24 June 2021

There's More To It by Allie York Book Release!

Workaholic Sebastian Keller wasn’t expecting to adopt the kid he befriended in his building, but now he’s invested and he will do whatever it takes, even if that means faking a relationship with Stevie Summers. She's down on her luck, he's trying to become a father, together, they can help each other, but can they stop themselves from falling in love? Readers will love this fake romance featuring a swoony adoptive dad. Fall in love with your next book boyfriend with There’s More To It by Allie York, the next book in the Single Dad’s Romance series.

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I’m Sebastian Keller and I’m a workaholic.

Multi-million-dollar companies don’t run themselves and I work hard to keep mine at the top. Befriending a kid was never on my agenda, but the second I set foot into my new apartment, he’s there to show me the ropes. When his foster family can’t keep him anymore, my choice is clear. The only thing I need to make him part of my life is something money can’t buy. A girlfriend.

I’m Stevie Summers and I’m barely scraping by.

I was on the right track. I had a fiancé, a job, and a degree. Until my fiancé cheated, and my mom died. Now I’m back at home scrambling for work and trying to pay my dad’s bills. I can forget about my love life entirely. Until a blast from my past comes into my life with an offer, I’d be stupid to refuse. Play his girlfriend. In return, he pays the bills. I’d be stupid to say no, and even stupider to fall in love. 

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Excerpt 

Copyright 2021 Allie York

I have to look like a freaking fish, opening and closing my mouth over and over. Brown hair, hazel eyes, that face that not even time can make me forget. “Holy shit! Sebbie?” Talk about a blast from the past. I look the man in front of me up and down. The last time I saw Sebastian Keller, he was eighteen, gangly, and had acne, and I was madly in love with him. The Seb in front of me is definitely not a kid anymore. He’s at least six-foot with a chiseled jaw for days and is rocking the gray sweatpants like a porn star. There’s definitely dick print there. And I’m not unimpressed. Oh, my god, stop looking at his junk.

“Stevie. Wow.” He breaks our mutual silence, and my eyes snap up from perusing his body. Face. Yes. Focus on his face. Hazel eyes, a little stubble, a swoop of dark hair on his forehead. Yup. Still Seb standing there. I take stock of the features one more time just to be sure and come to the same conclusion. Sebastian is my delivery, and time was good to this man. He grew up real nice. He’s checking me out too, but like a gentleman: he’s staring at my face, those eyes I know so well searching my face for something. I think back to right before I got out of my car and try to figure out what he sees right now. My eye makeup was on point at the beginning of the night, but I’ve worked a whole shift at the coffee shop and delivered ten meals since then. My hair is… I probably shouldn’t think about it. The ponytail it started in is probably lopsided and messy, but nothing I can do about it now.

“I take it this is your dinner since you’re in front of the only penthouse I see?” I offer the food and hold it between us. After way too long, he takes it very slowly like he may spook me if he moves too fast. The way my heart is hammering tells me this might be true.

“Yeah. Thanks.” His hand wraps around the bag, and I scope it for a ring. Nothing. Interesting. We keep staring at each other, and my hand falls uselessly to my side. “Do you want to come in?” As soon as he says it, Seb’s brows furrow like he’s surprised himself.

“I, uh, no. I don’t want to bother you.” I shake my head and take a step back. I am not emotionally stable enough for this, and I’m not wearing lipstick.

“Right. You’re working. Sorry.” Seb winces, or tries to smile, I can’t tell.

“No, you’re it. For now.” Good job, Stevie, now you don’t have an excuse to leave.

“Then come in for a second. I’m starving and need to sit down after that run. I can’t believe you’re here.” Then I get a real smile and know for sure that this sexy man in front of me is the same Seb from my childhood. That smile does the same thing now that it did fifteen years ago. My face gets hot, and I chew my bottom lip.

“Yeah. Okay. Just for a second.” I nod, trying to figure out why I just agreed to this. I smell like fried food, dogs, and coffee. Not a good combo, and I’m sure I look as tired as I am, but my stupid feet don’t get the memo, and they do the opposite of what my rational brain is saying. Seb tips his head for me to follow him in.

About Allie York

Allie is a mom and domestic canine appearance technician by day and an author by night. She loves all things nerdy, strong coffee, and cozy mysteries. If there’s a fandom to be in, she’s probably in it and has a soft spot for happily ever afters. 

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About the Single Dad’s Romance Series

Seven single dads, all from different walks of life and doing the best they can to raise their children - are ready to make you fall in love. 

From the celebrity dad just trying to protect the ones he loves from the spotlight...to the silver fox who's out to prove it's never too late to have a family of your own - this single dads collection guarantees to bring you a whole lot of love and of course, a happily ever after. 

Look no further, your next book boyfriend is here!

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23 June 2021

Fastball by A.M.Williams Book Release!

Who says what happens in Vegas stays in Vegas? The last thing Callie expected was to wake up married to Derek. He’s all in, but she’s running scared. Can Derek convince Callie to take a chance or will they end up another Las Vegas statistic? Fans of The Play Hard Series by K. Bromberg will devour The Changeup by A.M. Williams, a secret marriage romance.

