Resparking Creativity: A Marketing Professional's Career Guide Towards Becoming a Director by Fatemah Mirza & Sumayyah Rafiq Book Tour!

 

 

Whether you're interested in marketing management, affiliate marketing, or network marketing, this book serves as your guide to career success.

Resparking Creativity:

A Marketing Professional's Career Guide Towards Becoming a Director

by Fatemah Mirza & Sumayyah Rafiq

Genre: Nonfiction, Career Self-Help

Are you a marketing professional feeling trapped in your current job? Do you want to climb the corporate ladder and become a successful marketing director? Or are you so overwhelmed by daily operations that your creative energies have run dry?

I wrote this book for marketing managers who feel these pains. So, if you're struggling to unleash your creative energy and experience career growth, this book is tailor-made for you.

As a marketing professional, you may be deeply creative and ambitious enough to aim for a director role, but these obstacles are holding you back. You're caught in a monotonous routine, unable to pursue projects that will reignite your creative spark and simultaneously showcase your potential as a marketing director.

In this book, I offer concrete and actionable strategies to help you break free from this rut and:

*Create a portfolio of projects that will prove your candidacy as a marketing director

*Develop a stronger understanding of your strengths and capabilities at the director level.

*Create a resume, LinkedIn, and cover letter that grabs the recruiter's attention.

*Strategically network with the right people and stop chasing recruiters.

*Excel at interviews through strategic and proactive preparation.

*Advocate for yourself during salary negotiations and negotiate highly competitive compensation packages.

These strategies have been refined over my 13+ years as a marketing professional, empowering marketing leaders in the industry to approach their promotion plans with renewed vigor.

If you're a creative marketing manager with a track record of success, this book will equip you with methodologies that will facilitate long-term success and propel you to the pinnacle of your marketing career.

This book is designed for marketing professionals who:

*Who are deeply creative

*Have great ideas and are eager to put them into motion

*Are committed to changing their job search strategies

*Who want to make the world a better place through their work

Whether you're interested in marketing management, affiliate marketing, or network marketing, this book serves as your guide to career success. Order "Resparking Creativity: A Marketing Professionals Career Guide Towards Becoming a Director" today and start your journey toward professional fulfillment.

As a marketing leader, you also play a vital role in elevating the standard of living. Thanks to government regulations, marketers cannot make false or misleading claims. This means that you help consumers make informed decisions on the basis of marketing. They can be made aware of major changes in ownership or products, what new features are being developed, and which brands to trust. This comes together to create brand value and loyalty towards trusted companies.

At a company level, organizations cannot survive without marketing. You cannot establish a business and expect people to find you. There is simply too much competition and information bombarding society. For businesses to survive and thrive, they have to develop effective marketing strategies. And for this, they need experienced professionals like you with highly creative mindsets. 

But it is difficult to contribute in this way to an organization or society if you feel burned out, uncreative, or feel an inability to work at your full potential.

If you feel the same way then this book is for you. 

I’m going to show you how to be at the forefront of driving demand, understanding consumer needs, and providing critical contributions to your career growth.  And to get there, this book is going to help you address: 

• Being underpaid.

• Being dictated to.

• Burn out.

• Intellectual disengagement.

• Uncertainty about what steps to take.

• 
  

But you do need to do a few things really well before you continue reading. You must:

● Be a creative person.

● Have great ideas.

● Put your ego by the door.

● Commit to making a change in how you search for jobs.

This is necessary because transitioning to a marketing director isn’t easy. It’s not as simple as “let me just redo my resume and I can start applying!” It’s a journey with twists and turns, ups and downs. 

You have to set yourself up for success. There’s a lot of work involved, which includes pushing yourself out of your comfort zone, getting comfortable with rejection, and adopting a proactive attitude. You must embrace the challenges that will come your way. It will be hard but you have to put your ego aside and get the help of the people around you. 

And you can do it. The fact that you picked this book up tells me that you’re ready to make that commitment.

