Captain Fin ~ Lone Star Book Blog Tour Character Interview & Giveaway!

CAPTAIN FIN

by

AMANDA M. THRASHER
based on a screenplay by Kevin James O'Neill

  Genre: Young Adult / Adventure / Family

Publisher: Progressive Rising Phoenix Press

Date of Publication: May 1, 2019

Number of Pages: 432

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Hannah Gunner, once a carefree child, is faced with secrets, lies, and betrayal. A life-changing event during her adolescent years forces her to confront a past that she no longer recognizes. Now, questioning everything she thought she knew, Hannah struggles with the person she is supposed to be! With the help of her boyfriend and her closest friend, they discover several clues that may hold the missing links to her life.

A tattered box filled with worn-out letters holds some of the answers that she needs, but not all of them. With an assist from her aunt, and a visitor from her past, Hannah manages to track down the only person in the world who can answer her questions—the Captain! But why did those closest to her lie in the first place? Will Hannah ever find the answers that she needs to bring her peace? 

Suspenseful, engaging, and with twists and turns that make it impossible to put down, this is a book filled with surprises.

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Interview with Hannah from Captain Fin

by Amanda M. Thrasher

CAPTAIN FIN spans main character Hannah's childhood from age five to her teen years. If Hannah were interviewed towards the end of the novel, these might be the answers she'd give in an interview. 

Q: Are you adjusting to your new life?

Hannah: All things considered, yes, though it has definitely taken me a minute. I'm caught between excitement and sadness. 

Q: What did you do first as a family?

Hannah: Cry.

Q: You've made new friends, found family, and learned things you didn't know about yourself. How does this make you feel?

Hannah: Overwhelmed, but grateful.

Q: Do you have any big plans? In other words, what will you do next?

Hannah: I'm going to graduate and apply to USF and go to nursing school.

Readers: here are some questions YOU might wonder about as you read Captain Fin. How do you think Hannah might answer these?

*You attended multiple schools as a small child. Do you believe this affected your learning ability as an adolescent? 

*What was it like reading your father's letters to you for the first time?

*How long have you and your boyfriend, Cash, been dating?

*Does your best friend, Lindsey, get jealous of you and Cash always being together?

*Who do you think you look like: your mom or your dad?

*Are you angry with your mom?

Amanda M. Thrasher was born in England, moved to Texas, and resides there still. Amanda has authored picture books, middle-grade chapter books, early readers, young adult pieces, and a graphic novel written specifically for the Texas Municipal Courts Education Center.

Amanda is a multiple Gold Recipient of The Mom’s Choice Awards® (MCA) for YA, General Fiction, and early reader chapter books, a Readers’ Favorite International Book Award winner for YA Social Issues, an NTBF winner for YA and General Fiction, and she was awarded a New Apple Literary Award for YA and general fiction.

As Co-Founder and Chief Executive Officer at Progressive Rising Phoenix Press, she assists other authors with their work and shares her writing process and publishing experience with them. Her latest release, CAPTAIN FIN, was based on a contract to adapt a screenplay into a novel for the director, actor, and producer Kevin James O’Neill. Her works-in-progress are the sequel to CAPTAIN FIN and the fourth installment of her Mischief Series.

WEBSITE
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AMAZON AUTHOR PAGE   BOOKBUB

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TWO WINNERS: Signed Copies of Captain Fin
+ $25 Starbucks Gift Cards
THREE WINNERS: Signed Copies of Captain Fin

June 4-14, 2019

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CHECK OUT THE OTHER GREAT BLOGS ON THE TOUR:

6/4/19	Author Interview	StoreyBook Reviews
6/4/19	Character Interview	Hall Ways Blog
6/5/19	Review	Momma on the Rocks
6/6/19	Guest Post	Texas Book Lover
6/6/19	Deleted Scene	The Clueless Gent
6/7/19	Excerpt	All the Ups and Downs
6/8/19	Review	#Bookish
6/8/19	Review	That's What She's Reading
6/9/19	Review	Story Schmoozing Book Reviews
6/10/19	Scrapbook Page	Chapter Break Book Blog
6/10/19	Top Ten	Sybrina's Book Blog
6/11/19	Guest Post	Forgotten Winds
6/12/19	Review	Missus Gonzo
6/12/19	Review	Reading by Moonlight
6/13/19	Review	Book Fidelity

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On Wings of Silence: Mexico '68 ~ Lone Star Book Blog Tours Review & Giveaway!

ON WINGS OF SILENCE:

Mexico '68

by

DEDE FOX

Genre:  Historical / Novel in Verse / Literary Fiction
Publisher: Lamar University Literary Press

Date of Publication: April 2, 2019

Number of Pages: 196

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On Wings of Silence is the story of seventeen-year-old Diana Green, who travels from Texas to Mexico City searching for adventure, freedom, and romance. She finds all three. 