Read Now!

Who says what happens in Vegas stays in Vegas?

Callie

Derek Nichols is the first guy I can see myself sticking with for more than one night. He’s nice, easy to talk to, and excellent in bed.

There’s just one problem. He breaks my one rule of relationships: no baseball players.

Only after spending a passionate night together, I’m considering breaking that cardinal rule for one more chance with him.

Derek

Callie Jacobs is the full package when it comes to the women I like. Funny, charismatic, gorgeous, and the list goes on.

After one night together, I know I want more and I have no problem going after what I want. But Callie doesn’t feel the same. She’s happy to call it done.

Then we end up in Vegas with friends and things get a little heated.

We wake up married with no memory of the event, just matching rings as a reminder of our vows to each other.

I’m all in. I’m ready to give this a shot. But Callie is running scared, even though she’s admitted she wants me too.

Each time I see her, I want to hold her close. Each time she pushes me away, I want to reel her back in.

We have to decide if this is what we want or if we’ll just become another Vegas statistic.

The Fastball is the second book in A.M. Williams Boys of Summer baseball romance series. It’s a secret Vegas wedding romance with a man who knows what he wants and a woman who fights her attraction.

If you love men in tight pants and the sassy women they fall for, this series is for you.

This book was previously published as Dirty Pitch. It has been updated with new content and re-edited.

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Excerpt

Copyright 2021 A.M. Williams

I froze when Derek started moving. I turned around slowly, watching as he sat up and rubbed his eyes. Maybe if I didn’t move, he wouldn’t see me. 

I wasn’t that lucky as his gaze moved to me.

“How much did I drink last night?” he asked, blinking blearily at me.

“Enough.” My voice was flat and he narrowed his eyes at me.

He stretched. “Why are you in here?”

I cocked a brow and waited. I saw the moment he realized he was wearing a ring on his left hand.He was running his hands through his hair and paused before bringing his hand in front of his face. His eyes widened and met mine. “Is this what I think it is?”

I couldn’t say anything, only nodded, and I held up my hand, wiggling my fingers.

Derek swallowed noticeably, looking from his hand to me and back again. “What the fuck?”

“What the fuck is right,” I returned.

Silence stretched between us. I shifted my weight and realized I needed to get going. I had to pee, wanted a shower, and to crawl back into bed.

Maybe if I went to sleep, I’d wake up only to realize this was a really bizarre dream and that I wasn’t actually married to Derek?

He opened his mouth to say something, but I didn’t care to hear his thoughts. There was too much going on to try to talk this out right then. I slipped my shoes on and started toward the door, snagging my clutch from the bench as I went by.

“Callie! Where are you going?” Derek called out from behind me.

“To my room,” I called over my shoulder. I didn’t wait to hear a response, if he had one. I had to be gone. I couldn’t stay in that room one more moment.

I knew Derek had questions—I had some, too—but I seriously needed a little bit of time to myself to try to remember last night and figure out what I was going to do.
Though, I guessed it should be us figuring out what we were going to do.

I rubbed a hand over my face as Derek’s hotel room door banged shut behind me.

This absolutely couldn’t be happening. I did not just become a statistic and have a quickie wedding in Vegas where me and my groom were so drunk, we didn’t remember it happening. That didn’t happen. Right?

About A.M. Williams

A.M. Williams is just a simple girl from the south that found herself living abroad. When she’s not annoying her cat or reading, she’s spending time with her husband and traveling as much as possible. She has a serious case of wanderlust and wants to go as many places as possible while she can. She loves Cheerwine, sweet tea, and North Carolina (eastern style) BBQ as well as those crystal clear waters on the North Carolina coast.

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The Perfect Murder by Kat Martin Book Blitz and Giveaway!

The Perfect Murder
Kat Martin
(Maximum Security, #4)
Publication date: June 22nd 2021
Genres: Adult, Thriller

New York Times bestselling author Kat Martin is back with her most thrilling novel yet in the Maximum Security series—The Perfect Murder. Fans of Sandra Brown, Linda Howard and Julie Garwood will fall in love with The Max.

The eldest of the three wealthy Garrett brothers, Reese Garrett is in the middle of a major purchase for his multimillion-dollar oil and gas company, Garrett Resources. The Poseidon offshore drilling platform venture will greatly enhance the company’s value.

But when Reese is on a trip out to see the rig, his helicopter crashes, leaving him hospitalized and two men dead. It’s discovered the chopper was sabotaged, and Reese is determined to find out who’s behind the crash—and whether he was the intended target. Then, when his lover, Kenzie, is accused of her ex-husband’s murder—a man with a vested interest in the Poseidon deal—clues start pointing to a connection that puts Reese, Kenzie and her young son in the sights of a killer.

From the Texas heat to the Louisiana bayous, Reese and his brothers must track down the truth before the body count gets any higher.

