Airborne ~ Lone Star Book Blog Tours Book Trailer, Bonus Review, & Giveaway!

AIRBORNE

by
DiANN MILLS

Genre: Christian Romantic Suspense 

Publisher: Tyndale House Publishers

Date of Publication: September 8, 2020

Number of Pages: 400

Scroll down for the giveaway!

Heather Lawrence’s long-awaited vacation to Salzburg wasn’t supposed to go like this. Mere hours into the transatlantic flight, the Houston FBI agent is awakened when passengers begin exhibiting horrific symptoms of an unknown infection. As the virus quickly spreads and dozens of passengers fall ill, Heather fears she’s witnessing an epidemic similar to ones her estranged husband studies for a living—but this airborne contagion may have been deliberately released.

While Heather remains quarantined with other survivors, she works with her FBI colleagues to identify the person behind this attack. The prime suspect? Dr. Chad Lawrence, an expert in his field ... and Heather’s husband. The Lawrences’ marriage has been on the rocks since Chad announced his career took precedence over his wife and future family and moved out. 

As more victims fall prey days after the initial outbreak, time’s running out to hunt down the killer, one who may be closer to the victims than anyone ever expected.

===
A NOTE FROM THE AUTHOR
The story line for Airborne came to me three and a half years ago. All I had was a what-if: A virus unleashed on an international flight.

The search to find experts who were willing to give me accurate information took another year. Along the way, God placed the right people in my path: a woman and new friend whose doctorate is in microbiology and immunology, a man who trains flight attendants for the airline that I envisioned in my story, a pilot who not only flies for my designated airline but is also a suspense and thriller writer, the amazing people and resources of the CDC, and the wisdom and guidance of the FBI.

Tyndale House Publishers saw my passion for Airborne. This book was completed and edited before COVID-19 spread across our globe. My mission then and now is to show a story that weaves hope, reality, and the sacrificial work of first responders when a deadly virus spreads through innocent people.

My prayer is people will experience God’s presence during our current global crisis. Will you join me in that prayer?

CLICK TO PURCHASE

Amazon || Barnes & Noble || Books-A-Million

Christian Book Distributor || Google Play

Apple Books || IndieBound || Kobo

Murder By the Book || Tyndale

Youtube

HALL WAYS REVIEW: AUDIO BOOK / PRINT COPY COMBO REVIEW.  AIRBORNE is the first DiAnn Mills novel I have read, and WOW! I'm impressed. I read this one with my ears and was fully involved in the story, start to finish. We spend a lot of time inside characters' heads, and it's a fascinating place to be. Whether it's our main character's thoughts we're hearing or the mind of the mysterious "The Shield," these insights really move the story forward.

“Quarantine can alter the mood of the strongest of people.”

This is not just a passive story; there's plenty of action, too, and that kept me listening. I got cold chills as the passengers on the plane were realizing that a virus is on board. So many parallels to what is happening right now...it's really amazing Mills wrote AIRBORNE before COVID-19 was even on our radar.

While this is called "romantic suspense," I wouldn't agree with that categorization. There's very little romance (which is my preference) and instead a couple who is working on their relationship, but mostly separately. This is Christian fiction, and Mills does a great job of presenting struggles many of us have in our faith journey. Particularly, she has characters who are reconciling the loving and benevolent God they believe in with allowing the pain, horror, and tragedies that plague our world. 

Narrator Charity Spencer does a fabulous job performing the various voices, especially “The Shield” – cocky, confident, cold, and including the chapters told from that perspective worked as a great vehicle to give additional details about the virus and its origins. The performance is thoroughly professional with Spencer’s pacing perfect, and the audio is glitch free.

Suffice it to say, YES, YES, YES. I'll be reading more books by DiAnn Mills, and y'all, read AIRBORNE now.

DiAnn Mills is a bestselling author who believes her readers should expect an adventure. She is a founding board member of the American Christian Fiction Writers; director, alongside Edie Melson, of the Blue Ridge Mountains Christian Writers Conference and Mountainside Retreats; and a member of Advanced Writers and Speakers Association, Mystery Writers of America, Sisters in Crime, and International Thriller Writers.

DiAnn is passionate about helping other writers be successful and speaks to various groups and teaches writing workshops around the country. She and her husband live in sunny Houston. DiAnn is very active online and loves to connect with readers on social media and at diannmills.com

Blog Posts ║ Facebook ║ Instagram ║ Youtube
Pinterest ║ Goodreads ║ LinkedIn ║ BookBub ║ Twitter

-------------------------------------

GIVEAWAY!  GIVEAWAY!  GIVEAWAY!

FOUR WINNERS
Each gets a signed, personalized hardcover edition of Airborne
+ choice of either $25 Amazon or $25 Barnes and Noble e-Gift Card
August 18-28, 2020

(U.S. Only)

a Rafflecopter giveaway

CLICK TO VISIT THE LONE STAR LITERARY LIFE TOUR PAGE

FOR DIRECT LINKS TO EACH POST ON THIS TOUR, UPDATED DAILY. 

