Vortex ~ Lone Star Book Blog Tours Promo, Notable Quotable, & Giveaway!

VORTEX

by

KIMBERLY PACKARD

Genre: Women's Fiction / Psychological
Publisher: Abalos Publishing
Publication Date: January 31, 2019

Number of Pages: 308 pages

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Constant spinning, round and round and round, temperatures rise and fall from stifling heat to chilling cold, emotions run high in anticipation of what will happen next… there’s a fine line between surviving a tornado and falling in love.

A close encounter with a tornado, during the final months of her doctoral studies, jogs a lost memory to the surface. Desperate to relive the vision and find answers, storm chaser Elaina Adams continually puts her safety at risk by placing herself in the path of dangerous storms.

When betrayal strikes, Elaina is forced to pair up with Robert Tucker. “Tuck” owns a storm chasing tour group and only cares about two things: chasing tornadoes and making his next buck.

Seth Maddux was climbing his way to the top as the star meteorologist for the Forecast channel, but an embarrassing outburst on camera sent his career on a downward spiral. Hoping to reignite his career with a promising field assignment, he meets Elaina and a different kind of flame sparks.

Family secrets surface and passions explode in this twister of a tale.

Vortex is a story of family, love, identity and determination set against the thrilling backdrop of Tornado Alley. 

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PRAISE FOR VORTEX:

"Set in the heart of America’s Tornado Alley, Kimberly Packard’s latest psychological fiction swirls with discovery and betrayal. VORTEX may make you question who among those closest to you are really your friends." -- Addison Brae, author of Becker Circle
"Vortex is a fast-paced story with a strong woman at its center. Readers will be in for a wild ride full of secrets, the labyrinth of memory, and the spark of romance. Definitely one to add to your reading list." -- Christine Brodersen, author of Lip Gloss, Shame and Murdered Tomatoes

"Kimberly Packard is an accomplished author who writes strong women characters. She blew me away with her Phoenix series (three books you don’t want to miss) and now in Vortex, we meet Elaina Adams, who, like all of us, struggles with her past, her career, and her family secrets. Action, and emotion-packed, this page-turner is a different kind of love story." -- Vanessa Foster, author of More than Everything 

Kimberly Packard is an award-winning author of edgy women’s fiction. She began visiting her spot on the shelves at libraries and bookstores at a young age, gazing between the Os and the Qs.

When she isn’t writing, she can be found running, doing a poor imitation of yoga or curled up with a book. She resides in Texas with her husband Colby, a clever cat named Oliver and a yellow lab named Charlie.

Her debut novel, Phoenix, was awarded as Best General Fiction of 2013 by the Texas Association of Authors. She is also the author of a Christmas novella, The Crazy Yates, and the sequels to Phoenix, Pardon Falls and Prospera Pass. 

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FIRST PRIZE: Signed Copy  +  $5 Amazon gift card + Bookmark
SECOND PRIZE: Signed Copy + Bookmark

TWO WINNERS: eBook copies

FEBRUARY 19-28, 2019

(USA only)

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VISIT THE OTHER GREAT BLOGS ON THE TOUR:

2/19/19	Notable Quotable	Texas Book Lover
2/19/19	Notable Quotable	All the Ups and Downs
2/19/19	BONUS post	Hall Ways Blog
2/20/19	Review	Reading by Moonlight
2/21/19	Review	That's What She's Reading
2/22/19	Excerpt	The Page Unbound
2/22/19	Author Interview	Story Schmoozing Book Reviews
2/23/19	Review	Max Knight
2/24/19	Review	Book Fidelity
2/25/19	Top Ten List	Kelly Well Read
2/25/19	Deleted Scene & BONUS Review	StoreyBook Reviews
2/26/19	Review	Momma on the Rocks
2/26/19	BONUS post	Recipe and a Read
2/27/19	Playlist	The Clueless Gent
2/27/19	Scrapbook Page	Forgotten Winds
2/28/19	Review	Rebecca R. Cahill, Author
2/28/19	Review	Tangled in Text

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Deadly Shore ~ ~ Audio Book Tour, Review, Audio Excerpt, & Giveaway!