Goodreads / Amazon / Barnes & Noble / iBooks / Kobo / Google Play

EXCERPT:

“I’ve got a few things I need to add to my schedule,” he said. “Derek Stiles called yesterday. Looks like we’re having more problems with the rig.”

“You’ll get them sorted.” She flashed him a smile. “You always do.”

But there was one thing he was having more and more trouble handling and it was standing right in front of him.
Reese clenched his jaw and went to work.

He was sitting at his desk two hours later when his intercom buzzed.

“It’s Frank Milburn,” Kenzie said. “He has news about the crash.”

Milburn was in charge of the NTSB investigation. “Put him through.” Reese pressed the speaker button and settled back in his chair.

“I know you’ve been anxious to hear from us,” Frank said, a small man with close-cropped brown hair. “I wish we could have completed the investigation sooner, but these things take time.”

“I’m aware. So what have you found out?”

“The last of the reports came in. We’d been waiting for some metal structural tests. Combined with the rest of the information we’ve assembled, the reports revealed what we had recently begun to suspect but until today weren’t able to confirm.”

“Go on.”

“Sometime before the flight took off the morning of the crash, someone tampered with the engine. A piece of metal in one of the gears was filed just enough to cause it to grind itself to pieces. The flight control mechanism disconnected, rendering the helo uncontrollable. To put it in layman’s terms, the helicopter was sabotaged.”

Tension tightened Reese’s shoulders. He didn’t ask Milburn if he was sure. The NTSB team had been investigating the crash for weeks. Two men were dead. The authorities had to be extremely thorough. The question now was who had done it? And why?

“Have you found out who’s responsible?” Reese asked.

“Unfortunately, not yet. As we’ve known from the start and you were informed, pilot error contributed heavily to the event. There should have been room for the chopper to safely auto-rotate down, but the pilot misjudged his position. He came in too close to the building, one of blades clipped the corner, and the helicopter was torn apart.”

“So what, exactly, do you know?”

“As of today, we know a criminal act was committed that ended up causing the deaths of two men. As of this morning, the FBI will be taking over the investigation. They’ll be actively pursuing whoever is responsible for the crime, now a double murder.”

Murder. The news sent a chill down Reese’s spine. He leaned over his desk, shut off the speaker, and picked up the phone. “Whatever you find out, I’ll expect you to keep me in the loop.”

“I’ll do my best,” Milburn said. “It’ll be more difficult once the gears of the FBI begin to turn.”

He understood how a federal agency worked. Lots of interlocking pieces and parts that inevitably slowed things down. The call ended, but Reese had no intention of leaving the matter in the hands of some governmental bureaucracy, not even the FBI. The feds would have to start over, look at the crash from an entirely different angle. It could take weeks, even months.

Two men were dead and he could have been the third. He thought of the accidents that had been plaguing the Poseidon. The helo crash hadn’t been accidental. The chopper was meant to go down.

Was it possible he had been the target?

Author Bio:

Currently living outside Missoula, Montana, Kat Martin is the New York Times bestselling author of over seventy-five Historical and Contemporary Romantic Suspense novels. Before she started writing, Kat was a real estate broker. During that time, she met her husband, L. J. Martin, an author of Westerns and high-action Thrillers. Kat is a graduate of the University of California at Santa Barbara where she majored in Anthropology and also studied History. She spends her winters in Arizona.

"I love to travel and especially like visiting the places where my books are set," Kat says. "I love history and enjoy spending time in museums and art galleries. My husband and I often stay in out-of-the-way inns and historical houses. It's fun and it gives a wonderful sense of a by-gone era."

To date, Kat has over seventeen million copies of her books in print. She is published in more than two dozen foreign countries, including Germany, France, Norway, Sweden, China, Korea, Bulgaria, Russia, England, South Africa, Italy, Spain, Argentina, Japan and Greece.

Kat is currently writing her next Romantic thriller.

Website / Goodreads / Facebook / Twitter / Instagram / Bookbub


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Murder Most Pemberley (Eliza Darcy Mysteries) by Jessica Berg Book Tour and Giveaway!

Murder Most Pemberley (Eliza Darcy Mysteries) by Jessica Berg

About Murder Most Pemberley

Murder Most Pemberley (Eliza Darcy Mysteries) 

Cozy Mystery 1st in Series 

Publisher: Red Adept Publishing (March 8, 2021) 

Paperback: 288 pages 

ISBN-10: 1948051656 

ISBN-13: 978-1948051651

Digital Publisher: Red Adept Publishing, LLC (February 16, 2021) 

ASIN: B08TKJ73L1

Eat a crumpet. Check. Say “bloody hell” in an English pub. Check. Solve three murders and fall in love? Definitely not on the list. But when England dishes up murder, even an American girl knows it’s time to channel her inner Agatha Christie.

 

American Eliza Darcy travels to Merry Old England to partake in a Darcy/Bennet family reunion for one reason: to solve the estrangement between her father and uncle. Not long after Eliza’s arrival and exploration of the vast estate of her ancestors, a dead body surfaces. Murder and mayhem replace afternoon teas and flirting with her British heartthrob. Eliza has every intention of keeping her snoot out of official Scotland Yard business, but when clues to the murder begin to merge with her investigation into her family’s rift, her inner wannabe sleuth self-activates.

