Guardian's Touch ~ Cover Reveal!

For a ghost there are only two choices. Heaven or Hell.

Coming August 1, 2017

Guardian's Touch, Touched by Afterlife, Book 2

Life has returned to normal for Tamara and Dex after helping a horde of ghosts cross over. Their brush with the afterlife affirmed one thing: happily ever after is real.

When odd pranks around the farm escalate to destruction,Tamara fears mischievous teenagers are vandalizing the neighborhood. Then Dex starts to act out of character. Meanness slips into his usually playful disposition. One day he even ridicules a co-worker publicly. Tamara watches helplessly as he seems to lose the ability to control his own actions. When Dex’s abnormal anger turns violent—toward Tamara—their happily ever after is

threatened. Desperate to help Dex and herself, she sends out a silent prayer for help.

She didn’t expect Cal to come to her aid.

Pre-order now!

Mark as to read on Goodreads:

Follow LA Dragoni on Amazon. 

or BookBub.

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CLICK FOR HALL WAYS REVIEW

Ghost Touch, Touched by Afterlife Book 1 ebook

is marked down to just $0.99 for a limited time.

For fifteen minutes each night a portal opens in Tamara’s barn and a horde of ghosts spills into her yard. Their leader, Cal, a quiet, unassuming cowboy, fulfills an aching loneliness the death of Tamara’s mother left behind. Tamara can help the ghosts cross, but can she let Cal go?

Available in ebook, audiobook, and print from Amazon.

Also available on Barnes and Noble, Kobo, iTunes, and other e-tailers.

But hurry before the price returns to $2.99.

About the author: LA Dragoni isn’t too particular about who falls in love or where they fall in love. Whether it’s paranormal, mythical, or time travel, LA simply considers it her job to divine their story and share it with you. She lives in Central Oregon with her husband and children, but haunts ghost towns and cemeteries throughout the west, in search of the next adventure to sift through her storytelling brain. Learn more about LA and her work at ladragoni.com

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The Thousand Tiny Miracles of Living Twice ~ ~ Book Launch Tour, Review, & Giveaway!

Meet Irene Nylander, a frumpy housewife from Finland... and a yo-yo dieter. She feels trapped in an unhappy marriage, looking after her domineering mother-in-law and living vicariously through romantic movies.

Meanwhile, in Florence, Mimi Kavanough’s star is rising. She has the body of a Barbie princess, the iron will of an army sergeant - and Hollywood in her sights.

On her fiftieth birthday, Irene discovers her husband is having an affair. Devastated, she prays for a way out: she wants to die.

In heaven, a mischievous angel called Aaron hears her prayers. He decides to make Irene and Mimi swap bodies.

How will the two women cope with their unexpected, and very different, second lives? And will Aaron’s meddling get him evicted from heaven?

What will happen if he has to transform into a human being and live on Earth? 

BUY THE BOOK!

AMAZON UK     AMAZON USA

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HALL WAYS REVIEW: 

“The Thursday when Irene Nylander’s first life comes

to an end is sunny.”

What a great opening line to a story that kept me reading, entertained, and fully engaged from start to finish!  In her latest book, author Katarina West has won me over again. The Thousand Tiny Miracles of Living Twice takes readers on a journey (several, actually!) that explores themes familiar to most of us at one point or another in life, and it is in making those connections between reader and character where West’s writing really shines. 

Whether in the same season of life as main characters Irene or Mimi -- or somewhere else entirely – readers can see glimpses of themselves in West’s brilliantly written characters.  The issues and emotions her characters are confronting are heavy, but the book is infused with plenty of humor to off-set those times. Often, it was in the little one-liners that I giggled and related. (Like when a famished Irene says that a chunk of bread is “so tasty that she feels like crying.” Yeah. Been there, done that, felt that.)

The ideas of angels among us and people switching bodies aren’t new, but West takes her premise in an interesting and unexpected direction that is truly memorable.  Heaven is possibly as messy and complicated as Earth, and angels like Aaron are as flawed as humans. Readers will never be confused as to who is who once Irene and Mimi switch bodies because West focuses on the mind of the occupant, not the body occupied.  Admittedly, some of the hilarious parts of the book are in each discovering her new body.  

