Masks by Nataly Restokian Blog Tour! @fayerogerspr, @authoright@NatalyRestokian

Masks by Nataly Restokian

Summary:

Masks is a dark fictional tale, based on true-life events. It narrates the adventures of a young Armenian girl born in Lebanon in the seventies. She dreams of fame and power in Lebanon and the Arab world and shows resilience and motivation beyond her years. The novel delves into the world of the protagonist, Anna, who is surrounded by social, religious, and sexual taboos. She fiercely breaks the chains to enter the world she has strived to reach, in a seemingly conservative society barely emerging from a civil war. She builds her success on her remaining values, challenging her fate and sparing no way means to attain her goals.

As a disappointment to her parents, she walks the challenging paths alone, making her way toward fame and fortune despite lacking the support system to do so. Doors begin to open for her, and she enters the world of Arab celebrities. She is now a public figure in the Middle East, living an immoral married life in a materialistic world surrounded by influential business people and royal family members. She tries, in vain, to fill the void in her soul with sexual adventures and controversy by taking a wide variety of lovers. Her adventures invariably end in misery, doing nothing to awaken her from her numbness. Still, her vivid, out-of-control personality helps her move forward while simultaneously getting her in trouble. In the early stages of her life, she has suffered the unthinkable, being bullied and raped, with the civil war a constant backdrop throughout most of her childhood. The novel delves deep into Anna's mind as she has flashbacks of the trauma she has suffered, offering the reader a hint of an explanation for her behavior. 

In a society in which men dominate women, she is one of the few who realize that fashion, social status, plastic surgeries, and bright smiles are not the answer to happiness. She lives in a world where a girl is only worth as much as her virginity, where women do not dare to ask for a divorce, where the fear of retribution keeps them locked in a cage that is very rarely gilded.

As fame, money, and power slowly eat at her soul, the arrogant Anna falls in love with a total stranger—a young, single bachelor from Canada—after a night of secret passion. That is where the story begins to unravel as she returns home with a scandal in her back pocket, her eyes and ears and heart tuned to this man instead of her husband. Anna realizes that neither her marriage nor her achievements have ever made her happy, so she decides to throw it all away. The lies and deceit that fill the so-called glamorous life she has been leading are floating up to the surface, including her husband's infidelity and the critical steps she has taken to reach the top.

Marriage, family, career—all destroyed to be united with the stranger. She starts a new battle, this time struggling to change her destiny for someone she barely knows, who lives oceans apart and offers her nothing except his heart. 

She risks everything, turning her whole life upside down. Anna realizes that her happiness, inner peace, and love are found worlds away from her own, with someone she would never have expected to be her soul mate. Still, Anna's sacrifices are not behind her, and the struggle has not yet ended, although she has found what she has needed all her life: redemption and unconditional love.

The stranger enigmatically hints at emotions in Anna that have been hidden for a long time behind the masks of her dark and shallow lifestyle.

The characters in the story are the voices of so many who do not dare to speak up in a world where social and religious standards openly chastise the very actions that behind closed doors have become the ultimate paradigmatic way of life.

Information about the Book

Title: Masks

Author: Nataly Restokian

Release Date: 8th March 2018

Genre: Fiction

Page Count: 256

Publisher: Tellwent Talents

Goodreads Link: https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/39805939-masks 

Amazon Link: https://www.amazon.co.uk/Masks-Nataly-Restokian-ebook/dp/B07BB6RMDS 

Author Information

I am a grand-daughter of Armenian genocide survivors, born and raised in Lebanon. Eight years ago, I remarried and settled down in Montreal with my loving Canadian husband. I spent the past year gathering data and recollections to undertake the writing of my first novel.

My experience includes nearly two decades of journalism and television as an actress and a live T.V, show host and a radio host in the Lebanese and Arabic society. Eventually, I rose through the ranks, living the unspeakable until I gave it all up for a chance at happiness and true love. Through Anna, the protagonist, I am revealing the taboos and stories that unfold behind closed doors, the hidden traps found within the glamorous circles of fame and fortune.

I experienced the downfalls of the show-business industry, and through Masks, exposing its’ uncensored reality. Today – besides being a housewife, reading and watching movies – I am in the process of writing my second novel.