 

With the help of her batty great-aunt and the sexy Heath Tilney, Eliza hurries to untangle the web of lies and secrets. As corpses start to pile up faster than the clues, Eliza fears the estate’s family graveyard will swallow another body: hers.

 

About Jessica Berg

Jessica Berg, a child of the Dakotas and the prairie, grew up amongst hard-working men and women and learned at an early early age to “put some effort into it.” Following that wise adage, she has put effort into teaching high school English for over a decade, being a mother to four children (she finds herself surprised at this number, too), basking in the love of her husband of more than fifteen years and losing herself in the imaginary worlds she creates.

Author Links Purchase Links - 



TOUR PARTICIPANTS
June 21 – I'm All About Books – SPOTLIGHT
June 21 – Maureen's Musings – SPOTLIGHT
June 22 – Elizabeth McKenna - Author Blog – SPOTLIGHT
June 22 – Escape With Dollycas Into A Good Book – SPOTLIGHT
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June 26 – FUONLYKNEW – SPOTLIGHT
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June 27 – Sapphyria's Book Reviews – SPOTLIGHT
June 28 – Socrates Book Reviews – SPOTLIGHT
June 28 – My Journey Back the Journey Back – CHARACTER GUEST POST
June 29 – Laura's Interests – REVIEW
June 29 – Thoughts in Progress – SPOTLIGHT
June 30 - Ascroft, eh? – AUTHOR INTERVIEW
June 30 - My Reading Journeys - REVIEW
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July 2 – Cozy Up With Kathy - REVIEW, AUTHOR INTERVIEW

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22 June 2021

Strangled by Simile (Chalkboard Outlines) by Kelley Kaye Book Tour and Giveaway!

Strangled by Simile (Chalkboard Outlines) by Kelley Kaye

About Strangled by Simile

 

Strangled by Simile (Chalkboard Outlines)

Cozy Mystery 3rd in Series 

Publisher: Red Adept Publishing (May 23, 2021) 

Number of Pages 258

Southern transplant Emma Lovett and best friend/colleague Leslie Parker can hardly believe it: it’s Emma’s third year at Thomas Jefferson High School, and in addition to an amazing year with boyfriend Hunter Wells and Leslie’s brand-new love interest, they’ve gotten all the way through Homecoming with no one dying.

Oops.

At the end of October, Emma finds the strangled body of Charlie Foreman, one of Leslie’s favorite nemeses. And the first clue implicates Leslie in the crime! To make things worse, Emma’s feeling a little oogy: tired, dizzy, and something’s up with her eyes. What’s going on?

All Emma and Leslie are trying to do is find new methods for teaching the youth of America, hopefully using lessons from The Great Bard—their hero—William Shakespeare.

But someone has a different idea: more schooling in murder.

About Kelley Kaye

“Kelley Kaye” taught High School English and Drama since 1992 in California, then Colorado and now Cali again, but her love for storytelling dates back to creating captions in her high school yearbook. Maybe back to the tales she created for her Barbie and Ken—whatever the case, the love’s been around a long time. She’s married to an amazing man who cooks for her, and they have two funny and wonderful sons.

Author Links 
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TOUR PARTICIPANTS
June 15 – I'm All About Books – SPOTLIGHT
June 15 – Books a Plenty Book Reviews – REVIEW
June 16 – Elizabeth McKenna - Author- SPOTLIGHT
June 16 – Novels Alive – GUEST POST
June 17 – Mysteries with Character – GUEST POST
June 18 – Books to the Ceiling – AUTHOR INTERVIEW
June 19 – I Read What You Write – AUTHOR INTERVIEW
June 20 – Off
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June 22 – CelticLady’s Reviews – SPOTLIGHT
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June 26 – Literary Gold – SPOTLIGHT
June 26 – Escape With Dollycas Into A Good Book - SPOTLIGHT
June 27 – #BRVL Book Review Virginia Lee Blog – SPOTLIGHT
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21 June 2021

Poker Face: A Spotted Pony Casino Mystery by Paty Jager Book Tour and Giveaway!

Poker Face: A Spotted Pony Casino Mystery by Paty Jager

About Poker Face

 

Poker Face: A Spotted Pony Casino Mystery 

Murder Mystery 1st in Series 

Publisher – Windtree Press 

Number of Pages – 300+- 

Digital ASIN : B0965NG13Y

Dela Alvaro is a disable veteran who grew up on the Confederated Tribes of the Umatilla Reservation. When an IED in Iraq ended her military career, she came home to reassess her life and landed a job in security at the Indian run casino on the reservation.

  Not even a year into being the assistant to the head of security, the head of security is found working with a human trafficking ring and Dela is promoted on a trial basis. When one of the casino employees is found stabbed and stuffed in a laundry chute, she knows she can kiss head of security good-bye if she doesn’t find the killer before the media gets hold of the story.
 

