Tuesday, July 26, 2022

Paper Targets ~ Lone Star Book Blog Tours Spotlight & Giveaway!

 

PAPER TARGETS

by

Patricia Watts 


Suspense / Literary Fiction / Women's Fiction
Publisher: Atmosphere Press
Pages: 324 pages
Publication Date: May 3, 2022

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Everyone knew that Roanne never got angry­—until the night she killed her ex-husband and herself. 

Roanne, a nice, suburban lady in her sixties who works at a Hallmark shop and volunteers at the Food Bank in Round Rock, Texas, calls her lifelong friend, Connie, confesses to murder, then puts the gun to her own head. Connie, spurred by Roanne’s last words about a lifetime of unspoken rage, sets aside her work as a cozy mystery writer and cupcake shop owner to confront the men who have stolen her dignity while she remained silent, including a bully brother, a rapist, and an ex-spouse. On a journey to reclaim her inner power and to make peace with the loss of her treasured friend, Connie’s mission is to avoid the same tragic path as Roanne, but she takes along a gun, just in case. 

With pathos and humor, Paper Targets, by Patricia Watts, calls us to speak our own narratives, even when it is uncomfortable or risky, and shows us the magnificence of a friendship that transcends time.

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Patricia Watts worked as a journalist for more than 20 years for newspapers in Texas, Hawaii, and Alaska. Following her news career, she tried her skill as a paralegal and then spent ten years investigating discrimination cases for the Alaska Human Rights Commission. Her novels include: Ghost Light and The Big Empty, crime mysteries co-written with Alaska author Stan Jones; The Frayer, suspense noir; and Watchdogs, a steamy thriller. Her home base is San Diego. She earned her B.A. in journalism at Humboldt State in California. She is the mother of a son and daughter and has eight grandchildren.


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Friday, July 22, 2022

A Shot in the 80% Dark ~ Lone Star Lit Book Blitz & Giveaway!


A SHOT IN THE 80% DARK
Bean to Bar Mysteries, Book 4
by
AMBER ROYER

Cozy Mystery / Culinary Mystery /Woman Sleuth 
Publisher: Golden Tip Press
Date of Publication: July 15, 2022
Number of Pages: 285 pages

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Felicity Koerber’s bean to bar chocolate shop is thriving. Despite everything she’s been through with the murders she’s helped solve, Felicity is ready to take on new challenges. So when a local museum offers her a contract to create a chocolate replica of a gigantic sailing ship sculpture for a gala celebrating Galveston’s history, she jumps at the chance to combine chocolate-crafting with art.

The project is fun – right up until there’s not just one but two dead artists on the scene, and Felicity has to change gears back to detective. Logan, Felicity’s business partner and previous bodyguard, and Arlo, Felicity’s ex who is now the cop investigating the case, are split on which victim they think was actually the intended one. Felicity may have to take some chances, both emotionally and in luring out a killer, to determine the truth.

Can she find out how Galveston’s history relates to the murders, unmask a killer, and prepare 2,000 chocolate desserts for the gala all at the same time?

CLICK TO PURCHASE!





Amber Royer writes the Chocoverse comic telenovela-style foodie-inspired space opera series and the Bean to Bar Mysteries. She is also the author of Story Like a Journalist: a Workbook for Novelists, which boils down her writing knowledge into an actionable plan involving over 100 worksheets to build a comprehensive story plan for your novel. She also teaches creative writing and is an author coach. 

Amber and her husband live in the DFW Area, where you can often find them hiking or taking landscape/architecture/wildlife photographs. If you are very nice to Amber, she might make you cupcakes. Chocolate cupcakes, of course! Amber blogs about creative writing technique and all things chocolate.


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TWO WINNERS
Autographed copies of A SHOT IN THE 80% DARK
(US only. Ends Midnight, CDT, July 28, 2022)

Tuesday, July 19, 2022

Deadly Keepsakes ~ Lone Star Book Blog Tours Book Trailer & Giveaway!

 


DEADLY KEEPSAKES
A Tori Winters Mystery
by
ANITA DICKASON

Categories: Mystery / Women Sleuths
Publisher: Mystic Circle Books
Pages: 360 pages
Publication Date: July 1, 2022

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When Tori Winters becomes the star witness in a murder trial, someone tries to kill her. Terrified, she’s not giving the killer a second chance. With all her worldly possessions packed in her car, Tori is on the run. A mysterious phone call about an inheritance leads her to Granbury. After all, who would look for her in a small, quaint Texas town?

Instead, Tori’s life is about to spin into an existence where nothing is as it seems. The historic house she inherits is steeped in secrets from the past. Secrets that may prove deadly. A stranger in a strange town, who can she trust? There is the disinherited step-grandson and the lawyer and his son. What are they hiding?

Tori’s inheritance may not be a blessing when a killer strikes again. It could be her death warrant.




Award-winning author Anita Dickason is a twenty-two-year veteran of the Dallas Police Department. She served as a patrol officer, undercover narcotics detective, advanced accident investigator, SWAT tactical officer, and the team’s first female sniper.

Anita’s extensive law enforcement experience and knowledge provide the inspiration for her plots, and characters. She writes about what she knows, cops and crime.

Her works have received multiple awards from Book Viral Millennium Book Awards, Readers’ Favorite Book Awards, Literary Titan Book Awards, Independent Author Network Book Awards, and Speak Up Talk Radio Firebird Award.

