Donn's Shadow ~ Audio Book Blog Tour Promo

DONN'S SHADOW

The Soul Searchers Mysteries

Book 2

BY CARYN LARRINAGA

Narrated by Jessica McElvoy 

Length: 9 hours 51 minutes

To Be Released: March 2020

Publisher: Twisted Tree Press

Genre: Supernatural Cozy Mystery

Mackenzie Clair finally has this whole ghost-hunting psychic thing figured out. The Soul Searchers are a hit, she’s got pet-parenting down, and she even has a plan to banish the poltergeist running amok at a lakeside cabin. Best of all, Donn’s Hill feels like home. But not everyone loves the town as much as Mac.

A world-famous paranormal debunker thinks the psychics in Donn’s Hill are lying about their abilities. His determination to destroy the Soul Searchers threatens Mac’s livelihood, and when a killer strikes, the sheriff’s suspicions threaten her freedom.

Mac needs all the help she can get to find the real murderer and clear her name… even if that help comes from beyond the grave.

Caryn Larrinaga is a self-described horror evangelist and paranormal junkie. Her debut supernatural mystery novel, DONN’S HILL, won the League of Utah Writers 2017 Silver Quill Award in the adult novel category and was a 2017 Dragon Award finalist. Her short fiction has won multiple honors and been featured in local and international anthologies. Watching scary movies through split fingers terrified Caryn as a child, and those nightmares inspire her to write now. She lives near Salt Lake City, Utah, with her husband and their clowder of cats. Visit www.carynlarrinaga.com for free short stories and audiobooks.

Website⎮Twitter⎮Facebook⎮Instagram⎮Goodreads

Between peddling video games and teaching yoga in her home state of Arizona, Jessica McEvoy attempts to conduct a career as a professional voice actress. This, however, is moderately undermined by the fact that she records in a dimly lit closet with her microphone balanced on a stack of old board games (Junior Scrabble and Powerpuff Girls Monopoly form a strong foundation), but she hopes that no one holds that against her.

Though her main work consists of narrating audiobooks, her first dive into the voice world was through the NoSleep podcast after answering a post from the LibriVox forums. Having been raised on horror movies and scary stories, she was beyond excited to be able to work on the show. Many stories, tortured screams, deranged villains, and creepy little girl giggles later, Jessica hopes to work on the podcast for seasons and seasons to come.  Twitter

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Postcards from Lonnie ~ Lone Star Book Blog Tours Review & Giveaway!

POSTCARDS FROM LONNIE

HOW I REDISCOVERED MY BROTHER ON THE 

STREET CORNER HE CALLED HOME

by

Lisa Johnson

Biography / Photo Journal / Poverty
Publisher: Rand-Smith LLC
Date of Publication: January 14, 2020

Number of Pages: 200

Scroll down for the giveaway!

It all started on Christmas Day 1993. Lisa and Lonnie were sitting on their mom's rickety yard swing, when Lisa's curiosity took over. She asked Lonnie questions about his life on the street, about being homeless. To her surprise, he answered honestly, humorously, and thoughtfully.

That conversation continued throughout the next four years as Lisa wrote questions on postcards addressed to herself, then mailed them in packets to Lonnie at the flower shop on his corner. He wrote his answers and mailed them back. Lonnie answered a lot of questions and even asked a few, too. His detailed, matter-of-fact responses gave Lisa an unfettered view of a population living on the fringes of society and the issues they face every day.

Postcards from Lonnie is a dialogue between Lonnie, who speaks through the postcards, and his sister, who not only learns a lot about her brother but also about herself. Intimate and revealing, this is a unique family memoir and a universal story of love, respect, family, and ultimately hope.

CLICK TO ORDER ON:
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HALL WAYS REVIEW: When I first heard from author Lisa Johnson about her book, Postcards from Lonnie, I was intrigued by the premise – and who wouldn’t be? She and her homeless brother corresponded, via nearly a hundred postcards, over the course of four years. Wondering about the logistics alone is enough to pique anyone’s interest. But the immediate questions that arise from just the basic fact that the author’s brother was homeless, and my need for answers, made this book a must-read for me.

“Living on the street was not something he fell into, or slid into. He wanted to be clear: It was a decision he made.”