Website: https://www.natalyrestokian.com/ 

Twitter: https://twitter.com/NatalyRestokian 

Tour Schedule

Monday 1st July

Book Read 2day

Tuesday 2nd July

Big Book Little Book

Wednesday 3rd July

Jem’s Blog

Thursday 4th July

A Daydreamer’s Thoughts

Friday 5th July

Donna’s Book Blog

Saturday 6th July

Splashes into Books

Sunday 7th July

Celticlady’s Reviews

Arwen Author

Storytellers by Bjørn Larssen Blog Tour and Giveaway! @bjornlarssen @rararesources

Storytellers

In March 1920 Icelandic days are short and cold, but the nights are long. For most, on those nights, funny, sad, and dramatic stories are told around the fire. But there is nothing dramatic about Gunnar, a hermit blacksmith who barely manages to make ends meet. He knows nobody will remember him – they already don’t. All he wants is peace, the company of his animals, and a steady supply of his medication. Sometimes he wonders what it would feel like to have a story of his own. He’s about to find out.

Sigurd – a man with a plan, a broken ankle, and shocking amounts of money – won’t talk about himself, but is happy to tell a story that just might get Gunnar killed. The blacksmith's other “friends” are just as eager to write him into stories of their own – from Brynhildur who wants to fix Gunnar, then marry him, his doctor who is on the precipice of calling for an intervention, The Conservative Women of Iceland who want to rehabilitate Gunnar’s “heathen ways” – even the wretched elf has plans for the blacksmith.

As his defenses begin to crumble, Gunnar decides that perhaps his life is due for a change – on his own terms. But can he avoid the endings others have in mind for him, and forge his own?

Purchase Links:

UK 

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Heimförin (Going home)

As I was doing research for my novel I decided to go to Iceland for a few days and take a look at the places I was writing about. I pulled runes, asking what to expect from the trip. The answer was clear: I was going to my spiritual home, I was going to lose something, and I wouldn't be able to guess what that something would be.

I started feeling at home as we were walking through the Keflavík airport. We only spent four days in the country, saw a few tourist attractions, marvelled at the fact that the sun never really went down – it was June. We once went for a walk at two a.m. and the light made it look like late afternoon. I started missing Iceland before we boarded the plane. When we returned to Amsterdam I realised the thing I’d lost was my heart.

In 2018 we went again, for four weeks instead of four days. I told myself that it would be way too long for a vacation, that I would get bored and return to Amsterdam complete again. The old Gods laughed as the weeks flew by. I made a few friends, convinced a clerk at a pharmacy that I could speak perfect Icelandic, and bought way too many books. For every waterfall, every lake so blue I couldn't believe it wasn't Photo-shopped, every colour of lava, every hot spring or puddle of boiling mud surrounded by snow, there were thousands more that I hadn’t managed to see. On the plane back I found myself homesick for a place I still barely knew.

Before the trip I had said to my husband, "you know, I'm not really the type of person that takes pictures, I mean – everything's already online". We returned with three thousand photos. When I look at those pictures today I can still smell the water, hear the cries of birds, feel the breeze on my face. I find it difficult to breathe the relatively smog-free Amsterdam air. The water here tastes of plastic and dust now. My tolerance for heat has rapidly dropped. I used to hate the winter and the cold and await the heat of the summer. Apparently, now my favourite temperature is closer to 10 Celsius degrees (50 Fahrenheit) than 30 (86 Fahrenheit). The old Gods made sure I’ll be back – again.

*I used to consider getting stuck in London crowds a relaxing holiday. Now I want nothing more than to sit in front of a waterfall and just...be. A huge Icelandic flag hangs in my man-cave, and the tunnels in my ears are adorned with the flag as well. I was never interested in history in general, considering it a boring list of wars lost and won, until I spent a year doing research for my historical novel.

I should have never meddled with the affairs of the old Gods, I should have never touched the runes, listened to the elf, taken the Elhaz-shaped piece of lava...

As if you ever had a choice, whispers Freya, the thief of hearts.

I open YouTube again and stream “ten hours of relaxing sounds of an Icelandic waterfall” to my TV, trying to ignore the constant noise outside my window. This is my house, but I am not home.

*If you want to go to Iceland, tell yourself you're going to despise everything you see. Make sure to pick the time with the worst weather possible (remembering that weather in Iceland changes about every ten minutes). Buy the most overpriced sandwiches and avoid restaurants that don't look expensive enough. Forget to take warm clothes with you, so you can be freezing all the time. Maybe, just maybe, you will manage to keep your heart, but do not underestimate the old Gods. Hrafna-Flóki, who discovered Iceland, lost his daughter on the way, went through a horrible winter during which all his livestock perished, and upon his return to Norway declared the island "worthless". Yet he still moved there later, and Iceland was where he eventually died. 

As if he ever had a choice, whispers Freya, the thief of hearts.