As you go through this book, you’re going to work on exercises that will involve asking for help and getting constructive feedback from trusted peers. This feedback is a necessary part of growth. During this, you may be told “No, I can’t help.”

Do not take it personally.

It doesn’t matter if you get that response to a job you were keen on getting or asking someone for mentorship. It is not a reflection on you. There may be candidates who have a stronger career history. Others might have an executive putting in a good word for them. The company might change its mind. There are factors outside of your control at play during the job search process and that’s okay. 

So, stay focused on the factors you CAN control:

• Your job application.

• What kind of impression you make during meetings.

• How you advocate for yourself.  

• 
  

And close the gaps you can, such as

• Weak accomplishments that don’t demonstrate your greatness as a marketing leader.

• Networking strategies that don’t give pay off.

• Underselling yourself during interviews and negotiations.

• 
  

I’m going to share strategies that will help reduce those rejections and improve your odds of success. Their use will extend beyond your next career step of becoming a marketing director and are going to enrich the rest of your career.

In this book, you’re going to learn how to achieve the following:

1. Build a portfolio of projects that prove your candidacy. 

2. Create a job application (resume, cover letter, and LinkedIn profile) that shows why you’re a great fit for your target job. 

3. Communication strategies through which you will build strategic connections, prove your worth, and negotiate competitive compensation.

Amazon * Bookbub * Goodreads

Fatemah Mirza is a Certified Resume Master who has been helping job seekers with their resumes since 2010. She owns a company named CareerTuners, which is a small team of skilled professionals from various industries who specialize in providing professional resumes, cover letters, LinkedIn profiles, and many more career-related services to help ambitious people land their dream jobs and achieve career goals.

Fatemah is a highly sought-after speaker and coach who helps ambitious job seekers find higher-paying, more fulfilling jobs. She has created free resources that have seen more than 160,000 downloads, helped hundreds of clients increase their pay, and built a network of more than 3000 recruiters.

Sumayyah Rafiq Haider is an experienced author and career mentor with a passion for helping individuals excel professionally. With an MBA in Human Resource Management and SHRM-CP certification, Sumayyah has assisted numerous clients in their job search, providing guidance on resume writing, LinkedIn optimization, cover letters, interview skills, and career direction.

In her free time, Sumayyah immerses herself in the world of fantasy stories, drawing inspiration for her own captivating narratives. Her writing explores themes of personal growth, resilience, and the power of imagination. Sumayyah's unique blend of business acumen and literary talent positions her as an esteemed author and mentor.

Website * Facebook * Twitter * Instagram * Amazon * Amazon

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Death in the Woods (Rev & Rye Mysteries) by Maria Mankin & Maren C. Tirabassi Book Tour!

 

Death in the Woods (Rev & Rye Mysteries) by Maria Mankin & Maren C. Tirabassi

Death in the Woods (Rev & Rye Mysteries)
by Maria Mankin & Maren C. Tirabassi

About Death in the Woods

Death in the Woods (Rev & Rye Mysteries)
Cozy Mystery
2nd in Series
Setting – New England
Brain Mill Press (July 11, 2023)
Number of Pages: 415
Digital ASIN ‏ : ‎ B0C31PFBJX

Misty fall weather should make for an idyllic walk in the New England woods and a needed respite from Reverend Wanda Duff’s duties. She’ll just take a stroll with her dog, breathe in the cool air, and remember that she loves her job and doesn’t really long for a life of solitude, even when the quiet red-and-gold patch of forest tempts her with it.

But she should’ve known she couldn’t really catch a break.

She only saw his hand—cold, palm up. In the twilight, everything else was indistinct. And even as Wanda said a prayer for the dead man and called for help, she couldn’t shake the feeling of another presence, one that would compel her to follow a path out of these woods to find a killer.

But ever since Wanda and her friend Rye solved a murder together, no one has wanted the reverend to take on anything more dangerous than choir practice. She has no choice, really, but to carry the news of her discovery directly to no-nonsense Assistant Principal Rye, who understands because her own life was upended by last summer’s investigation. Rye’s own life is upended, period.