What is beautiful about Aaron, Irene, and Mimi is that each grows over the course of the story. It is in that growth that I became attached to the characters despite my not initially liking certain aspects of them.  Since this is the first book in the Angel Aid series, I look forward to seeing how they continue to evolve -- especially Irene since even at fifty, she is reinventing herself.

Katarina West has a distinct writing style, and in The Thousand Tiny Miracles of Living Twice, it’s a little chummier with the reader than in her other books (Witchcraft Couture, Absolute Truth, for Beginners) This casual tone is fun, but don’t think for a minute that it’s not well done.  The Helsinki and Little Heaven settings are wonderfully detailed and easy to imagine, but it’s not just in her descriptions of place where readers will revel; some of her sentences where readers are quietly observing really pack a punch.

“His desperate murmur mixes with the chanting. . . 

and together they form the most beautiful symphony,

a rhapsody of hope and change.”

West mentions current celebrities and products which places the story in the here and now, but I am undecided as to whether I like that or not. On the one hand, there is no question about the time frame, but on the other hand, it dates the book and may make it less relevant later. (I suppose since it works for me today, I won’t worry about other peoples’ tomorrows!) Kudos also go out to West for a cleanly edited book that allowed me to read and enjoy the story without distraction.

The Thousand Tiny Miracles of Living Twice feels real, even with a fantastical element to it. It left me feeling good. Thoughtful. Optimistic. Hopeful. . . and forgiving.  Through the characters’ travails, I realized I need to be more forgiving and accepting of myself and others. We are all in this life together, after all.

Thank you to Katarina West for inviting me to be a beta reader on this book and then providing me an eBook copy of the finished product in exchange for my honest opinion – the only kind I give.

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KATARINA WEST is the author of Witchcraft Couture and Absolute Truth, For Beginners. She was born in Helsinki, Finland, into a bilingual family that in addition to humans consisted of dogs, cats, horses, guinea pigs, canaries, rabbits and – thanks to her biology teacher mother – stuffed owls and squirrels. 

     She spent time travelling in Africa, Asia and Latin America, and went on to study at Queen Mary and Westfield College in London and the European University Institute in Florence, where she completed a PhD in political science and published a book based on it, Agents of Altruism. During those student years she started work as a journalist, and continued writing for various Finnish magazines and newspapers for over ten years, writing on various topics from current events and humanitarian issues to celebrity interviews and short stories. She also briefly worked as a university lecturer on humanitarian issues in Northern Italy. 

     Katarina lives in an old farmhouse in Chianti with her husband and son and when not writing, she is fully immersed in Tuscan country life, from jam-making and olive-picking to tractor maintenance.

Website  ❚  Blog  ❚  Twitter  ❚  Goodreads  ❚  AmazonUS  ❚  AmazonUK  ❚  Facebook  ❚  Instagram

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The Thousand Tiny Miracles of Living Twice ~ Pre-Release Tease!

Coming June 2017!

The Thousand Tiny Miracles

of Living Twice

ANGEL AID BOOK 1

By Katarina West

Meet Irene Nylander, a frumpy housewife from Finland… and a yo-yo dieter. She feels trapped in an unhappy marriage, looking after her domineering mother-in-law and living vicariously through romantic movies.

Meanwhile, in Florence, Mimi Kavanough’s star is rising. She has the body of a Barbie princess, the iron will of an army sergeant - and Hollywood in her sights. 

On her fiftieth birthday, Irene discovers her husband is having an affair. Devastated, she prays for a way out: she wants to die.

In heaven, a mischievous angel called Aaron hears her prayers. He decides to make Irene and Mimi swap bodies.

How will the two women cope with their unexpected, and very different, second lives? And will Aaron’s meddling get him evicted from heaven? What will happen if he has to transform into a human being and live on Earth?

