peligrosa
By Lily Iona MacKenzie
Genre: Literary magical realism

When Curva Peligrosa arrives in Weed, Alberta, after a twenty-year trek on the Old North Trail from southern Mexico, she stops its residents in their tracks. With a parrot on each shoulder, a glittering gold tooth, and a wicked trigger finger, she is unlike anything they have ever seen before. Curva is ready to settle down, but are the inhabitants of Weed ready for her? Possessed of an insatiable appetite for life and love, Curva’s infectious energy galvanizes the townspeople, turning their staid world upside down with her exotic elixirs and unbridled ways. Toss in an unscrupulous americano developer and a one-eyed Blackfoot chief, stir them all together in the tumult of a tempestuous tornado, and the town of Weed will never be the same again. A lyrical account of one woman’s journey and the unexpected effects it has on the people around her, Curva Peligrosa pulses with the magic at the heart and soul of life.

Review

I had to read this book after seeing the breathtaking cover. In my opinion, it captures the vibe of this story: wild and bold. My favorite character in Curva Peligrosa was Sabina. She was curious and thoughtful. I think she shined in this book. I was a little confused about the relationship between Curva and her brother, but it didn't take away from following along. Overall, I would give this book 5 stars. 

About the Author

A Canadian by birth, a high school dropout, and a mother at 17, in my early years, I supported myself as a stock girl in the Hudson’s Bay Company, as a long-distance operator for the former Alberta Government Telephones, and as a secretary (Bechtel Corp sponsored me into the States). I also was a cocktail waitress at the Fairmont Hotel in San Francisco, briefly broke into the male-dominated world of the docks as a longshoreman (I was the first woman to work on the SF docks and almost got my legs broken), founded and managed a homeless shelter in Marin County, co-created The Story Shoppe, a weekly radio program for children that aired on KTIM in Marin County, CA, and eventually earned two Master’s degrees (one in creative writing and one in the humanities). I have published reviews, interviews, short fiction, poetry, travel pieces, essays, and memoir in over 150 American and Canadian venues. My novel Fling! was published in 2015. Curva Peligrosa, another novel, will be published in September 2017. Freefall: A Divine Comedy will be released in 2018. My poetry collection All This was published in 2011. I have taught at the University of San Francisco for over 30 years, and I blog at http://lilyionamackenzie.wordpress.com.


On Twitter: @lilyionamac
On Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/lily.iona.mackenzie/

On Amazon: http://amzn.to/2tQb5eS

Friday, September 8, 2017

Interview with Author Julie Christine Johnson

The Crows of Beara
By Julie Christine Johnson
Genre: Fiction, Climate Fiction, Eco-Lit, Women's Fiction
Along the windswept coast of Ireland, a woman discovers the landscape of her own heart
When Annie Crowe travels from Seattle to a small Irish village to promote a new copper mine, her public relations career is hanging in the balance. Struggling to overcome her troubled past and a failing marriage, Annie is eager for a chance to rebuild her life.
Yet when she arrives on the remote Beara Peninsula, Annie learns that the mine would encroach on the nesting ground of an endangered bird, the Red-billed Chough, and many in the community are fiercely protective of this wild place. Among them is Daniel Savage, a local artist battling demons of his own, who has been recruited to help block the mine.
Despite their differences, Annie and Daniel find themselves drawn toward each other, and, inexplicably, they begin to hear the same voice--a strange, distant whisper of Gaelic, like sorrow blowing in the wind.
Guided by ancient mythology and challenged by modern problems, Annie must confront the half-truths she has been sent to spread and the lies she has been telling herself. Most of all, she must open her heart to the healing power of this rugged land and its people.
Beautifully crafted with environmental themes, a lyrical Irish setting, and a touch of magical realism, The Crows of Beara is a breathtaking novel of how the nature of place encompasses everything that we are.

Author Interview

What inspired you to write The Crows of Beara?

THE CROWS OF BEARA is a work of contemporary fiction with a touch of magical realism, set on the Beara peninsula, southwest Ireland.

I first traveled to Ireland in 2002 to hike the Beara Way. The peninsula, and the experience, turned my soul inside out. Never have I been more homesick for a place I couldn’t actually call home. Many hikes in Ireland later and I knew I’d be writing about it someday.

When I began sketching out characters and ideas for a novel in January 2014, I knew it would be set in Ireland and have an Irish legend or some element of magical realism woven through it. I just didn’t know where in Ireland or which legend.

I happened upon the poetry of Leanne O’Sullivan, who was raised on the Beara Peninsula and teaches poetry at University College Cork. Her collections, An Chailleach Bheara, which tells the story of the legend of the Hag of Beara, and The Mining Road, which was inspired by the late 18th century copper mining industry and the miners who toiled there, brought me, almost overnight, to my novel.

I knew before I began that my central character, Annie, would be an addict trying to put her life back together. Once I had my themes of environment vs. economic growth, an Irish legend based on the strength and resiliency of women, and of the Irish culture, and the healing power of art, the words poured out of me. I wrote the first draft in ten weeks.

How long did it take you to write your book?

I wrote the first draft of The Crows of Beara in ten weeks from January to March, 2014. I set it aside for several months, then revised it in in the fall. After I signed with an agent and a publisher for my first novel, In Another Life, in November 2014, I didn’t pick up Crows again until late spring 2015, making some agent-advised changes just before it went on submission. I revised the beginning again during summer 2015 before Ashland Creek Press picked it up in September.

