The Silent by Speak Val Collins Book Tour and Giveaway!

The Silent Speak
Val Collins
Publication date: February 23rd 2021
Genres: Adult, Thriller

“There’s a lunatic out there who butchered five innocent people and nobody is looking for him.”

Aoife Walsh has plenty keeping her busy—finalising her divorce from her manipulative husband, settling into her still-new relationship with Detective Conor Moloney, and trying to win the trust of his teenage son. So for the moment, her fledgeling career as a freelance journalist has been put on hold.

Then comes the horrific news that an entire family has been slaughtered in their own home. Aoife is shocked to discover two of the victims were members of her on-again-off-again book club. Even more disturbing is the revelation that the police believe it was a murder-suicide.

That’s when Aoife receives a tantalising offer. Lisa, the main suspect’s sister, will grant Aoife access to the victims’ extended family for an exclusive news story—if Aoife will help find the real killer. Moved by Lisa’s unwavering belief in her brother’s innocence, Aoife agrees to help.

As she digs into the secrets of her fellow book club members, Aoife discovers potential suspects everywhere: people having affairs, a jealous husband, and a power-hungry business partner who’s clearly hiding something.

Aoife keeps pulling at the threads of the story, untangling more and more deception. Is the killer really dead and buried? Is it someone Aoife already knows? Could the lunatic be closer than Aoife ever imagined?

You won’t be able to put down this twisty thriller from international bestselling author Val Collins.

Goodreads / Amazon / Barnes & Noble / iBooks / Kobo

—

PROLOGUE:

She read the note again.

Twice in the past three years, similar notes had been splashed all over the newspapers. She knew immediately what it meant, but her brain wouldn’t allow her to process it. For several minutes she just stared at it. Her lips formed words that never came. When her brain caught up, it went straight to denial.

This could not be happening.

Things like this did not happen in ordinary families.

Not in families like hers.

She pulled down the door handle. The door was unlocked. That was a good sign, right? She would go into the house and find everything exactly as it had always been. There just had to be some simple explanation for that note. Yes, she nodded to herself, relieved to have come to a decision. She nudged the door open and put one foot on the wooden floor. The house was eerily quiet. No kids running around. No noise from the kitchen.

‘Now don’t panic,’ she muttered to herself. ‘Everything will be fine. Just go inside.’

She tried to lift her foot, but her brain wouldn’t cooperate. Hands shaking, she pulled out her mobile and dialled 999. She was still frozen in the doorway when the police arrived.

Author Bio:

Val Collins is the author of the award-winning psychological thriller GIRL TARGETED, the international bestseller ONLY LIES REMAIN and her new release THE SILENT SPEAK. All three books feature heroine Aoife Walsh.

A native of Ireland, Val began reading at the age of three and still devours books at the rate of one per week. Her favourite authors range from Philippa Gregory and Sophie Kinsella to Lee Child and Linwood Barclay.

Join Val online at valcollinsbooks.com, and on social media @valcollinsbooks.

Website / Goodreads / Facebook / Twitter / Instagram

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Last Star Standing By Spaulding Taylor Book Tour and Interview!

 

Last Star Standing

By Spaulding Taylor

Genre: Soft Science Fiction/Speculative/Dystopian/Post-apocalyptic

About the Book

A post-apocalyptic Earth under alien rule. A lone wolf assassin with a chip on his shoulder. Can he find his way through a maze of deceit to victory?

 

 Aiden has always felt like an outsider. After the rebel operative is captured and imprisoned by the world’s galactic overlords, he awaits execution. Then a mole working for the occupying regime alerts him to a plot that could destroy the entire resistance... Engineering a daring escape, Aiden’s growing feud with the new rebel leader leaves him out in the cold – and smouldering with resentment. Faced with deceit and betrayals on every side, he recruits a group of overlooked outcasts and stakes everything on one last mission.

 

Can the restless, reckless Aiden take a stand long enough to save humanity from enslavement?