The old Gods await your offering. It doesn't matter whether you believe in them or not, for they believe in you, and their greed knows no bounds. But now that I have warned you, you are safe...

Did I just hear a quiet giggle?

 Author Bio 

Bjørn Larssen was made in Poland. He is mostly located in Amsterdam, the Netherlands, except for his heart which he lost in Iceland. Born in 1977, he self-published his first graphic novel at the age of seven in a limited edition of one. Since then his short stories and essays were published in Rita Baum Art Magazine, Writer Unboxed, Inaczej Magazine), Edurada.pl, Homiki.pl, and Holandia Expat Magazine. He is a member of Alliance of Independent Authors and Writer Unboxed.

Bjørn has a Master of Science degree in mathematics, worked as a graphic designer, a model, and a blacksmith. He used to speak eight languages (currently down to two and a half). His hobbies include sitting by open fires, dressing like an extra from Vikings, installing operating systems, and dreaming about living in a log cabin in the north of Iceland, even though he hates being cold. He has only met an elf once. So far.

Social Media Links 

www.twitter.com/bjornlarssen

www.facebook.com/bjornlarssenwriter

Giveaway to Win 5 x copies of “Iceland: Making Memories” (INT)

*Terms and Conditions –Worldwide entries welcome.  Please enter using the Rafflecopter box below.  The winner will be selected at random via Rafflecopter from all valid entries and will be notified by Twitter and/or email. If no response is received within 7 days then Rachel’s Random Resources reserves the right to select an alternative winner. Open to all entrants aged 18 or over.  Any personal data given as part of the competition entry is used for this purpose only and will not be shared with third parties, with the exception of the winners’ information. This will be passed to the giveaway organiser and used only for fulfillment of the prize, after which time Rachel’s Random Resources will delete the data.  I am not responsible for despatch or delivery of the prize.

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Singles, Set and Match by Elaine Spires Blog Tour! @ElaineSWriter

The fifth and final book in the Singles’ Series takes us to the Mediterranean island of Ibiza then back to the Caribbean island of Antigua, where it all began.  

After making a hard decision two years earlier Eve Mitchell has moved on with the hand that life has dealt her and she finds herself on the White Island working a tennis holiday.  While it isn’t a job she would have chosen, in her typical pragmatic way Eve gets on with it, working hard to ensure that her diverse group of singles, with their hopes, expectations character flaws and baggage, have the best time possible.  And as she binds together tennis sessions, social gatherings, meals and trips Eve hears some tragic personal news that brings her to another crossroads in her life.  Will she and the love of her life Melv finally make a life together and live happily ever after? 

Purchase Links: 
UK  
US 

Author Bio 
Elaine Spires is a novelist, playwright, screenwriter and actress. Extensive travelling and a background in education and tourism perfected Elaine's keen eye for the quirky characteristics of people, captivating the humorous observations she now affectionately shares with the readers of her novels. Elaine has written two books of short stories, two novellas and seven novels, four of which form the Singles Series - Singles’ Holiday, Singles and Spice, Single All The Way and Singles At Sea.  Her latest book, Singles, Set and Match is the fifth and final book in the series.  Her play Stanley Grimshaw Has Left The Building is being staged at the Bridewell Theatre, London in May 2019.  Her short film Only the Lonely, co-written with Veronique Christie and featuring Anna Calder Marshall is currently being in shown in film festivals worldwide and she is currently working on a full length feature film script. Only the Lonely won the Groucho Club Short Film Festival 2019!  Elaine recently returned to UK after living in Antigua W.I. She lives in East London. 

Social Media Links 
Facebook: Elaine Spires Author 
Twitter: @ElaineSWriter 
Instagram: elainespiresauthor

Bone Deep by Sandra Ireland Review!

• Publisher: Gallery Books (June 2019)
• Length: 272 pages
• ISBN13: 9781982105075

Is a story ever just a story?

Mac, a retired academic and writer, is working on a new collection of folktales, inspired by local legends, and at the insistence of her only child, Arthur, she hires a young assistant, Lucie, to live in a cottage on her property and help her transcribe them. What Arthur doesn’t know is that his mother is determined to keep the secrets of her past from ever being discovered. And what Mac doesn’t know is that Lucie has a few complicated secrets of her own.

The creaking presence of an ancient water mill next to Mac’s property that used to grind wheat into flour serves as an eerie counterpoint for these two women as they circle warily around each other, haunted by the local legend of two long-dead sisters, ready to point accusing fingers from the pages of history.

This atmospheric page-turner evocatively gives voice to the question: What happens when you fall in love with the wrong person?

