Friday, October 29, 2021

Under the Texas Mistletoe ~ Lone Star Book Blog Tours One-Day Blitz & Giveaway!

      

UNDER THE TEXAS MISTLETOE
by
KAREN WITEMEYER

Genre: Holiday Fiction / Christian Historical Romance / Novellas
Date of Publication: August 31, 2021
Number of Pages: 304 pages 

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This historical romance novella collection presents "A Texas Christmas Carol," where a town's wealthy, Scrooge-like bachelor finds his world invaded by a woman set on earning his donation for helping the local poor, and the penetrating questions of three mysterious visitors. It also includes "An Archer Family Christmas." When the Archer clan gathers for the holiday, they encounter an unexpected request for help that will require all their effort and a Christmas miracle to see them through. In previously published "Gift of the Heart," a widow uses the family brooch as collateral for a loan from the local resort owner. But the more she comes to know the man behind the stern businessman, the more she hopes for a second chance at love this Christmas.


CLICK TO PURCHASE!
   



Voted #1 Reader's Favorite Christian Romance Author of 2019 by Family Fiction Magazine, bestselling author Karen Witemeyer offers warmhearted historical romance with a flair for humor, feisty heroines, and swoon-worthy Texas heroes.


WEBSITE  ◆ FACEBOOK  ◆  AMAZON
◆  GOODREADS  ◆
◆ JOIN THE POSSE  ◆  BOOKBUB 






--------------------------------------- 
GIVEAWAY!  GIVEAWAY!  GIVEAWAY!
FOUR WINNERS!
Grand Prize:
Autographed copy of Under the Texas Mistletoe
+ a decorative Christmas sign;
 Three Winners:
Autographed copies of the book
(US only; ends midnight, CST, 11/4/21)

a Rafflecopter giveaway

Tuesday, October 26, 2021

Gone to Dallas ~ Lone Star Book Blog Tours Scrapbook Page & Giveaway!

      


GONE TO DALLAS:
THE STOREKEEPER
1856 - 1861
by
LAURIE MOORE - MOORE

Genre: Historical Fiction / Texas Pioneers / Civil War
Publisher: Goat Mountain Press
Date of Publication: October 4, 2021
Number of Pages: 348 pages 

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Sara’s husband was a disappointment in life, but she had to admit he was a handsome corpse.

Climb aboard an 1856 Dallas-bound wagon train and join a plucky female protagonist for the journey of a lifetime in Laurie Moore-Moore’s richly entertaining new book, Gone to Dallas, The Storekeeper 1856-1861. Far from your average historical novel or western, Gone to Dallas is a compelling tale of migration, betrayal, death and dreams—peppered with real people, places, and events. With a cast of interesting characters and more bumps and hazards than a wagon trail, Gone to Dallas tells the unforgettable story of a formidable frontier woman in the context of true Texas history. 

It had seemed so romantic when Morgan Darnell courted Sara in Tennessee, finally convincing her they should marry and join an 1856 “Gone to Texas” wagon train traveling along the “Trail of Tears,” through Indian territory, and across the Red River into Texas. 

In a twist of fate, Sara arrives in Dallas a 19-year-old widow, armed with plenty of pluck, and determined to open a general store in the tiny settlement of log cabins on the Trinity River. Standing in her way as a young woman alone are a host of challenges. Can Sara (with the help of her friends) pull herself up by the bootstraps and overcome uncertainty, vandalism, threats, and even being shot?

Follow Sara as she strives to create her store while living Dallas’ true history — from the beginnings of La RĂ©union (the European colony across the Trinity) to a mud and muck circus, a grand ball and the mighty fire that burns Dallas to the ground. Dallas is a challenging place, especially with the Civil War looming.  

Even with the friendship of a retired Texas Ranger and Dallas’ most important citizen — another woman — is Sara strong enough to meet the challenge? The risks are high. Failure means being destitute in Dallas!

In Gone to Dallas, The Storekeeper 1856-1861, author Laurie Moore-Moore spins a page-turner of a tale salted with historically accurate Texas events and populated with real characters. It’s Portis’ True Grit meets Texas history.

READER PRAISE FOR GONE TO DALLAS:
"Creative and captivating…five stars!"
"An unforgettable journey…superb writing.”
“I was hooked at the very first sentence.”
“Lovely work of historical fiction…can’t wait for the sequel."
“Brilliant!”

CLICK TO PURCHASE!