While she is in over her head, she can’t decide if the FBI Special Agent called in to help is a blessing or a curse. It’s a man she ran across in Iraq who overrode her authority. When a second casino employee is killed, Dela has to decide if she can trust the special agent with not only keeping her job but keeping the rest of the casino employees safe.

 

About Paty Jager

Paty Jager is an award-winning author of 51 novels, 8 novellas, and numerous anthologies of murder mystery and western romance. All her work has Western or Native American elements in them along with hints of humor and engaging characters. Paty and her husband raise alfalfa hay in rural eastern Oregon. Riding horses and battling rattlesnakes, she not only writes the western lifestyle, she lives it.

Author Links 
Bookbub - https://www.bookbub.com/authors/paty-jager 

  Purchase Links - Amazon - B&N - Kobo

a Rafflecopter giveaway 

TOUR PARTICIPANTS
June 16 – I'm All About Books – SPOTLIGHT
June 16 – Ascroft, eh? – GUEST POST
June 17 – Socrates Book Reviews - SPOTLIGHT
June 17 – Christy's Cozy Corners – GUEST POST
June 18 – Brooke Blogs – CHARACTER GUEST POST
June 18 – Novels Alive – GUEST POST
June 19 – FUONLYKNEW – SPOTLIGHT
June 19 – Sapphyria's Book Reviews – SPOTLIGHT
June 20 – Cozy Up With Kathy – AUTHOR INTERVIEW
June 21 – Celticlady's Reviews – SPOTLIGHT
June 22 – Here's How It Happened – CHARACTER GUEST POST
June 23 – ebook addicts – SPOTLIGHT
June 24 – MJB Reviewers – SPOTLIGHT
June 25 – Literary Gold – CHARACTER GUEST POST
June 26 – Maureen's Musings – SPOTLIGHT
June 26 – Books a Plenty Book Reviews – REVIEW
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June 28 – #BRVL Book Review Virginia Lee Blog – SPOTLIGHT
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The Redemption by C.L. Tolbert Book Tour and Giveaway!

The Redemption by C.L. Tolbert Tour Banner

The Redemption

by C.L. Tolbert

June 1-30, 2021 Tour

Synopsis:

by C.L. Tolbert

Emma Thornton is back in The Redemption, C.L. Tolbert’s second novel in the Thornton Mystery Series.

When two men are murdered one muggy September night in a New Orleans housing project, an eye witness identifies only one suspect - Louis Bishop- a homeless sixteen-year old. Louis is arrested the next day and thrown into Orleans Parish Prison. Emma Thornton, a law professor and director of the Homeless Law Clinic at St. Stanislaus Law School in the city agrees to represent him.

When they take on the case, Emma and her students discover a tangle of corruption, intrigue, and more violence than they would have thought possible, even in New Orleans. They uncover secrets about the night of the murders, and illegal dealings in the city, and within Louis’s family. As the case progresses, Emma and her family are thrown into a series of life-threating situations. But in the end, Emma gains Louis’s trust, which allows him to reveal his last, and most vital secret.

Book Praise:

“With The Redemption, Cynthia Tolbert delivers another beautifully written and compelling read in her Thornton Mystery series, as law professor Emma Thornton’s fight to save a teen wrongly accused of murder endangers her own life in this gripping tale of corruption and crime in the 1990s Big Easy.”
Ellen Byron, Agatha Award Winning Author of the Cajun Country Mysteries

Book Details:

Genre: Mystery
Published by: Level Best Books
Publication Date: February 9th 2021
Number of Pages: 286
ISBN: 978-1-947915-43-5
Series:Thornton Mysteries, Book 2 || Each is a Stand Alone Mystery
Purchase Links: Amazon | Goodreads

 

Read an excerpt:

CHAPTER ONE

September 9, 1994


8:05 p.m.

Just before dark on the night of his death, Brother Reginald Antoine stepped out of the cottage where he lived. He slammed the door shut to prevent the soggy heat of the late summer evening from invading the front room. Except for occasional river breezes, the New Orleans climate was swamp-like until late October. His exits had become swift and cat-like to avoid escalating power bills and a strain on the house’s only window-unit air conditioner.

He stood on the front porch for a moment, staring at the entrance to the Redemption housing project. All was quiet. No one was in sight.

He was looking forward to the evening. He’d promised to help Alicia Bishop complete forms for a scholarship to Our Lady of Fatima, the top girls’ school in the city. He found himself singing under his breath as he locked the front door.

Most of the kids Brother Antoine worked with never finished school, and he was painfully aware that he’d failed far more than he’d helped. But Alicia’s story would be different. Her graduation would be her family’s first. Clear-headed and determined, much like her Aunt Juanita, the woman who had raised her, she was destined to earn far more than a high school diploma. He believed she was destined for great things.

Brother Antoine surveyed the street familiar to him from childhood. Alicia and her Aunt Juanita lived in an apartment was only a few blocks over, but well within the Redemption housing project. Driving such a short distance would be silly, plus he felt like a little exercise. It was a good evening for a walk, even though no one felt completely safe walking around any neighborhood in the city at night. At least one person had been killed in New Orleans every day that year, so far. Sometimes more. Too many drugs were on the streets. But he didn’t worry about any of that.