Unfortunately, solving the murder of drama teacher Jonathan Thorne isn’t an undertaking Wanda and Rye can accomplish without involving their ever-widening circle of family and friends, which means that in addition to investigating, they have to resolve a few personal problems of their own. The truth is, nothing happens in a quaint New England town without everyone noticing. Without everyone speculating. Without everyone talking.

Without everyone knowing a killer is among them.

Wry humor, twisty sleuthing, and what Jane Willan (author of the Sister Agatha and Father Selwyn Mysteries) calls “punchy writing” and “fall-in-love-with-me characters” in “the enjoyable setting of a newsy small town” come together to make Death in the Woods a perfect one-sitting read.

AN EXCERPT from Death in the Woods by Maria Mankin & Maren C. Tirabassi

It was only Wednesday, and Wanda already felt over-clergied for the week. All morning she’d fielded calls about adjustments to the upcoming budget to accommodate a rotating homeless shelter that wanted to use their church one month a year. Her little flock was firmly in favor of opening the facilities for fifteen unhoused people, but they wanted to do it on a shoestring budget that wasn’t realistic unless every member planned to contribute meals, toiletries, and a lot of time.

Tony, her music director, and Lisa, the church administrator, who’d been pushing Wanda for months to write more website content, both disagreed with everything she wrote about the project for the unhoused, Halloween, All Saints, Thanksgiving, and probably New Year’s if she had gone that far, though she had not. The usually cheerful staff was moody as a middle school youth group.

Wanda and Lisa’s relationship had been strained since the spring, when an investigation into a drug ring at Fair Havens Assisted Living and Rehab had put Lisa’s three-year-old within arm’s reach of a desperate gunman. Wanda didn’t blame Lisa for having a hard time bouncing back, but it made the office chillier.

Tony, one of Wanda’s dearest friends, was rarely snippy—at least not with her—and not about something so trivial. She knew he had a new boyfriend, and although she thought it was going well, maybe something had happened between them and she’d been too busy to notice and inquire. It wouldn’t be the first time. As adept as Wanda was at sorting out problems for her parishioners, she could be clueless with friends. She expected them to stay the same and give her sanity markers in her constantly changing profession.

By three thirty, she decided to take her Jack Russell, Wink, on an extended walk for a mental reset before the evening council meeting. They’d circle the high school grounds, head up the trail behind the parking lot, into the woods, on to the cross-country course, and finally home. She’d give Wink his dinner, then head back to the church with yogurt and a peanut butter and jelly sandwich to inhale before what would inevitably be a long night.

As Wanda pulled up her hood to shield herself from the light November mist, she could hear the cheers of a paltry crowd. Whoever heard of Wednesday afternoon football? Wanda knew that kids seemed younger every year, but these players looked painfully small.

A yellow school bus stood against the curb with the door accordioned open. Wink saw every open door as an invitation. “Wait!” She pulled back, but it was a retractable leash.

“Come on in, little fellow.” The driver gave the dog a broad grin. ‘Come’ was one of Wink’s favorite commands, and he was up the stairs in a second, dragging Wanda to the door with his nineteen pounds of determination.

“I’m so sorry,” she said, trying to catch her balance.

The man chuckled. “Can he have a treat?”

“Certainly, although he would happily scour the bus for dropped snacks.”

A practically German Shepherd–sized milk bone appeared, and Wink laid down right where he was and started chewing with delight, holding the biscuit between his two front paws.

“I’m sorry for barging in,” Wanda said, and reached out her hand. “Wanda Duff.”

“I’m Ben.” He looked in his early fifties, less paunchy than most commercial drivers of her acquaintance, and bald by choice.

“Is this the Middlefield Junior Varsity team playing?”

“Freshman football.”

“Oh, I thought they were . . .”

“Small? Yep, but tough. And before you start quoting statistics about concussions at me, I’ll tell you I’d rather see these boys playing in a defined freshman league than desperately pushing themselves into JV.”