From the author: “My husband, Roger, and I have been blessed with many adventures in life—from trekking across India’s Thar desert on a camel (and sleeping in the sand on our camel blankets) to repeating marriage vows in a remote Maasi village in Kenya (my dowery was one cow and one goat). My favorite adventure? As a fifth generation Texan, it is discovering more and more Texas history and writing about it!  

We live in Dallas, Texas but sneak away when possible, to a mountain-top cabin overlooking a lake in former Indian Territory (the Oklahoma Ozark Mountains) The cabin is unique—there is a nine foot chainsaw bear in our entry hall. The house was built around it. Never thought I’d own a piece of chainsaw art, much less a nine-foot bear. Life is full of surprises. . . just like a good historical novel.”  
Laurie Moore-Moore is a retired entrepreneur who has built and sold multiple businesses and served on the Board of Directors of an international corporation.

◆  WEBSITE  ◆  BLOG
FACEBOOK  ◆AMAZON  ◆  GOODREADS  ◆


GIVEAWAY!  GIVEAWAY!  GIVEAWAY!
 Three autographed copies of
 Gone to Dallas
(US only, ends midnight, CDT, 11/5/21)

a Rafflecopter giveaway

Friday, October 22, 2021

Behind Closed Doors ~ Book Blog Tour Spotlight & Giveaway!


 
Book Details:

Book Title Behind Closed Doors 
Author: Catherine Alliott
Genre Adult Fiction 18+
Pages: 380 pages
Categories: Contemporary Romance
Publisher:  No Shooz Publishing
Release Date: October 2021
Content Rating:  PG13 + M

Book Description:

From the outside, anyone would think that Lucy Palmer has it all: loving children, a dashing husband and a gorgeous home.

But when her marriage to Michael comes to an abrupt and unexpected end, her life is turned upside down in a flash.

As the truth of her marriage threatens to surface, Lucy seizes the opportunity to swap her house in London - and the stories it hides - for a rural escape to her parents' farmhouse in the Chilterns.

But Lucy gets more than she bargained for when she moves back to her childhood home, especially when it throws her into the path of an old flame.

Coming face-to-face with her mistakes, Lucy is forced to confront the secrets she's been keeping from herself and those she loves.

Is she ready to let someone in? Or will she leave the door to her past firmly closed . . .

 
Get ready to escape with the page-turning new novel from the Sunday Times bestselling author of A Cornish Summer

'Leaves you with a smile on your face and hope in your heart' MILLY JOHNSON

'Catherine Alliott at her very best' 5***** READER REVIEW

'Packed with fantastic characters, uncomfortable truths, and flashes of pure comedy. Who could ask for more?' JILL MANSELL


Buy the Book
Amazon ~ Book Depository
add to goodreads

Meet the Author:

Catherine has sold over 3 million bestselling novels worldwide.

The first of these novels Catherine started under the desk when she worked as an advertising copywriter. She was duly fired. With time on her hands, she persevered with the novels, which happily flourished.

In the early days she produced a baby with each book - but after three - stuck to the writing as it was less painful.

She writes with her favorite pen in notebooks, either in the garden or on a sofa.

Home is a rural spot on the Hertfordshire border, which she shares with her family and a menagerie of horses, cows, chickens, and dogs, which at the last count totaled eighty-seven beating hearts, including her husband. Some of her household have walk-on parts in her novels, but only the chickens would probably recognize themselves.

All her novels are published by Penguin Random House internationally, and by No Shooz Publishing in America.

Connect with the Author:  website ~ facebook



Enter the Giveaway:

ONE WINNER!

KINDLE FIRE HD loaded with
FIVE CATHERINE ALLIOTT BOOKS

(USA only; Ends November 8, 2021)

BEHIND CLOSED DOORS Book Tour Giveaway

 

Tour Schedule:
Oct 12 – Working Mommy Journal – book spotlight / giveaway
Oct 12 - Splashes of Joy – book spotlight / giveaway
Oct 12 - Cover Lover Book Review - book spotlight / giveaway
Oct 13 – @booking.with.janelle – book spotlight / giveaway
Oct 14 – She Just Loves Books – book spotlight / giveaway
Oct 15 - @twilight_reader - book spotlight
Oct 18 – Kam's Place – book spotlight
Oct 19 – Pick A Good Book – book spotlight / giveaway
Oct 19 - Stephanie Jane - book spotlight
Oct 20 - The Pen and Muse Book Reviews - book spotlight / giveaway
Oct 21 – I'm Into Books – book spotlight / giveaway
Oct 21 - Laura's Interests - book spotlight / giveaway
Oct 22 – Celticlady's Reviews – book spotlight / giveaway
Oct 22 - Hall Ways Blog - book spotlight / giveaway
Oct 25 – Leels Loves Books – book spotlight
Oct 26 – Locks, Hooks and Books – book spotlight / giveaway
Oct 26 - Book Corner News and Reviews - book spotlight / giveaway
Oct 27 – The Page Ladies Book Club – book spotlight
Oct 27 – Literary Flits – book spotlight / giveaway
Oct 28 – Sadie's Spotlight – book spotlight / giveaway
Oct 28 - Jazzy Book Reviews - book spotlight / giveaway
Oct 29 – Viviana MacKade – book spotlight / giveaway
Nov 1 – Elizabeth McKenna – Author – book spotlight / giveaway
Nov 1 - Westveil Publishing - book spotlight / giveaway