He tucked the bundle of papers he’d pulled for the meeting under his arm and headed out. When he was a kid he’d found the Redemption overwhelming - so vast it couldn’t be taken in, visually, from his porch or from any single location. A crowded jumble of russet brick, broken down porches, and peeling army-drab paint, it stretched across the lower garden district from Magazine Street to the Mississippi River. When he was about six he tried to count the buildings, but gave up when he got lost. Everything looked the same to him back then. When he returned to live at the mission house he realized he’d been wrong. Each place was unique. Every apartment, every stoop, every front door was distinct, because everything inside was different. Every place had its own family, its own problems, its own joys. Every place had its own family, its own problems, and joys. He didn’t realize how much he’d missed it until his return.

He passed the community garden planted around the corner from the mission house with its patches of brave sprouts pushing out of the ground. He was proud of that little spot, and equally excited for the people who were involved, especially those few who returned week after week to dig, and prod, and encourage the seedlings to grow. Some of the plants even promised to bear fruit, which was reason enough to celebrate.

As he walked he could smell urine from the street gutters where drunken men or stoned boys had relieved themselves. A recent rain only added a steamy intensity to the mix, creating a cauldron of odors which would vanish only when the next day’s sunlight parched the streets.

The Redemption was teeming with human spirit, poverty, and crime. It was home to many, but with rare exception, no one chose to live there. And everyone who did, even the very young, understood how fragile life could be.

He walked up the steps to Juanita Bishop’s apartment and rapped on the front door.

***

9:00 p.m.

Sam Maureau pulled his car into the Redemption and parked at a curb at the end of Felicity Street. He was alone. Jackson, his partner, couldn’t come. But Sam wasn’t worried. He checked his watch. He was right on time. Things were under control.

He turned off his lights and, except for the murky glow of the half-obscured moon, was surrounded by a blanket of darkness. It took several seconds for his eyes to adjust, but even after he waited, he still strained to see. Most of the streetlights on that block had been shot out, and several apartment windows had been boarded over. He peered in between the last two buildings on the corner for any sign of movement.

Sam kicked aside a beer can as he stepped out of his car. He didn’t expect any trouble that night. Marcus, a dealer who ran the Gangsta B’s, the largest gang in the city, had asked for a meeting to discuss ‘some business’, but they’d never had problems before. Their businesses had always co-existed, side-by-side. Sam had begun selling crack in small quantities ten years earlier, when he was twenty-five, and had remained one of the smaller distributers in the city. He figured that Marcus, who was younger by at least ten years, either wanted to bring him and his territory into the Gangsta B’s, or he wanted to buy him out. He didn’t see the need to change anything right now, unless the price was right. He was making pretty good money. His clients were happy with him. But he didn’t mind talking with Marcus.

Sam patted his jacket pocket. The gun was still there. It never hurt to be careful. He locked his car, checking to make certain nothing was in the back seat. Marcus had asked him to meet around the corner.

Sam made his way across the grassy common area, dodging the few mud puddles he could see reflected in the wan moonlight, to an old iron bench across from Marcus’s grandmother’s apartment where they had met once before. He sat down to wait. The bench hadn’t quite cooled from the daytime heat. The faint breeze from the river ruffled what scant remnants remained of his once luxurious surfer-boy hair and sent greasy paper bags, discarded whiskey bottles, and random debris scurrying across the sidewalk. He absent-mindedly patted his bald spot to make certain it was covered.

He couldn’t see them, but their chatter floated over to his bench. Even though the words were indecipherable, Sam heard three distinct voices. Then he heard Marcus speak.

“Go get Louis.”

Out of habit, Sam felt his jacket pocket again, reassuring himself that his piece was still there. Marcus and one other young man came into view. Sam nodded as they approached.

Marcus was a commanding presence. Tall, and athletic, intricate tattoos of black ink woe across his dark skin, tracing his biceps, and emphasizing his ropy, muscular arms and powerful shoulders. His long hair, pulled back into a pony-tail, flowed down his back. No one questioned his authority.

“We’re gonna wait a minute for Louis,” Marcus pulled out a cigarette from his back pocket and lit it, blowing billowy clouds into the night air.

“Yeah, sure. But what’s this all about?” Marcus ignored Sam’s question and pulled hungrily on his cigarette, blowing smoke rings, refusing to make eye contact with Sam.

Several minutes later a tall young man and a boy who couldn’t have been over sixteen joined them.

“You and your people gotta go. You’re right in the middle of my territory. I’m claiming it, and I’m taking it – now. Ain’t nothing you can do about it.” Marcus threw down his cigarette and stomped it into the grass.

Sam stood up to face Marcus. “Fuck you, Marcus. You don’t need my three blocks. I’ve had it for years, and its outside your territory anyway. You can’t just take it.” Sam clenched the fist of his left hand and shoved his right hand in his jacket pocket where the gun was hidden.