She couldn’t help but smile at his passion. He must hear questions like hers often. “I love football,” Wanda said, “but it’s true that we know more about its lifelong impact on the brain than ever before.”

He nodded gravely. “Makes me glad more kids are getting into track. Fewer injuries, and it’s not as expensive for families, you know? But sports—that’s what makes a kid grow up right, knowing how to be a team, how to win and lose.”

Wanda smiled. “Do you like driving a school bus?”

“I love it. I drive Uber and airport limos before and after my shifts, but this is where my heart is. I’m probably more of a ‘dad’ here than I was with my own boys, but that’s divorce for you.”

Wanda, two-time loser, knew something about that. “Do you have a lot of trouble with bullying?

“Not on my bus.”

Wink was licking his paws with a self-satisfied tongue, and she could see him judging whether more treats were possible. “Thanks for Wink’s treat. Now we need to walk it off.”

“Have a nice day, Reverend Duff.”

She and Wink already had turned toward the tennis courts. Reverend? Was there nowhere she could hide?

Behind the school, there was a ropes course and a few climbing walls. As she headed in that direction, she could hear what sounded like a zoo, or possibly a commercial wild animal park. She craned her neck. It was the marching band. The brass was out and tuning up. The percussion was being carried across the parking lot. Wanda counted four bass drums, at least a dozen snares, several quad sets, three kettle drums, and multiple cymbals. If she took this route again, Wink might need noise-cancelling headphones.

The clarinets were drifting in—perhaps it was the instrument of choice of the perennially late. The drums had started with a cascade of intricate rhythms, though, and a steady unison crescendo of beats poured forth like a heartbeat. She could feel it coming up through the pavement. Thump, thump, thump, thump. Then it was cut off. The sudden silence was almost alarming.

Wanda shook herself and checked her hearing aids. Maybe she would turn them all the way down for the rest of the walk. She could use a break from listening to what everyone needed from her. She stroked the covers gently, recalling her splurge—autumnal colors with delicate gold vine tracing, and an amber enamel maple detail that coordinated with her gold curled-leaf earrings. When she was at her desk, they even matched her gorgeous crimson readers.

As silence descended, she let out a breath she hadn’t known she was holding.

It was a liminal space, this trail through a strip of forest between the school and the back of a nursing home. As Wanda and Wink tramped over the fallen leaves, the darkness settled in rather suddenly. Autumn was a lonely time, but she came here to feel alone. Close enough to the road for most people to hear a truck cough, a car engine turn over, and the distant honking pilgrimage of geese, though for her they were whispers. Closer were the thin, sighing sounds she could imagine with her eyes—a chipmunk’s hasty flight from its wild, small fears, the crunching of the carpet of detritus beneath her own boots, and, far above, a few yellow leaves stirred by the wind, thick, brittle, castanet, ready to let go.

After the time change, the fingers of darkness would gather evening in early. She and Wink walked slowly, savoring these early October days with slanted light and chill breezes. He stopped to sniff every few steps, occasionally wrenching her arm out of the socket to scare a rabbit. Although they often came here, she was struck today by a sudden feeling that they were not alone. Probably a deer watched her, wondering which way to run, or a coyote—a danger to house cats, but not to them. Wink caught her unease and whined at her.

She scratched behind his ears. “It’s okay, Wink. Pretty soon, though, we’ll have to give this path up until April.”

Wanda shook herself like Wink coming in from rain and tried to regain the buoyancy she’d soaked up from the football players, friendly bus driver, upbeats of the practicing band, even the sudden heart-stop on the drums. No one was lurking—no one was watching.

And then she saw the hand.

It was white against a brown pack of leaves, palm open, fingers curled. Wink pulled toward it. Early Halloween prop, dropped from a backpack. Wanda took shallow breaths, glanced around, and stepped closer. Dark mound, clothes, dark . . . hair.

“Hello?” Her hand clenched around Wink’s lead, keeping him close.