Author: Andrew Cunningham

Narrator: Greg Hernandez

Length: 6h 46m

Publisher: Andrew Cunningham

Genre: Mystery/Thriller

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It's July 5th, and the Cape Cod roadways are clogged with tourists heading home from the holiday weekend and trying to outrun an approaching potentially catastrophic hurricane. But in the blink of an eye, their lives are thrown into chaos when terrorists bring down the bridges to the Cape. Instantly, a half million terrified people have no way to escape. And when the terrorists threaten to release anthrax on the captive population if their demands aren't met, fear turns to all-out panic.

With time running out, Marcus Baldwin, a private investigator and former CIA operative, and Sara Cross, a disgraced ex-homicide detective, are brought together by a sole clue to the identity of the terrorists. They quickly realize that they may be the only ones with even a chance at stopping the plot before it's too late.

With Hurricane Chad barreling up the coast on a path for a direct hit on Cape Cod, it becomes frighteningly clear to everyone trapped on what has now become an island - one way or another they are probably all going to die.

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HALL WAYS REVIEW: What a chilling premise: it’s the height of tourist season, a hurricane is barreling its way towards Cape Cod, and there’s been a multi-front terrorist attack. As if that’s not enough to keep the reader’s interest piqued, add the element that the terrorists have a back-up plan for complete and thorough devastation.

There are several storylines going at once, which gives readers a wider view of the impact of both the natural and unnatural elements happening on the island.  Readers not only follow the primary story of private investigator (and more) Marcus Baldwin and ex-detective Sara Cross hunting down the terrorists, but readers also see the side stories: people stranded on a ferry boat, cars plunging into the water when a bridge explodes, a book club meeting that goes into survival mode, and a thief who can’t escape the crime scene.

My favorite secondary story was that of Anna, a tough-as-nails elderly woman who doesn’t take crap from anyone. She’s a survivor and so clever.  Cunningham’s skilled characterization shows best in the Anna scenes and makes-up for a few others that fell a little flat or into the cliché zone. The side-stories are where readers get just a touch of comic relief -- especially with the ladies trapped at their book club. The only side-story that didn’t seem to fit was the awkward relationship between Marcus and Sara; I think this is supposed to be a romance? Or maybe it was convenience sex? Whatever it was, it lacked any spark and really added very little if anything to the story.

Author Andrew Cunningham does an excellent job of showing across-the-board chaos and panic. He realistically depicts the best and worst of the human condition and how people either rise and work together or turn on each other to survive. You gotta love a story where local law bands together for a greater purpose. They are all in because they signed-up to protect and serve.  

Deadly Shore has more than a few surprises, and the story is unsettling from the respect of it being so realistic in this awful world of both domestic and international terrorism.

ABOUT THE AUDIO NARRATION: I listened at 1.25x speed, which seemed perfect for the pace of the book. I enjoyed narrator Greg Hernandez’s reading and thought that he excelled with several of the characters. (especially the bad guys!) I never had any trouble keeping the parts straight, and the story was told from a lot of different perspectives, which Hernandez handled without a glitch. I would listen to another book narrated by Hernandez (and even look for them) – and hope for another in this series.

Thank you to Audiobookworm Promotions and the author for providing me a free audio download of this book in exchange for my honest opinion – the only kind I give.

ANDREW CUNNINGHAM:  I was born in England, but have spent most of my life living in the U.S.—including 25 years on Cape Cod before moving to Florida. A former interpreter for the deaf and long-time independent bookseller, I've been a full-time freelance writer and copy editor for many years. A 4th-degree Master Blackbelt in Tang Soo Do, I finally retired from active training when my body said, "Enough already! Why are you doing this to yourself?" I'm married, with two grown children and two awesome grandsons. My wife and I spend as much time traveling as we can, and are especially fond of cruising the Caribbean.

​I have been gratified by the response to my books. When I published Eden Rising back in the spring of 2013, I had no idea what to expect. When I sold my first few copies, I was excited beyond belief that someone was willing to take a chance on it. Numerous books and thousands of copies later, I am still humbled by the emails I get from readers telling me that my books kept them up late into the night.

In October of 2014, Wisdom Spring made me an official Amazon Bestselling author, a thrill I never thought would happen. But it still comes down to being able to bring a few hours of escape to a reader. That's what it's all about for me.