 

Thursday, October 14, 2021

Since You've Been Gone ~ Lone Star Book Blog Tours Bonus Promo & Giveaway!

      
SINCE YOU'VE BEEN GONE
Restoring Heritage Series, #3
by
Tari Faris

Genre: Fiction / Christian / Contemporary Romance
Publisher: Revell
Date of Publication: September 7, 2021
Number of Pages: 336 pages

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With her vision and his know-how, this thing just might work . . .

Leah Williams is back in the quaint town of Heritage, Michigan, and ready to try again to make her business a success. But blank slates are hard to come by, and a piece of her past is waiting for her there. Heir to the Heritage Fruits company, Jonathan Kensington is the guy who not only made Leah's past difficult, but he also seems determined to complicate her present as well.

In order to avoid forcing a buyout of Leah's building, Jon will have to strike a compromise. Can the two of them work together? Or will their troubled past set the tone for their future?


Tari Faris is the author of You Belong with Me and Until I Met You. A member of American Christian Fiction Writers and My Book Therapy, she is the projects manager for My Book Therapy, writes for learnhowtowriteanovel.com, and is a 2017 Genesis Award winner. She has an MDiv from Asbury Theological Seminary and lives in the Phoenix, Arizona, area with her husband and their three children. Although she lives in the Southwest now, she lived in a small town in Michigan for 25 years. 
WEBSITE FACEBOOKTWITTER
AMAZONGOODREADS
---------------------------------------
GIVEAWAY! GIVEAWAY! GIVEAWAY!
ONE WINNER:
 A copy of the whole Restoring Heritage series,
 a $10 Starbucks gift card,
 and a bookish sticker pack!
(US only. Ends 10/22/21.)

Wednesday, October 13, 2021

Holding on Loosely ~ Lone Star Book Blog Tours Scrapbook Page, BONUS Review, & Giveaway!

       

HOLDING ON LOOSELY
by
DANA KNOX WRIGHT

Genre: Narrative Nonfiction / Memoir / Self Help
Publisher: Carpenter's Son / Clovercroft Publishing
Date of Publication: August 24, 2021
Number of Pages: 208 pages

Scroll down for giveaway!

Helicopter parents. Control freaks. Perfectionists. Intolerants. Over-consumers. Social media junkies. We all fit in there somewhere. Read one woman’s stories of clinging, turning loose, and becoming free.

We are overly busy helicopter parents, control freaks, perfectionists, intolerants, over-consumers and social media junkies--who worry, fear, laugh less, and always want more. In the midst of it, we wonder what it would feel like to open our hands and turn loose of all of it.

In HOLDING ON LOOSELY: Opening My Hands, Lightening My Load, and Seeing Something Else, author Dana Knox Wright tells stories of one who is hardwired to cling.  To her children when they asked for a blessing to go.  To someone else’s ideas, when she didn’t trust her own. She held on to prejudice when she would tell you she didn’t. She shut down for days while clinging to fear. She clung to youthfulness as if what would come next couldn’t be her life’s cherry on top. 

In a particular season of her life, she recognized her bent to possess, to keep, to hold tightly, and to control was completely contrary to Jesus’ example. This is one woman’s history of holding on and her stories of turning loose--stories of the gentle and firm, humorous and heartbreaking ways God led her to turn loose.  It is living minimally from the inside out.

CLICK TO PURCHASE!
Amazon│ 

Dana Knox Wright’s Inspiration Scrapbook

 

I’m a very visual person and when I’m writing, I’m also photographing.  I don’t do it intentionally, but it always happens this way for me.  I think photographs help me find the words I need. They call out an emotional response in me and it is from that place I write the story. These photos, to most everyone I’m guessing, appear to be the run-of-the-mill sort.  When I see them, though, I see the “turning loose” that was happening just beneath the apparent in every one of them. That, in a nutshell, is my book.