About the Author

Alice McVeigh was born in South Korea, of American diplomatic parents, and lived in Asia until she was 13, when the family returned to Washington D.C. She then fell in love with the cello, winning the Beethoven Society of Washington cello competition, and reaching the finals of the National Music Teachers Association Young Soloists national competition. After achieving a B.Mus. with distinction at the internationally acclaimed Jacobs School of Music, she came to London to study with Jacqueline du Pré and William Pleeth. Since then she has performed with the BBC Symphony Orchestra, the Royal Philharmonic and the Orchestre Révolutionnaire et Romantique all over Europe, America and Asia.

Her first two contemporary novels – While the Music Lasts and Ghost Music – were published by Orion Publishing/Hachette in the late 90s, and her first play (Beating Time) put on at the Lewisham Theatre. (The film rights to her first book were also sold, to Channel 4, but Mozart in the Jungle got there first!)  As well as performing, Alice has ghosted or edited over 200 books. She has also scribbled a witty guide to the orchestral profession: All Risks Musical, cartoons by Noel Ford. Her most recent novel, Last Star Standing, will be published by Unbound Publishing under her pen name, Spaulding Taylor, on February 21st, 2021.

Alice is married to Professor Simon McVeigh, and lives in London. They have one daughter, who just graduated from the University of Oxford, and a second home, by the sea in Crete. Apart from fiction, Alice’s greatest enthusiasms involve playing chamber music, dachshunds and tennis. (She is a powerful but notably inaccurate tennis player, with the distinction of being ladies’ singles runner-up four years in succession at the - very - local Farnborough Tennis Club.) 

Website: www.alicemcveigh.com

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

Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/mcveigh.alice/

Twitter: https://twitter.com/astmcveigh1

Amazon: www.amazon.co.uk/Alice-Mcveigh/e/B07TDKZPVT?ref=sr_ntt_srch_lnk_1&qid=1610184384&sr=1-1 

Goodreads: https://www.goodreads.com/author/show/1108881.Alice_McVeigh

 

Excerpt: 

 

I caught hold of something, something which must have blended into its

background so perfectly that I hadn’t even spotted it. Something

alive, nestling under the co-pilot’s seat.

 

I couldn’t believe it. A live gromeline. Trembling, possibly with

fury, and trying in vain to squeeze back. Grabbing my trophy – I

could feel its hot little heart throbbing like an injury against my

palm – I hopped out of the plane so fast that my wound protested.

 

‘Bully!’

 

Bully raised one eyebrow. Two would have been overkill.

‘Bully, you are not going to believe this. I found a gromeline!’

The gromeline – only about fifteen centimetres – bit my finger,

hard, even though I could have easily crushed its entire body with

my fist – and probably would have, were I a real tester.

 

Feisty little gromeline. I flicked it lightly with my sausage-

sized finger. When it protested, I growled, ‘Cheese it, munchkin,’

though I could feel it struggling obstreperously against my palm.

 

Bully was intrigued.

‘Is it genuine?’

 

‘Of course it’s genuine. It just fucking bit me.’

 

Bully probably considered this no proof. But they’re rarer than

clean air these days and his fascination was obvious. (Gromelines come

from the farthest galaxy so far discovered, can speak any tongue

and own enviable mental powers. They are also brave to the point

of stupidity and ludicrously small. This one was mouse-coloured

– they can be spectacular – with tiny red eyes. Few humans have

ever seen one.)

 

‘What on Earth was Ho Chi doing with a gromeline?’

 

It was a reasonable question. A mission was no place for such

a valuable alien. Could have been bounced to pieces, even during

that feather-silk landing. I leaned down. ‘Did you stowaway on

Ho Chi’s blinguard?’ I asked, but it just slit its eyes, pursed its lips

and glared at me.

 

Bully trotted to his backpack and removed a small bag.

‘Shove it in here. Not even a gromeline could tunnel out of that.

Once we’ve had something to eat, we can find out what it knows.’

 

With some difficulty we succeeded in loosing the little creature

inside, where it immediately started gnawing on a corner.

 

‘You sure it can’t just chew itself out?’ I asked.

 

‘Not unless it’s got a small but serviceable nuclear device.'

And now for the Interview with the author!

What do you find most challenging about the writing process, and how do you deal with it?

Disorganization. I get on a high doing the actual writing, write my plot into a corner and have to wriggle my way out again. I hate feeling tied down to an outline and – probably for that reason – it doesn’t work for me!

When and where do you do your writing?