❧   ❧   ❧   ❧   ❧   ❧   ❧

The delightful Katarina West shows off her angels and talks about the book

CLICK TO READ THE FIRST THREE CHAPTERS!

About the Author   

Katarina West is the author of Witchcraft Couture and Absolute Truth, For Beginners. She was born in Helsinki, Finland, into a bilingual family that in addition to humans consisted of dogs, cats, horses, guinea pigs, canaries, rabbits and – thanks to her biology teacher mother – stuffed owls and squirrels. 

     She spent time travelling in Africa, Asia and Latin America, and went on to study at Queen Mary and Westfield College in London and the European University Institute in Florence, where she completed a PhD in political science and published a book based on it, Agents of Altruism. During those student years she started work as a journalist, and continued writing for various Finnish magazines and newspapers for over ten years, writing on various topics from current events and humanitarian issues to celebrity interviews and short stories. She also briefly worked as a university lecturer on humanitarian issues in Northern Italy. 

     Katarina lives in an old farmhouse in Chianti with her husband and son and when not writing, she is fully immersed in Tuscan country life, from jam-making and olive-picking to tractor maintenance.

Website  ❚  Blog  ❚  Twitter  ❚  Goodreads  ❚  AmazonUS  ❚  AmazonUK  ❚  Facebook  ❚  Instagram

Dear Diary: My Brother Died Today ~ ~ Blog Tour* & Review

 

 Courtney, S.G. (2015). Dear Diary: My Brother Died Today. Houston: Strategic Book Publishing and Rights Co.

Children's Picture Book / Help / Grief / Christian

Synopsis (publisher): A seven-year-old girl records the sudden death of her beloved older brother by writing her personal feelings in her diary. In her own innocent way, she tells about being able to see him when no one else can. She embraces this ability and is not afraid.

Throughout this tender book, the little girl relates her experiences in feeling her brother’s nearness, even when she cannot see him anymore. In her own trusting way, she knows that everything will be all right, and through her honest feelings, she is able to help her parents cope with their loss. She also learns about angels and knows that her brother is safe.

Dear Diary: My Brother Died Today is the third in a trilogy about the circle of life. The story enables children to perceive the life in heaven that awaits them. Although fictional, the story’s events could actually happen.  

VIEW THE BOOK TRAILER:

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HALL WAYS REVIEW: The topics of death and grief are not typically covered in children's books, and there is definitely a need.  Author Suzanne Gene Courtney has created a beautifully illustrated story and its strength is in its simplicity. Each page is a lined diary entry that contains short sentences in neatly printed text and is accompanied by bright colored-pencil drawings. The vocabulary, complexity of the sentences, and style of the illustrations are perfect for kids ages six to eight.  

Adults who are choosing this book for a grieving child need to be aware of the approach taken by the author. In Dear Diary, it is shown that a child can find comfort in the belief that there are angels and an after-life in Heaven for those who have died. However, it also goes a step further and shows that our dead loved ones can still visit and interact with the living.  The sentiment is wonderful -- and if it does happen for anyone, I am sure it would be most comforting. The concern is that some children might read this book and expect the interaction with the deceased to be the norm and be even more sad if it doesn't happen for them. As such, I'd recommend an adult and child read the book together and discuss.   

Dear Diary is tender and heartfelt. Though the topic is sad, it shows the child's progression into acceptance of her brother's death and knowledge that his love will always remain within her. 

BUY LINKS  

AMAZON  B&N  IndieBound

 

Suzanne Gene (Davis) Courtney comes from a family of teachers.  She has taught several subjects and grade levels over a span of thirty years.  Retiring in 2011, she moved to Austin, TX, in 2015 to be closer to her children and grandchildren and continue her writing aspirations.

Suzanne has three children, Laura, Gregg, and Daniel.  Daniel passed away unexpectedly in 1997 in Hawaii, where he was born.  Devastated, she began to write.  At first, she wrote poems of angst and darkness, then while healing, poems of understanding and hope surfaced.