Then Diana’s first love Guillermo vanishes during the revolutionary chaos prior to the '68 Olympics. Heartbroken, she searches for the truth about his disappearance. As police track, threaten, and abuse those who ask questions, she refuses to be silenced and risks becoming one of the missing.

Based on real events, On Wings of Silence uses historical details to bring to life the horror of the Tlatelolco Massacre, presented through the eyes of a young woman readers will care about and admire.

“This incredible story...is told in a masterful way that engages the reader with its protagonist and the other characters from the start. They are authentic. We know people like them and we care what happens to them. In Fox’s clear voice, mystery, romance and suspense build steadily to the end. Pitched toward young adult readers, this is a good read for any age.” -- Dianne Logan

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HALL WAYS REVIEW.  Upon finishing On Wings of Silence: Mexico ’68, my brain is buzzing with impressions. I look at the clock and wonder how I could have experienced so much in so little time. Written in verse, and coming in under 200 pages, On Wings of Silence is a quick read, but it says more than many books that are triple its size. Much more. I read the book straight through in one sitting, and I would recommend others do the same. And then read it again.

Maybe  being loved isn’t a magical charm

           that saves us from a terrible fate.

Maybe our loving someone,

           knowing what they’d want for us,

simply helps us become braver, stronger.

On Wings of Silence is a coming of age story and a historical novel, but it’s so much more. With the talent of author and poet Dede Fox, readers are transported back to 1968 and into the vibrant but tumultuous culture of Mexico City, just as the Olympics are set to begin. Those who know their history understand the nuances of this setting and the significance of events that happened at the Olympic games that year.  Next level scholars may even recall the political climate of Mexico and the massacre at Tlatelalco just before the games began – a blip in the history books, if mentioned at all, but a blip that becomes horrifying and feels too familiar, sickening and personal, upon reading about it in On Wings of Silence. The parallels to what’s happening now, fifty years later won’t go unnoticed: Russians influencing citizens of another country, the United States supplying weapons to fight someone else’s battle, peaceful gatherings shattered by bullets. History repeating itself again and again.

A cool shower washes away the sweat

        but the claustrophobia of their lives

        belonging to older men, lingers.

What’s truly amazing is that Fox makes readers see and feel so much in a scattering of words across the page. Every single word counts. Every single stanza startles the reader into awareness and makes the streets of Mexico City pop into dazzling focus.  As a novel in verse, On Wings of Silence is a visual story as much as a verbal one, where looking at each page before and while reading is an experience in itself. As seventeen-year-old Diana is allowed to explore her freedom and define herself, the structure of the verses on the page often reflects Diana’s emotions: an inconsistent spacing of words as Diana is hesitant, a compact block of text as she is angry, a cascade of letters as she falls into despair. Impactful. Powerful. My descriptions cannot do justice to Dede Fox’s story and style.

        Her sweet spirit reminds me

        of my unearned good fortune:

        to be born in a different place

        with parents who allow me so much freedom

        and would never sell any part of me.

Through the characters of Diana, her roommates, and their Mexican boyfriends, readers peek into a past that shows how much the world has changed and stayed the same. These young adults are longing for things they just barely understand and for those things they understand too well. Their eyes are wide open, but their collective vision is sometimes clouded by their notions of invincibility and naivety. Dede Fox perfectly captures it all and leaves the reader longing, too. Perhaps the longing will be for bygone youth or to spread one’s wings; or perhaps the longing will be for peace and love to defeat violence and hate.  But one thing is certain: after reading On Wings of Silence, we’re all left longing for more stories from Dede Fox.

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

Dede Fox is the 2017-2022 Poet Laureate of Montgomery, Texas. Since 2016, she has been the NEA/DOJ Artist-in-Residence at the Bryan Federal Prison Camp for Women, where she teaches creative writing. Through Houston’s Writers in the Schools, Dede also writes with hematology and oncology patients at Texas Children’s Hospital.

The Treasure in the Tiny Blue Tin, Dede’s first novel, was listed in the 2010 Best Jewish Books for Children and Teens. Her poetry books include Confessions of a Jewish Texan and Postcards Home. Dede’s poem “Chapultepec Park: September 25, 1968,” the catalyst for this novel, won the Christina Sergeyevna Award at the Austin International Poetry Festival.