Website⎮Facebook⎮Twitter⎮Goodreads⎮Amazon

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GREG HERNANDEZ. For more than 20 years I worked as a radio news reporter and news writer. I spent half of my broadcasting career at ABC News Radio in the Washington, D.C., bureau. I covered all the federal agencies as well as Congress and the White House. I reported on a wide range of stories during my career, including financial and entertainment industry news.

I have worked as a federal government spokesman at three separate agencies for more than 20 years. At the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA, U.S. Commerce Department), I introduced podcasting in 2005 just a few weeks before Hurricane Katrina struck the Gulf Coast of the United States. The 19 podcasts I narrated and produced from August 2005 to June 2007 were downloaded more than 600,000 times during that period. They're still online at the following link.

http://www.noaa.gov/podcasts/podcast-archive.html

I enjoy narrating audio books because it gives me great satisfaction bringing to life books of all genres, especially mysteries and thrillers.

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Giveaway: $50 Amazon Gift Card

1 Winner⎮Runs June 21st-28th⎮Open internationally

Deadly Shore Giveaway

Jun. 21st: Kristina Stanley

Jun. 22nd: Dab of Darkness

Buried Under Books

Jun. 23rd:

CGB Blog Tours

The Bookworm Lodge

Jun. 24th:

A Book and A Latte

Jun. 25th:

Lomeraniel

Jun. 26th:

Between the Coverz

Bound 4 Escape

Audio Audits

Jun. 27th:

Hall Ways

The Book Addict's Reviews

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Hail of Fire: A Man & His Family Face Natural Disaster ~ ~ ~ ~ Blog Tour, Excerpt, & Review

Lone Star

Literary Life

Blog Tours

presents

HAIL OF FIRE

by

Randy Fritz

 

Hail of Fire: A Man and His Family Face Natural Disaster is an intimate account of the third worst wildfire in modern U.S. history, and the most destructive in the history of Texas. It is a memoir of what happened to Randy Fritz, an artist turned politician turned public policy leader, and his family during and after the Bastrop County Complex fire in September 2011. Combining a searing account of the fire as it grew to apocalyptic strength with universal themes of loss and grief, Fritz gives a first-person account of the emotional turmoil that comes with rebuilding one’s life after a calamitous event.

The wildfire itself was traumatic to those who witnessed it and suffered its immediate aftermath. But the most significant impact came in the months and years following, as families grieved, struggling to adapt to a new world and accept the destruction of an iconic forest of internationally acclaimed great natural beauty—the Lost Pines. Neighbors once close worried for each other, while others discovered new friendships that transcended the boundaries of race, class, and family lineage. Fritz struggled as his wife and daughter tried to make sense of their losses. He never imagined the impact this disaster would have on them individually and as a family, as well as the visceral toll he would pay in the journey to make sense of it all.

Hail of Fire is an unflinching story of how a man and his tight-knit family found grace after losing everything. Fritz’s hard-won insights provide inspiration to anyone on the search for what truly matters, particularly those who have undergone an unexpected and life-changing event and those who love and care for them.

HARDCOVER BOOK DETAILS

Price: $24.95

Pages: 256

Size: 6 x 9

Published: Jun 2015

ISBN: 9781595342591

EBOOK DETAILS

Price: $24.95

Published: Jun 2015

ISBN: 9781595342607

BUY LINKS:

Amazon ~ B&N ~ Kobo ~ iBooks ~ TU Press

 

At least seventy thousand wildfires happen every year in America, and most regenerate healthy forests, culling underbrush, improving the soil, and unspooling the life resting inside pinecones.

Some of them shed their better natures, mutating into something dangerous enough that heavy equipment and elite firefighters must be called in. Of those, only a few turn into criminals, taking lives and destroying homes.

But in the modern era, there have been only two wildfires, both in California, more vicious and pitiless than the one that changed my life after nearly killing me.

With the tag-team help of a malicious sun that baked Central Texas dry for months and a tropical storm that uncoiled from the Gulf of Mexico with a hateful wind instead of rain, the fire that ravaged Bastrop County—my home for more than thirty years—on a holiday weekend in 2011 left behind a scorched and violated landscape shaped like a giant teardrop.

The fire started in two separate locations as people were returning home from church or finishing their lunches. In each case, a dead tree on private property blew into a power line, and the resulting sparks lit the bounty of fuel on the ground—a desiccated carpet of pine needles and twigs that were like gasoline vapor waiting for a match.