While it’s easy for a reader’s first, uninformed response to this situation to be judge-y, it’s impossible to stay that way for long. Lonnie’s story isn’t complicated; the bottom line is that he chose homelessness. The reasons for his choice are slightly more complex if viewed from a wide lens that encompasses his childhood and young adult years, and in reading Lonnie’s answers to the questions his sister Lisa poses, and in Lisa’s elaborations of each postcard, we get a better explanation. However, a real understanding of Lonnie’s deliberate decision eluded me – and I think it’s safe to say, it mostly eluded Lisa, too.

“Our lives, so intimately intertwined at the deepest levels, were almost completely severed at the day-to-day level.”

Lonnie’s love for his little sister Lisa shines through on every single postcard, but there is a juxtaposition of his adoration and his inaccessibility. Lisa never doubted how deeply Lonnie loved her, but she craved a sibling relationship where they could be present for each other. She couldn’t call and chat with him, or drop by his place for a cup of coffee, or ask for his help as their mother was dying. Lisa desperately wants Lonnie to want her help to get out of homelessness, but he doesn’t want out. This puzzles her – and will puzzle readers as well – but at the same time, there is almost an envy of the life Lonnie leads, free from responsibility to anyone and dependent upon no one but himself (in his mind, anyway).

“Lonnie’s story would have been a report not on how Jesus

helped him get off the street, but what it was like

to live on the streets with Jesus.”

There are many parallels between the young and older versions of Lonnie, and through reading Postcards from Lonnie I became rather fond of him, and by book’s end, I really miss him and am sorry he’s not a part of this world anymore. His answers to the questions Lisa poses often lead Lisa to having more questions and speculation as to what his answers may mean. She is able to add context to each postcard, which adds a rich layer to Lonnie’s story. He is mostly thoughtful and grateful and finds beauty in his world, and he rarely complains. His life, including the bad and the ugly, is what it is, and that’s fine with him.

Author Lisa Johnson’s observations are insightful, and her writing style is relaxed but intelligent. Lisa feels like a gracious host, ushering readers into her living room to hear the story. And she is a keen observer and interpreter of Lonnie’s life and actions and articulates her observations in a relatable way. While she exposes Lonnie’s life as best she can, Lisa and readers are left with unanswered questions, of course. Be prepared to also have unanswered questions about the author, who remains a bit guarded with her feelings. But this makes sense because this is Lonnie’s story, after all.

By including images of the actual postcards, where readers see the dramatic changes in Lonnie’s handwriting and tone (but the ever-present love for Lisa), readers feel connected to Lonnie and the homeless are humanized. Many of the cards are too faint for these middle-aged eyes to read, but Johnson does a good job with repeating the text in her reflections. The book could benefit from some light editing to eliminate repetition and clean up the very few typos. Regardless, Postcards from Lonnie is a gem of a book.  

Reading Postcards from Lonnie, for me, was a perspective-changing, belief-bending, eye-opening, enlightening experience that I won’t forget and that I highly recommend to others.

Thank you to the author and Lone Star Book Blog Tours for providing me a cherished print copy in exchange for my honest opinion – the only kind I give.

Lisa Johnson was born in Middletown, Ohio, at Middletown Hospital, where her brother, Lonnie, was born almost five years earlier. Two years after Lisa was born, they settled in Houston, Texas. In a couple more years, they moved to Baltimore, Maryland. Before Lisa started elementary school, they moved again, to Atlanta, Georgia. Lonnie was in fifth grade and was starting to misbehave in his classroom, not “applying himself.” A new first-grader, Lisa applied herself big time, and, once she got a taste of the praise and affirmation that came with high grades, she was hooked for life.

By the time Lisa was in junior high, they had moved again, to Topeka, Kansas, and as she started high school, they moved back to Houston.

Lisa went to college, Lonnie got married. Lisa got married, Lonnie’s daughter was born. Lonnie got divorced, Lisa got divorced. Lonnie’s daughter drowned in the bathtub. Lisa graduated from college, went to graduate school (where she got a good taste of misbehavior but lived through it). Lisa moved to Houston to mooch off their parents for a year or so. Lonnie remarried. Lisa moved to New York to teach at Queens College, CUNY, but soon found her dream job as a copywriter in a large New York ad agency.