To date, she has authored five books, with another due later this year.  Four of the six books deal with death and grief with words of support to help the bereaved.  Being a former elementary teacher, she has worked with many children experiencing loss. 

Two of her books, incorporate her experiences while traveling and are meant for pure reading enjoyment.  Book awards to date are:  Indie Excellence Award (Finalist), Character Building Counts Award (Silver), Great Southwest Book Festival (Honorable Mention), and Pacific Rim Book Festival (Honorable Mention).

Book signings at various sites around Texas so far include:  the Author Extravaganza in Llano, and the Texas Book Festival in Austin.  She will be presenting her books for the classroom in several schools in the area soon.

Suzanne is a member of the following organizations:  SCBWI Austin, The Writers League of TX, Texas Authors Association, Alpha Xi Delta Alumni, and Reiki Master Teacher. 

Website   Amazon Page   Facebook 

Twitter   SBPRA

CHECK OUT THE OTHER GREAT BLOGS ON THIS TOUR:

Monday, November 30 - All For the Love of the Word - promo

Tuesday, December 1 - Hall Ways promo

Wednesday, December 2 - Bookishjessp review

Thursday, December 3 - Because This is My Life, Y’all review

Friday, December 4 - All For the Love of the Word - review

Saturday, December 5 - My Book Fix review

Sunday, December 6 - Book Crazy Gals promo

Monday, December 7 - The Page Unbound promo

Tuesday, December 8 -  Missus Gonzo review

Wednesday, December 9 - Blogging For the Love of Authors and Their Books promo 
Wednesday, December 9 - Hall Ways- review

 

blog tour services provided by

 

 

*NOTE FROM KRISTINE at HALL WAYS: With the exception of the Hall Ways Review, the content of this promo post was provided by Lone Star Literary Life Blog Tours.  If you're a Texas blogger interested in joining the ranks of Texas Book Blog Tours, contact Tabatha Pope.

Dead Scary: The Ghost Who Refused to Leave

Gould, S. (2014). Dead Scary: The Ghost Who Refused to Leave. Orbis Media.

Children's Chapter Book / Paranormal / Fantasy

I gave this book 4 of 5 Stars.

When Adam's mom gets an inheritance that includes the family moving into "a home from heaven," Adam soon finds out that it's already occupied by an Earthbound Spirit, Edward, who has made the house his own heaven on earth.  This might not be a problem, except Adam has a gift for being able to see and communicate with ghosts, and he and Edward take an immediate dislike to one another. With both Adam and Edward each refusing to find a new place to live, the stakes get dangerously high as Edward calls in the Warrior Spirits to get rid of Adam and his family.  Adam has to rely on worldly and otherworldly allies for help, especially as the Warrior Spirits prove to be more menacing than even Edward anticipated. Who will ultimately get to stay in the house -- and at what cost?

Dead Scary is a quick-to-draw-you-in story that will immediately engage readers and keep them turning the pages.  Main character Adam is written as a very believable teenaged boy, and even with his extraordinary gift, readers will connect with him.  In very few words, author Sally Gould does a great job of giving readers a definite impression of each character, and whether the character is living or an Earthbound Spirit, each is very human. Gould's depiction of the world of the Earthbound Spirits is particularly interesting since it very much parallels the world of the living: there is a governing power, rules, jobs, friendships, and enforcers. Plus, a connection between the spirit world and God/Heaven is made, which was also quite thought provoking without being too heavy.

The writing was very well done and error-free (hooray!), though American readers need to know that the author is Australian, and as such, there are some things that may seem like errors. For example, where Americans would say something is "as easy as pie," in the book, it would say something is "as easy as."  Actually, it would say, 'as easy as' -- notice the single quotation marks -- because another thing that Australians do differently is quotation marks. Where Americans use double quotation marks, Australians use singles for their quotes. These differences actually made the story even more fun for me (I giggled every time I came across the word "reckon"), though admittedly, I am a bit of a language nerd.