I used to combine writing and ghostwriting with being an orchestra cellist – THEN it was very hard. But with the lockdown, every rehearsal and every concert disappeared – quite literally - overnight! Depressing as this was as a cellist, it means that all my energy has gone straight into my books. Have written TWO – and I’m not generally a quick writer, either! Instead, I believe that you shouldn’t write a book until the NOT writing of it becomes almost physically painful to you.

What have you learned about promoting your books?

I always tell my clients that I am not enough!! – They can hire the most gifted cover artist, the cleverest editor and the soundest proofreader in the world, and they’ll still be sad if their book only sells twenty copies. And promoting is getting harder. There are so many people writing, and fewer people with the emotional and intellectual space to read. It’s the hardest part of the business – not that writing is simple, but it’s simpler than pushing books!! 

I really hadn’t realized that science fiction is a hard sell, either. The book came to me while meditating and I fought it, simply because I didn’t know enough about the genre, but the narrator just wouldn’t leave me alone. It wasn’t until I’d finished it when I learned that half the agents in the world won’t even CONSIDER science fiction!!! – It’s becoming like poetry. Again, it’s probably supply and demand. Everyone is so fed-up with the world that they long to create a different one!  But makes it very, very hard to be heard. 

What are you most proud of as a writer?

Well, I was twice published by Orion, when I was young, and was very proud of reviews including these: 

The Sunday Times: 'Characters rise and fall to McVeigh’s superbly controlled conductor's baton. The orchestra becomes a universe in microcosm; all human life is here…McVeigh succeeds in harmonising a supremely comic tone with much darker notes.' (review of While the Music Lasts)

 

The Sunday Telegraph: 'McVeigh is a professional cellist and is thus able to describe with wry authority the extraordinary life of a London orchestra. This is a very enjoyable novel, and not quite as light as it pretends to be.' (review of While the Music Lasts)
 

Publisher's Weekly: 'McVeigh's captivating, witty debut offers uncanny insights into music, love, and the human heart. Her portrayal sings with lyrical intensity and eloquent feeling.' (McVeigh's While the Music Lasts)

 

 

The Good Book Guide (now Lovereading): 'The author is a professional cellist and a highly intelligent novelist. In the hothouse atmosphere of a group welded together but battered by individual stresses, relationships blossom and painfully disintegrate. Almost as enraptured by the sensuous sound of words as by music itself, McVeigh spins her sentences across the page, carrying the reader with them.' (McVeigh's While the Music Lasts) 

Now I’m with the humbler Unbound, but it still makes it all worthwhile to get these:

“This is original worldbuilding with dramatic flair, with style that brings the story to life… Taylor's narrative spurs readers to understand and accept the juxtaposition of inner desire and the outer reality that serves both to obstruct and to shape humanity. RECOMMENDED.” The US Review of Books

"A dauntless soldier’s epic tale of rebellion, escape, and redemption, Last Star Standing is a dazzling and chilling vision of the future...The writing has a sharp, post-apocalyptic edge with plenty of dark humor. Memorable characters leap off the page, the action is visceral and exciting, and Taylor’s unleashed imagination makes this dystopian novel a deeply addictive read." (SPR review, Feb. 2021)

 

 “Aiden is a fiery protagonist, making this outlandishly creative novel a pleasure to read. Last Star Standing is refreshingly unpredictable, while holding to classic form.” (Independent Review of Books, Feb. 2021)

If you could have dinner with any writer, living or dead, who would it be and what would you talk about?

I’m a Jane Austen freak so… an easy choice.  But I’d prob. be too overawed to say anything!!!

Edge Of Fear (Arrow's Edge MC, #4 by Freya Barker Cover Reveal!

Title: Edge Of Fear (Arrow's Edge MC, #4) 

Author: Freya Barker 

Genre: Romantic Suspense 

Release Date: May 3, 2021 

Image: Golden Czermak (Furious Fotog)

Model: Scott Benton

Hosted by: Buoni Amici Press, LLC. 