“That’s where you’re wrong, mother fucker.” Marcus grabbed another cigarette and rammed it three times against the pack. “I got business coming to me from uptown all the time now. It’s time for you to give it up.” Marcus nodded to the three boys, who formed a circle around Sam and Marcus.

“No way, bro’!” Sam’s hand instinctively tightened around the gun.

Surrounded by the group of young men, Sam saw an opening, turned, and simultaneously pulled the gun from his jacket. As he stepped toward his escape, he saw something moving along the sidewalk next to the street. It appeared to be a man dressed in dark clothes, but it was impossible to be certain. Sam heard one shot, and felt it whizz by him. The distant figure dropped. Sam twisted around, and aimed his weapon toward the sound of the gun fire. Then he heard another shot.

Feeling something hot in his chest, he crumbled to the ground. The last thing he saw was the young kid, the one they called Louis, running toward the river.

***

Brother Antoine said good night to Alicia on the front porch of her aunt’s apartment and started his walk back home. He was feeling good, lighthearted. He and Alicia had completed her application and she had nearly finished her essay. He was certain she was a shoo-in for the scholarship. He’d only traveled a few feet down the sidewalk when he saw a group of men and a few boys gathered together in the grassy area next to one of the buildings. The cloud-covered moon offered enough reflection to allow him to make out the scant silhouette of the tallest member of the group. There was no doubt. His swagger and perpetual cigarette were unmistakable. Marcus Bishop. They had to be up to no good.

Brother Antoine followed the curve of the sidewalk, which brought him a little closer to the group. He noticed there was movement, perhaps a scuffle. He heard a shot, then felt a searing pain in his chest. He placed his hand on his shirt where he felt dampness, and, struggling to breathe, fell to the ground. He grabbed the scapular around his neck, praying, as he lay there, someone would come administer the last rites.

***

Excerpt from The Redemption by Cynthia Tolbert. Copyright 2021 by Cynthia Tolbert. Reproduced with permission from Cynthia Tolbert. All rights reserved.

 Author Bio:

Cynthia Tolbert

In 2010, Cynthia Tolbert won the Georgia Bar Journal’s fiction contest for the short story version of OUT FROM SILENCE. Cynthia developed that story into the first full-length novel of the Thornton Mystery Series by the same name, which was published by Level Best Books in December of 2019. Her second book in this same series, entitled THE REDEMPTION, was released in February of 2021.

Cynthia has a Master’s in Special Education and taught children with learning disabilities for ten years before moving on to law school. She spent most of her legal career working as defense counsel to large corporations and traveled throughout the country as regional and national counsel. She also had the unique opportunity of teaching third-year law students in a clinical program at a law school in New Orleans where she ran the Homeless Law Clinic and learned, first hand, about poverty in that city. She retired after more than thirty years of practicing law. The experiences and impressions she has collected from the past forty years contribute to the stories she writes today. Cynthia has four children, and three grandchildren, and lives in Atlanta with her husband and schnauzer.

Catch Up With Cynthia:
CLTolbert.com
Goodreads
Instagram - @cltolbertwrites
Twitter - @cltolbertwrites
Facebook - @cltolbertwriter

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19 June 2021

Generation of Vipers Maria Ann Green Book Tour and Giveaway!

Generation of Vipers
Maria Ann Green
Publication date: June 18th 2021
Genres: Adult, Gothic, Psychological, Thriller

Rosabella Moore-Davis has just moved her husband halfway across the world, with a spur of the moment purchase–a glorious gothic mansion–while on vacation in France. It was love at first sight, and somehow she knew it was more than just some huge house; it was meant to be her home.

But not all things that are meant to be end happily ever after.

Rosabella soon finds herself waking in the middle of the night from more than just wind and creaking pipes. In the dark she discovers ghostly figures looking up into her windows from outside, rooms and treasures previously hidden for centuries, creeping crawling guests, and too many dark shadows lunging toward her. And still, somehow, instead of screaming and running away she researches, choosing knowledge over fear, and learns more about the house and the history of this place she loves so much.

Only when she stumbles into the past, meeting an aristocrat hiding enough deadly secrets to take down the patriarchy, does Rosabella start to regret her choices. And after having come this far, she worries it’s too late to turn back and save herself from a house that has more skeletons in its vast amount of closet space than anyone expected.

Rosabella isn’t the fleeing type, but she’s not sure she’ll survive the fight. Especially against a place with so many stories buried beneath it, burned into every fiber of the edifice, a house with a portal to dark places and troubles that shouldn’t be stirred up.

Generation of Vipers is a mix of crimson peak and Mike Flanagan’s Haunting of Hill House, with elements of Marisha Pessl’s Night Film mixed throughout.

If you like dark thrillers that border on horror, gothic elements, and deliciously dark twists that will keep you guessing, then Generation of Vipers might be your next favorite book. It’ll keep you reading just one more page all night long, too afraid to turn out the light and go to sleep.