Or, visit the blogs directly:

8/18/20	Book Trailer	Texas Book Lover
8/18/20	Review	Forgotten Winds
8/19/20	Author Video	Max Knight
8/19/20	BONUS Review	Hall Ways Blog
8/20/20	Guest Post	Librariel Book Adventures
8/20/20	Review	The Clueless Gent
8/21/20	Review	Carpe Diem Chronicles
8/22/20	Excerpt	The Adventures of a Travelers Wife
8/23/20	Excerpt	Story Schmoozing Book Reviews
8/24/20	Scrapbook	All the Ups and Downs
8/24/20	Review	Momma on the Rocks
8/25/20	Character Interview	Book Bustle
8/26/20	Review	Tangled in Text
8/26/20	Author Video	The Page Unbound
8/27/20	Review	StoreyBook Reviews
8/27/20	Review	Reading by Moonlight

   blog tour services provided by

  

The Feast: And Other Horrifying Tales ~ Audio Book Blog Tour Review

BY DAVID VORHEES

Narrated by Victor Warren

Length: 4 hours 18 minutes

Publisher: David C Vorhees

Released: Jun. 30, 2020

Sub-Genre: Horror

The Feast is a collection of short stories that take place on different holidays over the course of the year. The collection opens with "A New Year, a New Day, a New Life." Grant Curtis is arrested on New Year’s Day and charged with the murder of his wife Carla.

In "Easter: The Resurrection," a resurrected Kyle Gardner seeks vengeance on Pastor Brian.

"The Vengeance of Cassidy Clay" is a narrative poem that takes place on Halloween. The poem tells the story of a slave-hunter who haunts the woods long after his death. Plus many more spine-chilling tales.

HALL WAYS REVIEW. AUDIO BOOK REVIEW. In The Feast: And Other Horrifying Tales, author David Vorhees takes readers through seven short stories themed around the year’s major holidays, telling stories of the most macabre nature.  The word “horrifying” in the title is apropos; these stories go for the shock factor with some prompting an “oh-no-he-didn’t-go-there” response from this reader.

Most of the tales are deeply disturbing and be warned: you won’t be able to unsee them. This is a nod to the effectiveness of the author’s storytelling ability and gift for description. Mercifully, Vorhees chose to tell, not show readers what was happening, and I thank him for that. My imagination fleshed-out (pun intended) the rest. Narrator Victor Warren’s performance perfectly complements each story, making them more memorable – even when you want to forget.

Going through the calendar year of stories loosely centered around major holidays gives structure to the collection, the stories varying in length from as short as eight minutes to as long as nearly an hour and a half.  The variety in story lengths is a plus because it keeps the listening from being monotonous. And since the whole book comes in at just under four and half hours, I listened straight through and was never close to being bored.

Three of the stories are top notch. “A New Year, A New Day, A New Life” (about 20 minutes) brings to mind Edgar Allan Poe’s The Tell-Tale Heart. The main character’s transition from control to madness is palpable. Halloween’s “The Vengeance of Cassidy Clay,” the shortest story at only 8 minutes, is told in verse, and is probably my favorite (and least graphic). It’s reminiscent of Washington Irving’s The Legend of Sleepy Hollow, and it would lend itself nicely to being told around a campfire. “Thanksgiving” (around an hour long) could have come straight out of a Tales from the Crypt episode, with the dread and tension masterfully building to the big, horrifying reveal. Yeah, we know what’s coming, but we can’t stop it. A fourth story, “Easter: The Resurrection,” the longest story in the collection, also deserves mention for the intricacies of the plot and how the need for revenge can motivate and twist the brain.

Two of the stories crossed the line for me, and several of the stories included sickening details that felt gratuitous.  Overall, the stories in the collection seem frighteningly realistic in this often-perverse world we live in. Readers who enjoy horror and have strong stomachs for gore and violence will find lots to like in The Feast: And Other Horrifying Tales. For those who are nitpicky (like me) about cleanly edited books, I recommend this one for reading with your ears instead of your eyes as the print version needs a heavy proofreading.

ABOUT THE NARRATOR & AUDIO PRODUCTION:  As mentioned, narrator Victor Warren’s performances of the many characters in The Feast are well-done and the perfect complement to Vorhees’s writing. He tackled a wide range of emotions and accents and convincingly voiced the females. His pace was a bit slow for me, so about an hour in, I bumped the speed to 1.25x, and that was perfect. I would absolutely seek out other titles he narrates. Production wise, the audio book is mostly clean and professionally recorded, though there was a big glitch in “Fourth of July” where an entire chapter was repeated.

Thank you to the author and to Audiobookworm Productions for providing me an audio download in exchange for my honest opinion – the only kind I give. 

I received this audio book as part of my participation in a blog tour with Audiobookworm Promotions. The tour is being sponsored by David Vorhees. The gifting of this audio book did not affect my opinion of it.

David Vorhees joined the U.S. Navy after graduating Lima Central Catholic. He is a veteran of the United States Navy. Following his military service, he attended the University of Northwestern Ohio for automotive business and worked various factory jobs and attended the University of Phoenix online for a degree in arts with a focus in journalism. He recently worked for the Wapakoneta Daily News as a reporter/photographer/paginator. He is the father of five and grandfather of five. He has always been interested in the occult and the scarier side of life. He loves history and the supernatural and truly believes there is nothing better than a good story.

Website⎮Twitter

A native Californian, Victor Warren has been acting since the age of ten. He is a graduate of Carnegie-Mellon University where he majored in acting and directing. After graduation, Victor worked in California for over fifteen years for Universal Studios as a director, camera operator, technical director, announcer, and stunt show performer. Victor then moved to the east coast where he works successfully as a director, actor, writer and producer. He is currently living on Cape Cod and is bi-coastal flying in where the work leads him. He is an award-winning director/writer and with the creation of his production company Glydascope, he plans to continue to expand his creative properties. Recently The Feast is his very first audio book, which he narrated and produced through Glydascope. He recently (2018) can be seen as the irritated police Sergeant O'Connor in My Daddy's in Heaven and as Stephen Smith in Chappaquiddick. He is currently working on his fourth book for Audible, and working on a short film that he is producing and acting in called Another Life.

Website⎮Twitter⎮Facebook

Click here to view the full tour schedule!

Plugging you into the audio community since 2016.

Sign up as a tour host here.