Preorder Edge of Fear on Amazon

Ink and sawdust meets brisket and moxie I’m a tattooed casualty. A charmer, a fraud, a skeptic, and a carpenter.  My name is Tse. I’m cocky enough to believe my own lies, but too oblivious to see the truth is already out there.  I’m a cautious perfectionist. A sister, a scrapper, a dreamer, and a workhorse. My name is Sophia. I’m capable enough to plan ahead, yet too powerless to avoid getting blindsided.  We’re complete opposites—one who plays it safe, the other a thrill-seeker—but when old sins resurface bringing violence to the present, our path forward becomes clear.

 

USA Today bestselling author Freya Barker loves writing about ordinary people with extraordinary stories.

Driven to make her books about 'real' people; she creates characters who are perhaps less than perfect, each struggling to find their own slice of happy, but just as deserving of romance, thrills and chills in their lives.

Recipient of the ReadFREE.ly 2019 Best Book We've Read All Year Award for "Covering Ollie, the 2015 RomCon “Reader’s Choice” Award for Best First Book, “Slim To None”, and Finalist for the 2017 Kindle Book Award with “From Dust”, Freya continues to add to her rapidly growing collection of published novels as she spins story after story with an endless supply of bruised and dented characters, vying for attention!

Available in Kindle Unlimited

AMAZON

Spring Upon a Crime (A Seattle Wilderness Mystery) by ML Erdahl Book Tour and Giveaway!

Spring Upon a Crime (A Seattle Wilderness Mystery)
by ML Erdahl

About Spring Upon A Crime

Spring Upon a Crime (A Seattle Wilderness Mystery)
Cozy Mystery
2nd in Series
Publisher: Wild Rose Press (January 13, 2021)
Paperback: 294 pages
ISBN-10: 1509234608
ISBN-13: 978-1509234608
Digital ASIN: B08P87F6J1

Wilderness guide Crystal Rainey leads a group of college students to a private campground amidst the awe-inspiring Olympic Rain Forest. The excursion is ruined when the charming hostess Roxie is discovered standing over the land owner’s body, murder weapon in hand.

 

Enlisted to investigate the crime to absolve her friend, Crystal descends on the quiet city of Forks to find loggers, developers, and eco-protesters circling the property, intent on either exploiting or protecting the bastion of old-growth forest. The list of suspects is intimidating. Can Crystal find answers in a community determined to keep her in the dark?

 About ML Erdahl

Award-winning author ML Erdahl lives amidst the trees of the Pacific Northwest, where he pens humorous cozy mystery novels set in the wilderness he has spent his lifetime exploring. The only thing slowing him down is when his adorable rescue dogs, Skip and Daisy, demand to be pet and cuddled on his lap while he types. When he’s not working away in front of a computer, you can find him gardening, hiking, or grumbling to his wife, Emily, about the perpetual Northwest winter rain that prevents him from going outside.

Author Links

Website     Facebook      Instagram     Twitter     Goodreads     Bookbub

Purchase Links 

Amazon     Barnes and Noble    Apple Books   Kobo    Google Play

Book 1 in this Series

TOUR PARTICIPANTS

February 22 – I’m All About Books – SPOTLIGHT

February 22 – Christa Reads and Writes – REVIEW

February 22 – Novels Alive – GUEST POST

February 23 – Cozy Up With Kathy – AUTHOR INTERVIEW

February 23 – Celticlady’s Reviews – SPOTLIGHT

February 23 – My Reading Journeys – REVIEW

February 23 – FUONLYKNEW – SPOTLIGHT

February 24 – Reading, Writing & Stitch-Metic – GUEST POST

February 24 – Christy’s Cozy Corners – REVIEW

February 24 – Laura’s Interests – REVIEW

February 24 – The Ninja Librarian – REVIEW, CHARACTER INTERVIEW

February 25 – Literary Gold – REVIEW

February 25 – Mysteries with Character – REVIEW

February 25 – Sapphyria’s Book Reviews – SPOTLIGHT

February 26 – I Read What You Write – SPOTLIGHT

February 26 – Novels Alive – REVIEW

February 26 – Here’s How It Happened – SPOTLIGHT

February 27 – Books a Plenty Book Reviews – REVIEW, GUEST POST

February 27 – Brooke Blogs – CHARACTER GUEST POST

February 27 – Escape With Dollycas Into A Good Book – SPOTLIGHT

February 28 – A Blue Million Books – AUTHOR INTERVIEW

February 28 – Maureen’s Musings – SPOTLIGHT

 

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