I recommend this book for ages 8-11 and reluctant readers because it's so well-paced and the layout isn't intimidating, with plenty of white space and short chapters. It's clean and the scary factor is balanced so that scenes are never too intense.  

Thank you to the author, who provided me a print copy of her book in exchange for my honest review -- the only kind I give. 

Learn more about author Sally Gould and her books on her WEBSITE, ON GOODREADS, ON FACEBOOK, OR CLICK HERE TO READ HER SMASHWORDS INTERVIEW, where Ms. Gould reveals her inspiration for Dead Scary.

Want to know more about ghosts? Ms. Gould discusses 7 Reasons Why Ghosts Hang Around, based on research she did and Mary Ann Winkowski's When Ghosts Speak.

The Blackwell Family Secret: The Guardians of Sin

Ferrara, J. (2014). The Blackwell Family Secret: The Guardians of Sin. Newton Square, PA: Dragonwell Publishing.

Young YA / Middle Grade / Urban Fantasy

I gave this book 4* stars

For the past nine years, sixteen-year-old Nicholas has been living at St. Christopher's Academy as its only year-round boarder. Orphaned after his parents were murdered -- which Nicholas witnessed -- Nicholas now has a penchant for trouble and gave up on God long ago.  As the new school year begins, a new student, Amy, draws Nicholas's attention, and a trickster serpent tempts Nicholas into doing something with dire consequences -- Nicholas releases the Seven Deadly Sins, which his parents had confined, into the world of mankind.  It is up to Nicholas to discover the secrets of his family, the Blackwell family, and correct his mistake, but Amy, who has secrets of her own, pledges to help him. Nicholas learns he must defeat the Princes of Hell, each a guardian of one of the seven deadly sins, and Nicholas and Amy begin an adventure into the world of Demonio.  There, the pair finds information and help through a colorful group of Risen demons, who tell Nicholas that in order to defeat the princes and save mankind, he must retrieve each Prince's piece of the Devil's Crown.  Nicholas, Amy, and the Risen demon Pugdush, put their lives on the line as they battle the guardians of lust, sloth, greed, gluttony, envy, pride, and wrath -- but will they succeed in defeating the devil himself? In The Blackwell Family Secret: The Guardians of Sin, Jonathan Ferrara creates a fantastic world with fantastic creatures where the battle between good and evil rages, and the fate of the world is in one boy's hands.

          The Blackwell Family Secret is an easy-to-read, interesting story with a great premise and a rich parallel world of fantastic creatures. Author Ferrara's descriptions of this world and these creatures are really the book's strongest points, giving readers vivid images to carry as they read. Ferrara's imagery definitely sets the mood for his scenes, as in the opening chapter that starts with  "decrepit gravestones scattered across the dead field."  The main characters aren't very fleshed-out, and our protagonist, Nicholas, isn't much of a hero, though he clearly thinks himself one (hmm, do I smell pride?), and readers will chuckle at his vow to protect Amy when she's just saved him from dying at the hands of a Prince of Hell. The message behind this is probably a good reminder that most great accomplishments aren't done alone.  There is a heavy theological aspect to the book, but it's paired with the mystical via the Enchanteds, so it doesn't feel too preachy. Attentive readers will figure out most of the secrets pretty easily, and readers will eventually be given a reason for why Nicholas and his group conquer each Prince of Hell with relative ease, though explanation or not, the battles could be a bit of a disappointment for some readers.

          In The Blackwell Family Secret: The Guardians of Sin, there's never much question of how it all will turn out, but it's fun getting there.  The book would benefit from a thorough editing to correct writing and formatting errors (*really a 3.5 rating) and though it's pitched as young adult, the writing seems geared more towards middle grade readers, who will also more readily accept some of the elements of the story.  Reluctant readers will appreciate the fast pace, and Jonathan Ferrara has definitely left the door open for sequels -- the possibilities there are unlimited. (And if he goes there, I would love a book about the history of the Blackwell men and their fate! Good stuff there!)

This book was reviewed for Readers' Favorite, who provided me a free eBook in exchange for my honest review -- the only kind I give.