She knew a young man who lived rough out here, but this wasn’t Dave. Wanda could tell that, even from the distance of a few feet.

“Hello?”

No answer. Wanda crept forward and crouched down. At the office, she had Narcan and knew how to use it, but not on an afternoon walk. No. She touched the hand.

It was cold.

Too late for Narcan if this was an overdose. Wanda’s eyes filled with tears.

And then she felt it very strongly—the presence that she had felt before. Someone watching. Her hair stood up on the back of her neck.

She stood up and backed off, fumbling for her cell phone while scattering doggie bags and tissues from her pocket.

“Nine-one-one. How may I assist you?”

Wanda’s hands were clumsy as she turned her hearing aids up so they could connect to her cell. “I’ve found a body.”

“What’s your name?”

“This is Wanda Duff. I’m walking my dog behind the high school, and I found a body. It’s so cold.” Wanda forced herself to inhale slowly through her nose. She could feel panic welling up.

The dispatcher’s voice was crisp. Wanda clung to the woman’s calm authority. “I’m sending units to you now. Stay on the line please.”

Wanda’s throat constricted as she spun in a circle. “I think somebody’s out here with me.”

Wink started to growl.

“Can you give me a more exact location?”

She could hear sirens. “Trail from the parking lot behind the school. Maybe a quarter mile in.”

“The police will be there shortly. Do not hang up.”

Wanda forced herself to kneel, to stroke Wink’s warm body. It steadied her. “Wait. I have an alarm.” She fumbled in her deep pockets, and more dog-walking paraphernalia dropped out. She finally found the little SLFORCE Personal Alarm antirape device and switched it on.

It was a deafening sound. She was sure the band director could hear her and was irritated. The dispatcher probably had permanent auditory damage. Poor Wink. But the police detail would find her more quickly. She wondered if Ben could even hear it from where he sat with his newspaper.

Wanda suddenly realized though that she felt alone for the first time since she’d headed up the trail. She said a soft prayer of release, and a blessing for this person lying on the ground, for whatever life this open hand left behind.

About the Authors

Maren C. Tirabassi’s forty years’ experience in mainline ministry shape Wanda Duff’s professional life (but not her personality). Tirabassi is a former Poet Laureate of the city of Portsmouth, New Hampshire, and has published poetry and short stories in fifteen anthologies, as well as twenty nonfiction titles.

Maria Mankin, Maren’s daughter, has written five nonfiction books and a thriller, Circ (Pigeon Park Press). Rye’s dilemmas are influenced by Mankin’s ten years in education as a teacher and administrator. She holds a degree in Writing, Literature and Publishing from Emerson College.

Website – https://www.brainmillpress.com/books/death-in-the-woods/

Purchase Links – Amazon – B&N – Kobo – Brain Mill Press

Wanda’s Favorite Berry Buckle

1/2 cup butter 

1/2 cup sugar

1 egg 

1 tsp. vanilla

2 cups flour 

2 1/2 tsp. baking powder

1/4 cup butter

1/2 cup packed brown sugar

1/2 cup flour

1 tsp. cinnamon

1. In a mixing bowl, cream together butter and sugar.

2. Beat into the sugar and butter.

3. Wash and remove stems from 2 cups of blueberries or raspberries, blackberries, boysenberries, or a combination of these or other favorite berries. Drain well and place in a bowl.

4. Sift together.

5. Sift about 1/4 cup of the flour over the berries and stir gently to coat the berries. 

 

6. Stir remaining flour mixture into butter/egg mixture alternately with 1/2 cup milk.

7. Batter is thick; very gently fold berries into the mixture so as not to crush them.

8. In a small mixing bowl, blend together with fork or fingers until butter is evenly distributed throughout and mixture is crumbly.