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THREE WINNERS: Tote Bag, Copy of Deadly Keepsakes, Bookmarks.
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Tuesday, July 12, 2022

Rowdy: Wild and Mean, Sharp and Keen ~ Lone Star Book Blog Tours Spotlight & Giveaway!


ROWDY: WILD AND MEAN,
SHARP AND KEEN
THE ROWDY SERIES, BOOK ONE
BY
CHRIS MULLEN

Young Adult / Historical Fiction / Western / Action & Adventure
Publisher: Wise Wolf Books
Page Count: 278 pages
Publication Date: February 23, 2022

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Thrust to the mercy of the Mississippi river, thirteen-year-old Rowdy floats safely away as he watches the smoke rise from his burning farmhouse. Now alone in the world, his perilous journey of survival begins, challenging and shaping him into the young man his father would want him to become.

Pulled from the waters, he is given a chance by a lone river Captain and his mate. Rowdy has grown strong working the river but must use his wit as well as his strength to confront a bullying crewman and survive a surprise attack by river pirates.

Growing up on the Mississippi river was a start for Rowdy, but Dodge City, Kansas proves it has its own challenges. He was warned not to get entangled with Patrick Byrne Byrne, Dodge City’s most powerful rancher. Unknowingly crossing Byrne, he faces life and death decisions. Rowdy's only option is to run.

Survival is what he has come to know all too well. His escape across the plains nearly claims his life. Through a stranger's help, Rowdy recovers and finally discovers Lincoln, New Mexico, and acquires a new friend along the way. Rowdy is settling in when hired guns sent by Patrick Byrne find and confront him. Blood, bullets, and tears bring Rowdy's world to a showdown. Fighting for what was right is his code, living life for others becomes his way, and staring danger in the face is what he must do if he can truly be Wild and Mean, Sharp and Keen.

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Amazon **  Walmart  **  Bookshop.org

Chris Mullen is an author from Richmond, Texas. He graduated from Texas A&M University in 1997 and began his teaching career. Chris was awarded the 2019 Connie Wootton Excellence in Teaching Award presented by the Southwest Association of Episcopal Schools. In 2021, Chris signed with Wise Wolf Books, a YA Imprint of Wolf Pack Publishing, and re-released his debut novel ROWDY: Wild and Mean, Sharp and Keen on February 24, 2022. On March 31, 2022, he released ROWDY: Redemption, followed by an April 21, 2022 release of ROWDY: Dead or Alive. Chris currently writes for Wise Wolf Books and is working on the next ROWDY installment. 

His novel, ROWDY: Wild and Mean, Sharp and Keen was named WINNER in the 2020 American Fiction Awards, a 2020 Best Book Finalist, and 3rd Place WINNER in the 2021 Selah Awards, all in the western category. His YA Western series, ROWDY, continues to grow and attract readers of all ages.


Tuesday, July 5, 2022

Pictures of the Shark ~ Lone Star Book Blog Tours Spotlight & Giveaway!

   PICTURES OF THE SHARK
by
THOMAS H. McNEELY

Short Stories / Southern Fiction / Coming of Age
Publisher: Texas Review Press
Date of Publication: June 28, 2022
Number of Pages: 205 pages
 
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A sudden snowfall in Houston reveals family secrets. A trip to Universal Studios to snap a picture of the shark from Jaws becomes a battle of wills between father and son. A midnight séance and the ghost of Janis Joplin conjure the mysteries of sex. A young boy’s pilgrimage to see Elvis Presley becomes a moment of transformation. A young woman discovers the responsibilities of talent and freedom.

Pictures of the Shark, by Houston native and Dobie Paisano award-winning author Thomas H. McNeely traces a young man's coming of age and falling apart. From the rough and tumble of Houston's early seventies East End to the post-punk Texas bohemia of late eighties Austin, this novel in stories examines what happens when childhood trauma haunts adult lives. 





PRAISE FOR PICTURES OF THE SHARK:

 “McNeely’s brilliant stories are filled with delicious menace and heartbreaking hope.”

- Pamela Painter, author of What If? Writing Exercises for Fiction Writers and Fabrications: New and Selected Stories


In these gorgeously crafted interlinked stories, Thomas McNeely demonstrates once again an uncanny ability to illuminate the darkest emotional corners of his characters with a vision that is as tender and compassionate as it is unflinching.”

- Antonio Ruiz-Camacho, author of Barefoot Dogs


“With masterful prose, McNeely draws you down into emotional depths where your ambivalence and confusion show you at your most profoundly human. These stories hook you quickly and deeply and keep you even after they end.

- C.W. Smith, author of Steplings, Buffalo Nickel, and Understanding Women


 
Thomas H. McNeely is an Eastside Houston native. He has published short stories and nonfiction in The Atlantic, Texas Monthly, Ploughshares, and many other magazines and anthologies, including Best American Mystery Stories and Algonquin Books’ Best of the South. His stories have been shortlisted for the Pushcart Prize, Best American Short Stories, and O. Henry Award anthologies. He has received National Endowment for the Arts, Wallace Stegner and MacDowell Colony fellowships for his fiction. His first book, Ghost Horse, won the Gival Press Novel Award and was shortlisted for the William Saroyan International Prize in Writing. He currently teaches in the Stanford Online Writing Studio and at Emerson College, Boston.
 
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FOUR WINNERS!
2 winners: autographed copy of Pictures of the Shark
2 winners: autographed copy of Pictures of the Shark 
+ editorial critique of an excerpt (up to 20 pages)
from an unpublished short story or novel
(US only; ends midnight, CDT, 7/15/2022)