HALL WAYS REVIEW: AUDIO BOOK REVIEW

“I’m hardwired to cling… sometimes I held more tightly to things I had than the faith I had.”

“Mothering is a hard habit to break.”

“I was sad because they didn’t seem quite as sad as I was.”

"The Comfort Zone was never meant to be my permanent place; it was meant to be my charging station."

“My best day is someone else’s worst day.” 

Dana Knox Wright's HOLDING ON LOOSELY wins for best quotables; I filled a page with them! From the author's childhood adoration of Donny Osmond to her mother turning to tend a garden (when she couldn't 'mother' any more) to the realization that the only reason you're invited to dinner with your young adult kids may be to pick up the tab, I found myself nodding in agreement from page one.

Those of us who've seen a few decades come and go and have raised a few kids will relate to all the observations and stories of parenting, but there are plenty of other chapters and stories to love -- and every single one of them will force some introspection and reflection. 

Wright opens herself almost completely to readers -- but not completely -- and I think that's good. It's not a tell-all, but it's a tell-a-whole-lot that is real and relatable. I listened to the audio book, and the author does an amazing job with nary a glitch or hiccup. Pacing was great, and it felt intimate hearing her tell her own stories. I enjoyed that I could just listen to a chapter and let it sink in before continuing. I plan on buying it in print so I can tab my favorite chapters (Edith and her flamingoes & old people kissing, to name two), and then buying a couple more for gifting. My guess is that most who read it will feel it's timely and eerily similar to parts of their own lives.

Highly recommend.

Dana Knox Wright began letting go of fear at fifty.  It’s the decade where, in an odd twist, Sandra Bullock asked for her autograph—the decade she began hiking to places with seriously wild animals, rafting in crazy rivers and eating wild blackberries with only mild concern rabid foxes eat from the plants, too. After a long career in radio voiceover, she found a passion for spreading goodness and living to the full. She has offered readers encouragement, hope and sisterhood for almost ten years through her essays published on her blog. Dana holds a degree in Journalism from The University of Texas at Austin and is the author of Saving Stories: Afternoons with Darrell (2017). She is the mother of three adult children and three grandchildren and currently lives in a small river town in the Texas Hill Country with her husband and an English Mastiff named Pearl. 

WEBSITE FACEBOOK
INSTAGRAM YOUTUBE

Friday, October 8, 2021

Blah, Blah, Blah: A Snarky Guide to Office Lingo ~ Book Blog Tour Guest Post, Author Video, & Giveaway!

Book Details:

Book Title:  Blah, Blah, Blah: A Snarky Guide to Office Lingo by Dan Hill & Howard Moskowitz
Category:  Adult Non- Fiction 18+, 147 pages
GenreHumor (Business)
Publisher:  Sensory Logic, Inc.
Release Date: 
September 15, 2021
Tour dates: September 15 to October 5
Content Rating:  PG. OMG and a few references to sexual harassment, etc. Quite mild.


 Book Description:

Need a laugh to get through your workday?

You've come to the right place. Ambrose Bierce's classic The Devil's Dictionary took on life in general. Now a century later, it's time to lampoon the business world. There's no richer target than being told to think outside the box by leaders spouting off about synergy, teamwork, and innovation while at the same time exhorting you to stay in your swim lane. If as famed business guru Peter Drucker writes, "Culture eats strategy for breakfast," then we've been asked to eat a dog's breakfast at work for far too long! 

A little truth in every joke. 

Join the fun as the two lead authors and 50 other contributors offer their humorous take on how the workplace really operates. With almost 600 diabolical definitions to enjoy, you're sure to find plenty to smile about.

Buy the Book
Amazon



                
GUEST POST
Don’t Mess with My Heart, Mind or Pocketbook!
By Dan Hill

Why do we go to work? For some of us, it’s a passion—a passion that might slowly ebb from us thanks to managers who leave us with REASONS TO CARE: N/A or feeling like we’re stuck BETWEEN A ROCK AND A HARD PLACE: Walking into the office every day. For others of us, we go to work in no small part because we’re hoping for some good company at a good company. What might we find instead? GETTING SOME PUSHBACK: Experiencing gale-force winds. Who are your CO-WORKERS: Those with whom you spend more time than your own family but no less about than a mongoose.