9. Spread batter gently in a greased & floured 8- or 9-inch square pan. 

10. Sprinkle topping evenly over batter. 

11. Bake about 1 hour at 350, until the topping is browned and crunchy and the cake tester comes out. clean. 

 

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July 11 – Cozy Up WIth Kathy – CHARACTER GUEST POST

July 12 – Celticlady’s Reviews – SPOTLIGHT WITH RECIPE

July 13 – Novels Alive – REVIEW

July 14 – Baroness Book Trove – SPOTLIGHT

July 15 – Sapphyria’s Book Reviews – SPOTLIGHT

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The Water Tower: A Lakeview Mystery by Amy Young Book Tour!

 

About The Water Tower

 

The Water Tower: A Lakeview Mystery 

Cozy Mystery/Women Sleuths 1st in Series

Setting – A fictional Ohio town in the suburbs of Cleveland called Lakeview

Level Best Books (June 20, 2023) 

Paperback ‏ : ‎ 250 pages

ISBN-10 ‏ : ‎ 1685122779

ISBN-13 ‏ : ‎ 978-1685122775 

Digital ASIN ‏ : ‎ B0BT3T8M1C 

Josie Ashbury was a successful Hollywood actress with a booming career—until an on-set breakdown sends her back to her small Ohio hometown to recover. Taking a job teaching at her old high school, Josie is beginning to put the pieces of her life back together when one of her students dies under suspicious circumstances. The police close the case quickly, without any real answers. Josie is determined to find the truth behind the girl's death.

At the same time, Josie is battling demons of her own. As she faces debilitating insomnia that leaves her with gaps in her memory, she dives into the tangled secrets surrounding the investigation. When she finally unravels the web, she discovers that the truth lies much closer to home than she could have ever imagined.

Excerpt

She stood on the water tower, looking at the skyline she had only observed from the ground. You really could see the whole town from up here. Funny how your whole life can fit into one 360-degree glance. Peering down at the ground, she was no longer able to see individual blades of grass, all of them blurring into a sea of perfect emerald green. To her right was the roof of Lakeview High School, looking small from this vantage point. She felt as though if she leaned over far enough, she could almost touch it. But that was ridiculous; the school had to be several hundred feet away. Her vision came in and out of focus as she swayed, thinking about her life, her past, her future... Reaching out her slender arm, she twirled her wrist. She could hardly wait for graduation when, everyone said, “real life” would begin. “I can't wait to get out of here,” her friends exclaimed, dreaming of big cities and even bigger lives in far-off places: Chicago, Los Angeles, New York, anywhere but here. But she knew they would return, just like their parents, raising 2.5 kids with a Labradoodle and a balding husband in one of the best-little-suburbs in the country. Was it really so bad? She watched all these super-educated women who had given up their careers to stay home and clean up after the kids and drive to soccer practice, instead of changing the world as they'd so hopefully planned when plotting their escape years earlier. Was that her fate? Was that what awaited her now? Dozens of similar thoughts swirled and crashed like waves in front of her, mixing in a fantastic spray of colors, lights, and sounds.

Amy Young is an author, comedian, and actor based in Cleveland. After spending a decade in Los Angeles working in the entertainment industry and writing her debut novel, The Water Tower, she returned to Ohio to be closer to family. Amy is working on her second book, a thriller, and in her free time she enjoys going to the theatre, bingeing reality TV, and spending time with her husband and many, many cats. She has a B.A. in English from Kenyon College.

Author Links 

Webpage: http://www.authoramyyoung.com

Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/authoramyyoung 

Twitter: https://www.twitter.com/authoramyyoung 

Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/amypcomedy 

Tiktok: https://www.tiktok.com/AmyPYoung1 

GoodReads: https://www.goodreads.com/author/show/36651982.Amy_Young 

 Purchase Links Amazon Barnes & Noble Apple Books-A-Million Kobo IndieBound 

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July 5 – #BRVL Book Review Virginia Lee – SPOTLIGHT