The wind curling off Tropical Storm Lee’s dry side energized the embryonic flames. In short order, as they skittered along the ground, vaulted from tree to tree, and sprinted from house to house, the fires began shooting off flaming pieces of bark or wood, like the sparks of a campfire, except the embers weren’t innocent or nostalgic.

As these fiery hailstones prepped the drought-stricken forest for the arrival of each fire, yet another one began five miles southwest of the first two before the event was an hour old. By the time the conflagration crossed Highway 71—one of the major arterials connecting two of the nation’s largest cities— they had merged into a colossus, and a thousand homes were burning or about to be.

The teardrop-shaped fire destroyed more homes, and upended more lives, than any other fire in Texas history. It reached a level of intensity that fire experts have scientifically confirmed only a handful of times before.

HALL WAYS REVIEW: In Hail of Fire, Randy Fritz shares with readers the profound emotional impact of the 2011 forest fires that devastated Bastrop County, Texas. By the time the fires had swept through nearly fifty-five square miles, over seventeen hundred families had lost their homes, including author Randy Fritz.

I expected the family's escape and recovery from the fire to be more central to the story, but it was actually pretty anticlimactic -- they were told to evacuate and they did it, and the close call that the author had in returning to gather some belongings was only realized much later in the book.   Also, where I expected the family to go through real, physical hardship at being homeless and without any possessions, they were immeasurably blessed and minimally inconvenienced. Fritz never downplays their material and physical blessings; rather, he mourns the spiritual losses of an entire ecosystem - and HIS beloved pine trees. 

Fritz tells his story two ways: he begins by leading up to the fires, but he makes frequent digressions into the past, telling stories about his early days in Bastrop County. There is a great deal of dialogue, and his side stories are interesting and contribute to readers better understanding Fritz and his values -- and certainly underscored his ties to the area. Some of these stories added clarity to the depth of Fritz's losses, but others were confusing and seemed like nothing more than name dropping and borderline bragging. Given that the book is a memoir, it is certainly allowed but it added little for me and was more a distraction from the core story.

Fritz is a gifted writer whose use of figurative language really enriches his descriptions. The book was well-edited (very few typos) and the writing often lyrical. His love of the land and the beautiful trees covering it is obvious and the despair he feels in losing it is heart breaking to read. Through Fritz's narrative, readers will feel Fritz's emotional turmoil and self-destructive behavior and applaud him for getting help when he couldn't manage the burden of grief and guilt on his own. The real meat of Hail of Fire is Fritz's struggle to regain control of his emotional well-being and make some measure of peace with his former friend, fire. When he finally realizes that "grief and loss and regret and anger and guilt cannot be washed away through force of will or stoical silence," the healing begins. 

And healing is what this book is really about: both Fritz's self-healing and the healing of nature. At the end of the book, Fritz synthesizes what he learned by going through the ordeal, and he gives very practical advice for anyone who lives in an area prone to natural disaster or anyone who survives a traumatic event.  He laments that no one told him early on that what he was feeling was normal, and Fritz clearly wants to save others from the same distress he endured.  Hail of Fire is unique and provides an exceptionally candid look at loss, exposing unexpected angles to post-disaster recovery. 

 
Praises for this book from Kirkus Review, Booklist, Austin American-Statesman, Texas Monthly, and more can be found on the publisher's website.

 

 Randy Fritz is the former chief operating officer of the Texas Department of State Health Services, the state’s public and mental health agency. He helped coordinate the state’s response to Hurricanes Katrina and Rita and led the team that implemented the Children’s Health Insurance Program in Texas. Fritz lives in Bastrop, Texas, with his wife, Holly, and their youngest daughter, Miranda.

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Check out these other great blog stops on the tour!

Sept 4 - Books and Broomsticks promo

Sept 5 - The Crazy Booksellers promo

Sept 6 - TexasBookLover Author Q&A

Sept 7 - The Page Unbound promo

Sept 8 - Because This is My Life, Y’all promo

Sept 9 - Bookishjessp Author Q/A

Sept 10 - My Book Fix Review

Sept 11 - Texas Book-aholic Review

Sept 12 - Missus Gonzo Review

Sept 13 - Hall Ways Review

 *NOTE FROM KRISTINE at HALL WAYS: Except for 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.