Of course, there’s also the money. What a shame, then, when you become a victim of AUTOMATION: Staffing reductions that involve a plug-in cord. Or that the company’s definition of LIVING WAGE really means, “the minimum wage x gazillion.”

One recourse could be despair. But don’t let the b*stards get you down! Turn to humor instead, first to lift your spirits and then you to give you the energy to find a better job, a better workplace, a better corporate culture. Soon 75% of the workplace will consist of millennials who know that there is no longer such a thing as job security and that BUSY is the new STUPID. Find a job with more meaning, and where one gets treated well. That’s the underlying purpose of Blah, Blah, Blah: A Snarky Guide to Office Lingo. It’s a book with more than a little truth in every joke.


Meet the Authors:

Dan Hill, PhD, is the author of nine books, including Emotionomics, which was an Advertising Age top 10 must-read selection and features a foreword by Sam Simon, co-creator of The Simpsons. In 1998, Dan founded Sensory Logic, Inc. whose clients represent over 50% of the world's top 100 advertisers. Besides having spoken to audiences in over 25 countries, Dan has had media appearances ranging from ABC's "Good Morning, America" to NBC's "The Today Shows,” CNN, Fox, MSNBC, ESPN, and the Tennis Channel. Dan was also a regular guest on PBS’s “Mental Engineering” show, hailed by Bill Moyers as “the most interesting weekly half hour of social commentary and criticism on television.” In print, Dan has received front-page coverage in the New York Times for his work in pro and NCAA Division 1 sports and was a non-partisan columnist for Reuters during the 2016 presidential race. Nowadays he hosts the podcast "Dan Hill's EQ Spotlight," which appears on the New Books Network (NBN), the world's largest book review platform with over 1.7 million downloads monthly. Dan was educated at St. Olaf College, Oxford University, Brown University, and Rutgers University.

Howard Moskowitz is a legendary product market researcher, experiential psychologist, and inventor of world-class market research technologies used by virtually every company that matters. Howard earned his PhD in experimental psychology from Harvard University. In 2004, he was the subject of a New Yorker article by Malcolm Gladwell, "The Ketchup Conundrum," which became the basis for Gladwell's TED talk entitled "Choice, Happiness, and Spaghetti Sauce." In 2014, Howard founded Mind Genomics Associates to investigate how people think about aspects of their daily lives. In addition to over 400 scientific articles about the minds of consumers, Howard has written/edited 28 books, a roster that features the very popular book Selling Blue Elephants.

connect with the authors: website ~ twitter ~ facebook ~ instagram 
Enter the Giveaway:
Grand Prize: Signed copy of Blah, Blah, Blah: A Snarky Guide to Office Lingo
+ a signed copy of Famous Faces Decoded: A Guidebook for Reading Others
Runner-Up Prize: a signed copy of Blah, Blah, Blah 
(USA only; ends 10/21/21 )

Click to enter Gleam Giveaway

BLAH! BLAH! BLAH! A SNARKY GUIDE TO OFFICE LINGO Book Tour Giveaway

 

Tour Schedule:

Sep 27 - Working Mommy Journal – book spotlight / giveaway
Sep 27 - Cover Lover Book Review – book spotlight / giveaway
Sep 27 - Kam's Place – book spotlight
Sep 28 – Books for Books – book spotlight
Sep 28 – Jazzy Book Reviews – book spotlight / guest post giveaway
Sep 29 – fundinmental -book spotlight / giveaway
Sep 30 – Splashes of Joy – book spotlight / guest post / giveaway
Oct 2 – Celticlady's Reviews – book spotlight / guest post / giveaway
Oct 4 – A Mama's Corner of the World – book spotlight / giveaway
Oct 5 – The Adventures of a Traveler's Wife – book spotlight / author interview / giveaway
Oct 6 - Stephanie Jane – book spotlight / giveaway
Oct 6 - Rockin' Book Reviews – book spotlight / guest post / giveaway
Oct 7 – Gina Rae Mitchell – book spotlight / author interview / giveaway
Oct 8 - Hall Ways Blog – book spotlight / guest post / giveaway
Oct 11 – Westveil Publishing – book spotlight / guest post / giveaway
Oct 12 – Writer with Wanderlust – book spotlight / guest post / giveaway
Oct 13 – Locks, Hooks and Books – book spotlight / giveaway
Oct 14 – Literary Flits – book spotlight / giveaway
Oct 14 – Cheryl's Book Nook – book spotlight / giveaway
Oct 15 - Sefina Hawke's Books – book spotlight
TBD – Rajiv's Reviews – book spotlight / giveaway