July 5 – StoreyBook Reviews – AUTHOR GUEST POST

July 6 – Socrates Book Reviews – SPOTLIGHT

July 6 – Christy’s Cozy Corners – SPOTLIGHT

July 7 – Literary Gold – SPOTLIGHT

July 7 – Rebecca M. Douglass, Author – REVIEW

July 8 – Brooke Blogs – CHARACTER GUEST POST

July 8 – Sapphyria’s Book Reviews – SPOTLIGHT

July 9 – Cozy Up With Kathy – AUTHOR INTERVIEW

July 10 – The Book’s the Thing – REVIEW

July 11 – FUONLYKNEW – SPOTLIGHT

July 11 – Baroness Book Trove – SPOTLIGHT

July 12 – Celticlady’s Reviews – SPOTLIGHT  

July 13 – Ascroft, eh? – AUTHOR INTERVIEW

July 14 – Maureen’s Musings – SPOTLIGHT

July 15 – MJB Reviewers – SPOTLIGHT

July 15 – Escape With Dollycas Into A Good Book – SPOTLIGHT

July 16 – Indie Author Book Reviews – SPOTLIGHT

July 17 – Reading Is My SuperPower – REVIEW

July 18 – Guatemala Paula Loves to Read – REVIEW

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The Substitute Sister by Katherine Nichols Book Blitz! #KatherineNichols #TheSubstituteSiste #XpressoTours⁣ @XpressoTours⁣⁣⁣⁣⁣

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The Substitute Sister
Katherine Nichols
Publication date: June 1st 2023
Genres: Adult, Psychological Thriller, Thriller

Four years after losing her sister Stella, Grace McElroy has begun to heal. She no longer spends her days overcome with grief and guilt. But the appearance of a woman who looks just like Stella makes her doubt her sanity.

Even more terrifying, she learns her adopted daughter’s biological father, once a brutal Ecuadorian drug lord, is in the States. Before she can determine whether he’s come to reclaim his child, the little girl is kidnapped, and Grace and her family will do anything to get her back.

A hundred miles away, Natalie Burden discovers her estranged father has another family. And Natalie has a sister, Grace Burnette McElroy. The news thrills her, but her mother’s debilitating stroke puts her plans to meet her sister on hold.

Her mother’s recovery gives Natalie time to follow Grace. She discovers she’s not the only one stalking the McElroys. Desperate to protect them, she becomes involved in a fight with a vengeful drug lord.

While Grace struggles to make sense of her ghost-sister, Natalie works behind the scenes to save her niece. Because without Stella’s child, there may be no chance of establishing the kind of sister relationship Natalie craves and Grace mourns.

Goodreads / Amazon

I’m one of those people who reminds everybody of someone else. Strangers approach me to ask where we met before and are disbelieving or disappointed when I explain we haven’t. If questioned about what I do for a living, I say surveillance and flash a mysterious look, an expression I’ve practiced in the mirror hundreds of times. I tell them my work is classified, which is more of a misdirection than a downright lie. My actual job is with a temp agency because Natalie Burden is a temporary kind of girl. I am in the espionage business, though, in a highly specialized capacity. But I never divulge my area of expertise. Because if I did, I would have to admit to them and myself that an agent with only one person of interest is less spy and more stalker.

Excerpt

And there, in front of the summer sandal sale sign, stood my sister. Her sun-streaked hair swinging as she fled toward the exit. I followed, dodging pre-teens in the junior department and white-haired ladies picking at discount jewelry. Desperate to catch her, I pushed past a young woman shoving a protesting toddler into a stroller and an elderly man with a walker. 

But when I reached the mall entrance, she was gone. I wanted to call her name, louder this time, but knew she wouldn’t answer. Dead women seldom do.

Katherine Nichols is a writer of suspense with heart and humor. She is the author of The Sometime Sister, The Unreliables, and Trust Issues. A vice president of The Atlanta Writers Club, she also serves on the board of Sisters in Crime Atlanta. As a strong proponent of women authors supporting each other, Katherine is a co-host of the inspirational Wild Women Who Write Take Flight podcast. When she isn’t spending time with her children and grandchildren, Katherine loves to read, walk, and travel. She lives in Lilburn, Georgia with her husband, two rescue dogs, and two rescue cats.

Website / Facebook

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