It appeals to lovers of suspenseful plots, all things dark like thrillers and horrors, stories with murder and mayhem, dark romance elements, fans of American Horror Story, Shirley Jackson, Gilian Flynn, Ruth Ware, Tana French, J.A. Konrath, and the Timothy Blake Series by Jack Heath.

*Content Warning: graphic violence, sexual content, and language*

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EXCERPT:

My eyes snap open.

There’s no disorientation, even though there should be.

Between stone walls and wallpaper older than my three decades, the cold air isn’t a surprise.

But what does scare me isn’t the new setting or the snoring of my sweet husband but the feeling that something just left. Like I’d been watched and only noticed after it ended.

Or—okay, well that’s crazy.

Though, I don’t know if I was dreaming or if something external woke me up.

Milos’s breath is soft, even if it rumbles in the back of his throat just a little. And I’ve slept next to it for years without jarring awake like this. As another creak sounds, followed by a tiny clunk, I know I’m right.

Maléfique has old bones, and they must protest changes in temperature as we take our trips around the sun.

Though…

The little noises aren’t really enough to have woken me up either. I don’t think so anyway.

Still, whatever the reason, I’m up now. Wider awake than I was when we were taking in the newness of our manor earlier. My eyes flick to the clock Milo insists on bringing with us every vacation, and I correct myself. It was now yesterday that we bought this beautiful space, considering it’s three in the morning.

And I’m fucking wide awake.

I’ll never get back to sleep right now.

So I slip out from under the comforter and let my toes touch the chilly wood of the floor. I move slowly, quietly, even though I doubt Milo would wake up for anything less than my screaming.

Heaviest sleeper I’ve ever met. Which he proves with a snort as he moves to face the other way, still very much unconscious.

And as I move toward the huge window of our new bedroom, I roll my eyes at Milo for the second time in the last twenty-four hours. It happens without forethought, and of course I feel instantly guilty after.

That’s when a kinder smile touches my lips just before my fingertips, then my forehead, touch the thick glass, as I lean against the window and look down at the greenery of our property.

Well, it’s all shades of gray and black at the moment, with the moon behind the clouds.

I can still make out plenty, though.

The woods just beyond an overgrown garden, a path starting just between two picturesque weeping willows—the kind that beg for a swing, or a hammock strategically placed for reading. I can see all of it well enough, but when the moon peeks out between two wisps of cover, my eyes scan harder, searching for something. I’m not even sure what.

Maybe for what could have woken me up if it wasn’t Maléfique.

And I’ve all but given up as the tall grass waves in a darkening breeze when something sparkles and pulls my eyes back to the opening of the track, the archway between hanging branches.

Though, not something. No.

Someone.

Author Bio:

Maria, a badass USA Today and internationally bestselling indie author, lives in Minnesota despite the frozen winters. Actually, she prefers snow drifts and icicles over summer and all that sweat running everywhere. She writes about bitches, breakups, and bloodbaths – not in any particular order. She lives with her husband and little family, which includes a few lazy cats who make great lap warmers. You can usually find her whishing that she lived in a secret cabin in the woods where she could be a hermit reading and writing all of the time. Instead she lives the suburban life where she pretends to her neighbors and the other moms around that she doesn’t swear like a sailor, have hidden tattoos, and loves a good bottle of wine. She absolutely believes in unicorns and ghosts and hopes vampires and monsters are real too. She’s a coffee-in-the-morning and alcohol-in-the-evening kind of person, preferably with a nap in between. Maria prefers cats over dogs, books over people, and late nights over early mornings. She probably shouldn’t talk to anyone until she’s had her first cup of coffee, extra sugar. And if you ever want to hang out with her, you’ll have to be game for a horror movie or just a quick run to target for two (hundred) little things. Also, you couldn’t pay her to be in her twenties again; Thirties is where it’s at. She’s a creative, mouthy, introverted, proud bisexual, highly-sensitive INFJ, chronic pain spoonie warrior, Slytherpuff, dork with a sweet-tooth.

Maria devours books, reading mostly in bed or listening to audiobooks in the car. Writing has been one of her passions for pretty much her whole life. So creativity is a necessity for her, always. After working in the mental health field for almost a decade, she’s now living her dream as a stay-at-home writer, kiddo wrangler, professional snuggler, and constantly-tired-person. When it comes to her writing, she specializes in dark and twisted thrillers or gritty, angsty contemporary romances. But no matter the genre, she always prefers writing deeply flawed characters with dysfunctional relationships. She’s pretty sure the whole “unlikable character” thing is a conspiracy because every character she loves have been labeled this way. Ridiculous. And because of this, she’s pretty much found it impossible to write anything without at least a little mayhem.

Maria was once told she painted with her words, and that phrase stuck with her – because writing really is an art, and good stories are true masterpieces. She’s always trying to grow and improve in her craft, shooting for a masterpiece of her own someday. And she plans to write forever because writing gives Maria the ability to disappear into new worlds and create people within twisting plots, all from the comfort of her couch. She will always believe that though not every story is for her, and her stories aren’t for everyone, every story has a reader.

For more from Maria find all of her links, including a link to get more content at her newsletter, here: linktr.ee/mariainmadness

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