Summer 2016-Spring 2017 were spent on story and copy edits and proofreading with my publisher. From first draft to the copy you have now, Crows shed about 30,000 words, several POVs, and had a few minor plot changes, but the story is essentially same one I first penned back in 2014. Whew. When I look at it this way, it takes such a very long time to bring a book to life!

How long have you been publishing your work?

I wrote my first short story in January 2011 and it was published in an anthology in June 2011. I’ve been writing and publishing steadily since. My first novel, In Another Life, was published by Sourcebooks in February 2016. I have a third novel currently on submission, and a fourth project underway. In between I’ve published short stories, essays, poems, blog posts, book reviews.

What does your writing environment look like?

I write on the sofa, at the dining room table, in bed, in favorite cafes, on the beach, in the library… wherever, whenever I can.

Do you have any routines to help you write?

Early morning is the best time for me- my head and heart are clearest- but when I’m in the groove with a project, setting word count goals and writing during scheduled times are my best tools. I need a bit of noise- ambient music, café chatter. I also do a lot of problem-solving and planning while hiking, swimming, riding my bike. Moving my body in active meditation helps me fill in plot holes and find inspiration. Journaling helps me get out the personal gunk so I’m free to pay attention to my characters. 

About the Author 

Julie's short stories and essays have appeared in several journals, including Emerge Literary Journal; Mud Season Review; Cirque: A Literary Journal of the North Pacific Rim; Cobalt; River Poets Journal, in the print anthologies Stories for Sendai; Up, Do: Flash Fiction by Women Writers; and Three Minus One: Stories of Love and Loss; and featured on the flash fiction podcast No Extra Words. She holds undergraduate degrees in French and Psychology and a Master’s in International Affairs. Julie leads writing workshops and seminars and offers story/developmental editing and writer coaching services. 

Named a "standout debut" by the Library Journal, "Very highly recommended" by Historical Novels Review and declared "Delicate and haunting, romantic and mystical" by bestselling author Greer Macallister, Julie's debut novel In Another Life went into a second printing three days after its February 2, 2016 release. 

A finalist for The Siskiyou Prize for New Environmental Literature, judged by PEN/Faulkner author and Man Booker Award nominee Karen Joy Fowler, Julie's second novel The Crows of Beara was acquired by Ashland Creek Press and will take flight on September 15, 2017.

A hiker, yogi, and wine geek, Julie makes her home on the Olympic Peninsula of northwest Washington state. 

Website: juliechristinejohnson.com


On Amazon: http://amzn.to/2o4RnJs

On Goodreads:
http://bit.ly/2pD6lDz

On Powell’s:
http://bit.ly/2grs41i

On B&N:
http://bit.ly/2pDlbda



Tuesday, August 15, 2017

Book Blitz: Luna Rising by Selene Castrovilla

Luna Rising
By Selene Castrovilla
Genre: Women's Fiction

About the Book

Life begins at thirty-eight for Long Island mom and writer Luna Lampanelli, when she kicks her secretly gay husband to the curb. She's got her freedom, but what she wants is love. Luna knows she doesn't need a man to exist, but try telling that to her heart. Against the advice of Sunny, her snarky best friend, and Jiminy, the cautioning voice in Luna's head who just won't shut up, Luna sets course to find a mate. Luna speed and on-line dates her way into several short-lived, surreal relationships. There's Ari, the humorless Israeli who refuses to assimilate – to America, and to humanity. There's Alex, the young and handsome ex-crackhead who informs Luna he doesn't want to be monogamous—while they're in bed. There's Memphis, the wild-eyed sadomasochist. There's Red, angry and crippled, who becomes the catalyst for Luna to join Sex and Love Addicts Anonymous. But before Luna can proceed to recovery, she meets the elusive but oh so appealing Trip. He's emotionally unavailable and has the Madonna-Whore Complex, but how can Luna (aka "whore") let him go when she enjoys his dry wit so much, and his body even more? Humorously haunting and packed with unspeakable truths, Luna Rising follows a woman's funny and heart-breaking struggle to relate with un-relatable men and an un-relatable world, and to figure out something even more un-relatable: herself.

About the Author 

Selene Castrovilla debuts in women’s fiction with Luna Rising, but she’s no stranger to publishing. An award-winning teen and children's author, Selene believes that through all trends, humanity remains at the core of literature. Her novel Melt, Book One of the Rough Romance Trilogy, received six honors including the IndieReader Discovery Award Grand Prize for Fiction. Revolutionary Friends: General George Washington and the Marquis de Lafayette, her third nonfiction picture book about the American Revolution, was the recipient of four awards including Booklist Top Ten Biography for Youth, International School Librarians’ Honor Book and Eureka! California Reading Association Honor Book. A companion book, Revolutionary Rogues: John André and Benedict Arnold, is hot off the presses. Selene holds an M.F.A. in Creative Writing from The New School and a B.A. in English from New York University. She lives on Long Island with her two sons and too many cats, where she sits on her deck in the summer, fall and spring (and at her picture window in the winter) and writes. She loves the color purple and coffee. Selene plays well with others, but with words even better. She is so grateful to do what she loves. National Book Award winner Jacqueline Woodson calls Selene “a writer worth watching.” Visit www.SeleneCastrovilla.com.

On Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/SCastrovilla/
On Twitter: @SCastrovilla 

On Amazon: https://www.amazon.com/Luna-Rising-Selene-Castrovilla/dp/0991626192 On Goodreads: https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/32963894-luna-rising
On B&N: https://www.barnesandnoble.com/w/luna-rising-selene-castrovilla/1125286165