Lonnie got divorced and disappeared onto the streets of Houston. Lisa moved to Atlanta. Their dad died. One Christmas Day, Lonnie and Lisa dreamed up an idea for a book. She started sending Lonnie questions on postcards, and he answered every one.

Lisa quit the advertising business to go to seminary — loved seminary, hated being a church-based chief executive officer. She returned to Houston, where their mom still lived. Lonnie died. Lisa found a job writing corporate stuff for a large oil-related company.

Then Lisa finished the book she and her brother had dreamed up: Postcards from Lonnie: How I Rediscovered My Brother on the Street Corner He Called Home. 

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TWO WINNERS

Signed copy of Postcards from Lonnie 

March 19-March 29, 2020

(US ONLY)

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VISIT THE OTHER GREAT BLOGS ON THE TOUR:

3/19/20	Scrapbook	That's What She's Reading
3/19/20	Notable Quotable	Texas Book Lover
3/20/20	Review	The Clueless Gent
3/21/20	Review	Book Fidelity
3/22/20	Excerpt	Forgotten Winds
3/23/20	Review	Rainy Days with Amanda
3/24/20	Author Interview	All the Ups and Downs
3/25/20	Review	Hall Ways Blog
3/26/20	Review	StoreyBook Reviews
3/27/20	Top Ten	Chapter Break Book Blog
3/28/20	Review	Reading by Moonlight

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Execution in E ~ Lone Star Book Blog Tours Promo & Giveaway!

EXECUTION IN E

A Gethsemane Brown Mystery, Volume 5 

by

Alexia Gordon

Genre: Paranormal Cozy Mystery
Publisher: Henery Press
Date of Publication: March 24, 2020

Number of Pages: 252

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Romance is in the air. Or on the 'gram, anyway.

When an influencer-turned-bridezilla shows up at the lighthouse to capture Insta-perfect wedding photos designed to entice sponsors to fund her lavish wedding, Gethsemane has her hands full trying to keep Eamon from blasting the entire wedding party over the edge of the cliff.

Wedding bells become funeral bells when members of the bride’s entourage start turning up dead. Frankie’s girlfriend, Verna, is pegged as maid-of-honor on the suspect list when the Garda discover the not-so-dearly departed groom was her ex and Gethsemane catches her standing over a body.

Gethsemane uncovers devilish dealings as she fights to clear Verna, for Frankie’s sake. Will she find the killer in time to save Frankie from another heartbreak? Or will the photos in her social media feed be post-mortem?

CLICK TO ORDER ON:
┃  Amazon  ┃  Barnes & Noble  ┃  Apple Books  ┃  
┃ Kobo  ┃ IndieBound ┃ Bookshop ┃

 A writer since childhood, Alexia Gordon won her first writing prize in the 6th grade. She continued writing through college but put literary endeavors on hold to finish medical school and Family Medicine residency training. She established her medical career then returned to writing fiction. Raised in the southeast, schooled in the northeast, she relocated to the west where she completed Southern Methodist University’s Writer’s Path program. She admits Texas brisket is as good as Carolina pulled pork. She practices medicine in North Chicago, IL. She enjoys the symphony, art collecting, embroidery, and ghost stories.

 ║  Website ║ Facebook ║ Instagram  ║
║BookBub  ║ Twitter ║ Goodreads 
║ Amazon ║ Cozy Corner║

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ONE WINNER
Signed copy of Execution in E + $10 Starbucks Gift Card + Gethsemane Brown Swag:
mug, stickers, pens, bookmark, combo bookmark/laser pointer, coasters, & more

MARCH 24-APRIL 3, 2020

(US ONLY)

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VISIT THE OTHER GREAT BLOGS ON THE TOUR:

3/24/20	Notable Quotable	Kelly Well Read
3/24/20	BONUS Post	Hall Ways Blog
3/25/20	Review	Chapter Break Book Blog
3/26/20	Excerpt	Max Knight
3/27/20	Review	Momma on the Rocks
3/28/20	Top Ten List	All the Ups and Downs
3/29/20	Playlist	StoreyBook Reviews
3/30/20	Review	Forgotten Winds
3/31/20	Series Spotlight	Jennifer Silverwood
4/1/20	Review	That's What She's Reading
4/2/20	BONUS Review	Missus Gonzo
4/2/20	Review	Reading by Moonlight

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