Sandra Ireland was born in England but lived for many years in Éire before returning ‘home’ to Scotland in the 1990s. She is the author of Beneath the Skin, a psychological thriller, which was shortlisted for a Saltire Literary Award in 2017. Her second novel, Bone Deep, a modern Gothic tale of sibling rivalry, inspired by an old Scottish folktale, will be published in the UK by Polygon in July, and in the US (Gallery) and Germany (Penguin) next year. She also writes poetry, often inspired by the seascapes of Scotland’s rugged east coast. Her poems have been widely published in anthologies, including Seagate III (Dundee), and New Writing Scotland. She won the Dorothy Dunbar Trophy for Poetry, awarded by the Scottish Association of Writers, in 2017 and 2018. Sandra is Secretary of Angus Writers’ Circle and one third of the Chasing Time Team, which runs writing retreats in a gloriously gothic rural setting.

https://sandrairelandauthor.com/

My Review
Bone Deep is a novel that is a contemporary retelling of a Scottish legend of two sisters who were often by an ancient water mill that now is the home of Mac, a retired academic and writer. These sister's had a sibling rivalry that turned deadly. Mac is working on a new collection of folktales that include these sisters. Mac is a widow and her son wants her to live in an assisted living type place but she refuses.

Mac is having frequent bouts of memory loss and wants to complete her work so she hires a young woman, Lucie, to help her type up her notes and other duties. She moves into the Miller's Cottage. Lucie left home, her mother actually threw her out after she realized that Lucie was having an affair with her sister's fiance. So she just wanted to earn a living and to try to get past all of this. So dealing with Mac seems to be the way to do this.

The story is told in the point of views of Lucie and Mac. We learn more about Lucie and the affair and also Mac and the old mill and her deceased husband and how he died plus the story of the sisters. There are secrets, secrets and more secrets from these two women and it is how they come to terms with these secrets that make the story. This book is dark at times, gothic kind of read that should appeal to anyone who loves this genre. 

I read some reviews that said it started out slow, I didn't feel that way. I just felt that it was a bit lengthy getting into the story but that was ok because it set up the story to its satisfying but not expected conclusion. Lots of twisty turns but that is what makes a great story right? The ending blew me away! Never saw it coming. Great psychological thriller! I enjoyed the book immensely!

Promise Forever: Fairy Tales with a Modern Twist on Sale for 99c

Promise Forever: Fairy Tales with a Modern Twist on Sale for 99c

Same old fairy tales - but with a modern twist. Everyone knows the stories of Cinderella, Red Riding Hood, Rapunzel, and more, but you haven't heard the stories quite like the ones in this limited edition set! Some of these tales take place in our time, others take place in the past or a fantasy world, but all of them will twist what you think of the old stories. This set has a PG-13 rating, so expect some language and moderate adult situations. Included in this limited edition box set: Cindi/Ella: When Shoes Speak By Bokerah Brumley Sea Witch By USA Today Bestselling author, Pauline Creeden The Beast's Pretend Marriage By Award-winning author Cheryl Wright Entangled By J. R. Castle Hannah's Second Chance By Award-winning author, Margaret Tanner Crimson Hunter By USA Today Bestselling author N. D. Jones Obsidian Stone By LJC Fynn With more than 700 pages of captivating fiction, you'll be enchanted by Merlin, dive the depths with the little mermaid, and fear whether the beast is friend or foe. Are you ready to see old friends in a new light before your chance is lost forever? Then order this limited-edition collection of exclusive material from these USA Today and award-winning authors TODAY!  

The Impaler's Wife by Autumn Bardot Book Tour and Giveaway!

The Impaler's Wife by Autumn Bardot

Publication Date: April 2, 2019

Flores Publishing

eBook; 452 Pages

Genre: Historical Fiction/Romance

Legend, history, and passion collide in this gritty, evocative, and sensual story about history's most notorious price and the woman who paid love's ultimate price. The year is 1464, and young King Matthias controls Hungary, his family, and the fate of the world’s most notorious political prisoner, Prince Vlad Dracula. Ilona Szilágy, the king’s cousin, is young and ambitious. Dracula is determined to marry into the Hunyadi family. It is love at first sight…but the king has other plans. The Impaler Prince, however, never takes no for an answer. This begins Ilona’s journey into the treacherous world of court intrigues, family betrayals, and her husband’s dark desires. Eager to become Vlad’s trusted confidant, Ilona soon discovers that marriage to a man tortured by his past comes with a price. Woven throughout is a peek into the life and times of one of the world’s most enigmatic and maligned rulers…the man before the legend. With Bardot’s decadent period detail and a cast of gritty evocative characters, The Impaler’s Wife offers a fierce yet sensuous glimpse into the violent 15th century.