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GRAND PRIZE: Signed Copy + Tee Shirt + $10 Starbucks Gift Card

SECOND PRIZE: Signed Copy of the Book

MAY 9-19, 2019

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VISIT THE OTHER GREAT BLOGS ON THE TOUR:

5/9/19	Guest Post	That's What She's Reading
5/10/19	Review	All the Ups and Downs
5/11/19	Excerpt	Book Fidelity
5/12/19	Playlist	StoreyBook Reviews
5/13/19	Review	Forgotten Winds
5/14/19	Excerpt	The Love of a Bibliophile
5/15/19	Guest Post	Momma on the Rocks
5/16/19	Review	Hall Ways Blog
5/17/19	Afterword	Max Knight
5/18/19	Review	Reading by Moonlight

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Anne of the Island ~ ~ Audio Book Blog Tour, Audio Clip, & Giveaway!

Author: L.M. Montgomery

Narrator: Colleen Winton

Length: 8 hours 20 minutes

Publisher: Post Hypnotic Press

Series: Anne of Green Gables, Book Three

Genre: Classics

Anne of the Island was published in 1915, seven years after the best-selling Anne of Green Gables, partly because of the continuing clamor for more Anne from her fans - a fan base that continues to grow today!

In this continuation of the story of Anne Shirley, Anne leaves Green Gables and her work as a teacher in Avonlea to pursue her original dream (which she gave up in Anne of Green Gables) of taking further education at Redmond College in Nova Scotia. Gilbert Blythe and Charlie Sloane enroll as well, as does Anne's friend from Queen's Academy, Priscilla Grant. During her first week of school, Anne befriends Philippa Gordon, a beautiful girl whose frivolous ways charm her. Philippa (Phil for short) also happens to be from Anne's birthplace of Bolingbroke, Nova Scotia. Anne, always the good scholar, studies hard, but she also has many life lessons. This book sees Anne leave behind girlhood to blossom into a mature young woman.

Audible ● Post Hypnotic Press

➜Use the code Anne_VT17 to get 

35% off downloads and CDs from Post Hypnotic Press.

Lucy Maud Montgomery OBE (November 30, 1874 – April 24, 1942) was a Canadian author best known Anne of Green Gables and the series of novels that book begins. The "Anne" of the books is Anne Shirley, an orphaned girl who comes to live with Matthew and Marilla Cuthbert on their farm, Green Gables. Published in 1908, the book was an immediate success in Canada, the United States and beyond. It has been adapted multiple times to screen, stage, radio, and TV.

Anne Shirley made Montgomery famous in her lifetime and gave her an international following. Anne of Green Gables was ranked number 41 in "The Big Read," a survey of the British public by BBC to determine the "nation's best-loved novel" (not children's novel!). And a survey conducted by School Library Journal (USA) in 2012 ranked Anne of Green Gables number nine among all-time children's novels.

Anne of Green Gables was followed by a series of sequels with Anne as the central character. Montgomery published 20 novels as well as 530 short stories, 500 poems, and 30 essays in her lifetime. Her work, diaries and letters have been read and studied by scholars and readers worldwide. Mostly set in Prince Edward Island and locations within Canada's smallest province, the books made PEI a literary landmark and popular tourist site. Montgomery was made an officer of the Order of the British Empire in 1935.

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Colleen is a Vancouver actor, singer, dancer, director and choreographer...and now a narrator. Her career has taken her all over the country and includes the Stratford, Shaw and Charlottetown Festivals, the original Canadian companies of CATS and Show Boat, extensive film/TV credits, and numerous directing/choreographing credits. Her stage work has been honoured with numerous nominations and a Jessie and Ovation award and she received a cultural award given by her local Chamber of Commerce. She was especially pleased to have recorded the works of L.M. Montgomery for Post Hypnotic Press just before she embarked on a production of the musical Anne of Green Gables at Theatre Calgary in which she plays Marilla Cuthbert.

3 WINNERS WIN A POSTHYPNOTIC PRESS STORE CREDIT!

$120 (Grand Prize), $90 (Runner-up) & $60 (2nd Runner-up)

Open Internationally through August 20, 2017

Anne of Green Gables Giveaway: Three Winners

Aug. 13th:
History From A Woman's Perspective
Spunky 'N Sassy


Aug. 14th:
A Lovelorn Virgo
2 Girls and A Book
Tara's Book Addiction

Aug. 15th:
Dab of Darkness
Joy of Bookworms
Canadian Book Addict

Aug. 16th:
CGB Blog Tours
A Book and A Latte
Macarons and Paperbacks
Lilly's Book World


Aug. 17th:
To Read Or Not To Read
Jorie Loves A Story
Reading for the Stars and Moon
Notes From 'Round the Bend
Haddie's Haven

Aug. 18th:
The Maiden's Court
The Book Slayer
Jorie Loves A Story
Hall Ways


Aug. 19th:
Christian Chick's Thoughts
Lomeraniel
Life As Freya
Bound 4 Escape
WTF Are You Reading?

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