Available on Amazon and Barnes and Noble

About the Author

Autumn Bardot writes historical fiction and erotica about sassy women and daring passions! Her erotic fiction includes Legends of Lust, Erotic Myths from around the World, published by Cleis Press. Confessions of a Sheba Queen (erotica) will be available Jan 2020. The Impaler's Wife is her debut historical fiction, releasing in April 2019. Autumn has a BA in English literature and a MaEd in curriculum and instruction. She’s been teaching literary analysis for fourteen years When Autumn’s not writing or working, you'll find her hanging out with her ever-growing family, spoiled husband, and pampered rescue pooch. Her favorite things include salty French fries, coffee, swimming, and a great book.

Website | Facebook | Twitter | Instagram | Pinterest

My Review

 Vlad III Dracula, known as Vlad the Impaler was the second son of Vlad Dracul, who became the ruler of Wallachia in 1436. Vlad and his younger brother, Radu, were held as hostages in the Ottoman Empire in 1442 to secure their father's loyalty. The relationship between Vlad and Radu deteriorated as Radu became Islam and a friend of Mehmed II, ruler of the Ottoman Empire. Vlad's father and eldest brother, Mircea, were murdered after John Hunyadi, regent-governor of Hungary, invaded Wallachia in 1447. Vlad was held in captivity in Visegrád from 1463 to 1475. The stories of his cruelty began to spread from Germany during that time. Whether they were true or how bad he was is pure speculation. I guess you have to remember that it was in medieval times and cruelty was normal for the time. 

His second wife was Ilona Szilagy, the main character in the book was a cousin to  King Matthias Corvinus, king of Bohemia, Hungary, and Croatia. Vlad is determined to marry into the Szilagy family. Vlad and Ilona had a tumultuous relationship and marriage. They had two children, Vladut and Nicolae. Vlad seized Wallachia in late 1476 but was soon murdered, decapitated. This was the ending of the book, I would like to see a sequel because it appears that there is a lot more to tell of Ilona. 

The story had a lot of war, Vlad was definitely a warrior, sex, murders, and court intrigues. The book went back and forth from when Vlad was young to the present day and his marriage to Ilona. I knew the stories of Vlad Tepes, the Impaler, but had never read much about him. There are a lot of characters in the book, lots with names that I could not pronounce. That did not stop me from enjoying the story thoroughly. Of course, there are a lot of stories about Dracula related to vampirism, those were the stories I knew about, not Vlad the person. I loved Bardot's writing, even though there was a lot of war scenes, she mixed in the daily lives of Vlad and Ilona. She put a personal touch to Vlad and Ilona, the book did not read like a history book like some historical fiction books do.  I think that I would love to read more about Ilona. If you like historical fiction and want to read about the love between Vlad and Ilona then this book is for you. I highly recommend it! 

Blog Tour Schedule

Monday, June 3
Review at 100 Pages a Day

Tuesday, June 4
Excerpt at Historical Fiction with Spirit

Wednesday, June 5
Review at Amy’s Booket List

Friday, June 7
Guest Post at Let Them Read Books

Monday, June 10
Review at A Chick Who Reads

Tuesday, June 11
Excerpt at The Book Junkie Reads

Monday, June 17
Review at Locks, Hooks and Books

Tuesday, June 18
Feature at Just One More Chapter

Friday, June 21
Interview at Passages to the Past

Tuesday, June 25
Review at Passages to the Past

Monday, July 1
Review at A Darn Good Read

Tuesday, July 2
Review at Coffee and Ink

Wednesday, July 3
Review at So Many Books, So Little Time
Review & Guest Post at Clarissa Reads it All

Thursday, July 4
Review & Excerpt at Maiden of the Pages

Friday, July 5
Review at CelticLady’s Reviews

Giveaway

During the Blog Tour, we will be giving away one paperback copy of the Impaler's Wife! To enter, please use the Gleam form below. Giveaway Rules – Giveaway ends at 11:59 pm EST on July 5th. You must be 18 or older to enter. – Giveaway is open to US only. – Only one entry per household. – All giveaway entrants agree to be honest and not cheat the systems; any suspicion of fraud is decided upon by blog/site owner and the sponsor, and entrants may be disqualified at our discretion. – The winner has 48 hours to claim prize or a new winner is chosen. 

  The Impaler's Wife