May 2021 - A Life Through Books

Monday, May 31, 2021

Release Blitz: The Disposables by Greg Jolley #promo #giveaway #releaseday #suspense #rabtbooktours @RABTBookTours @gfjolle
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The Obscurité de Floride Trilogy, Book 2

Suspense

Date Published: Jun 1, 2021

Publisher: Épouvantail Books, LLC


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In the jungles of coastal Mexico, twelve-year-old Kazu Danser is on the run, his bloody past haunting and attempting to be his ruination. Hot on his heals is journalist Carson Staines, a deadly madman full of blood thirst and greed, determined to first chronicle Kazu’s criminal life – and then end it. Staines must nail him down, dead or alive; the boy being worth a huge payoff.

Making a perilous crossing of the border into the States, Kazu fights for his life, desperately heading east. Entering sunburnt Florida, he teams up with a gang of Floridian street urchins, known to the authorities as, “The disposables.”

With Staines not letting up on the chase, Kazu and the other youths go on the run, fighting for their lives.

Can the Disposables and Kazu survive?

What will they have to do to stop the murderous and resourceful monster mowing through them to get to his reward?

The second part of the book takes place in the shadows of Florida, where street urchins fights every day to survive, both bodily and in spirit. In contrast to the tropical beaches and teeming vacationers, the children will do anything necessary to keep their heads above the perilous deep waters.


About the Author

Greg Jolley earned a Master of Arts in Writing from the University of San Francisco and lives in the very small town of Ormond Beach, Florida. When not writing, he researches historical crime, primarily those of the 1800s. Or goes surfing.


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Release Blitz: Duty Bound by Jessica James #promo #releaseday #giveaway #historicalfiction #rabtbooktours @RABTBookTours
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Volume I

Historical Fiction

Date Published: 6-1-21

Publisher: Patriot Press



Readers will discover the fine line between friends and enemies when a Confederate cavalry officer finds out that the woman he promised his dying brother he would defend, is the spy he swore to his men he would destroy. This epic Southern fiction novel chronicles the journeys of these two tenacious foes as their lives cross by the fates of war and their destinies become entwined forever.

Author Jessica James uniquely blends elements of romantic and historical fiction in this deeply personal and poignant tale that, according to one reviewer, “transcends the pages to settle in the very marrow of the reader’s bones.”


About the Author

Jessica James is an award-winning author of patriotic suspense, historical fiction, and heartwarming Southern small town fiction. She is a four-time winner of the John Esten Cooke Award for Fiction, and has won more than a dozen other literary awards including a Gold Medal from the Military Writers Society of America. James’ novels have been used in schools and are available in hundreds of libraries including Harvard and the U.S. Naval Academy. She resides in Gettysburg, Pa., and has a passion for old dwellings and first edition books.


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Historical Romance Feature: The Ack Ack Girls by Chris Karlsen #promo  #historicalromance #rabtbooktours @RABTBookTours @ChrisKarlsen1
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Book 1 in the Love & War series

Historical Romance

Date Published: February 14, 2021

Publisher: Books to Go Now



Love and War

A country under attack and the story of one woman’s fight to protect England and her heart.

1941. The German war machine has crushed all of Europe-only England holds fast. To force a surrender, the German Luftwaffe bombs cities and villages the length of the country. As the battle rages, Britain is in desperate need to put more pilots in the air.

To free up more men a new unit is formed: The Ack Ack Girls. These special teams of courageous women will now fight in the anti-aircraft stations. Determined to be part of the effort, Ava Armstrong, volunteers for one of the special teams.

Her unit just happens to be located near an RAF airfield teaming with pilots. Sparks fly, and not just from artillery, when Ava crosses paths with Chris Fairfield, a handsome and cocky pilot stationed there. But nothing is easy in time of war, not even love.


About the Author

I was raised in Chicago. My father, a history professor, and my mother, a voracious reader passed on a love of history and books along with a love of travel. My husband and I retired to the Pacific Northwest where we live with four crazy rescue dogs.

I am a retired police detective. After twenty-five years in law enforcement, I decided to pursue my dream of writing. I’ve completed a historical-time travel romance series called Knights in Time. I currently write a historical suspense one called The Bloodstone Series.

I am also working on a world war two series of novella romances. The first is Moonlight Serenade and currently available for free on my newsletter signup. The second is The Ack-Ack Girl, a historical romance set in WW2 England.


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Angus Robertson

 

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Thursday, May 27, 2021

Book Blitz: His Sister's Best Friend by Shyla Colt #promo #romance #giveaway #rabtbooktours @RABTBookTours @ShylaColt
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Contemporary Romance

Date Published: 03-29-2021


Solomon

The man of the house since my father’s death at sixteen, I knew I’d be the guardian for my sister, Susan, who has Down syndrome. However, I didn’t realize I’d become her guardian while dealing with my mother’s mini-strokes, rehabilitation, and selling the family home. I’m drowning in paperwork and emotions as I try to get Susan adjusted. A new care plan and a specialized school act as light at the end of the tunnel. I never expected to find her new best friend at the school was my old high school crush.

Ezra

I always regretted keeping my feelings for Solomon to myself. When we became the victims of losing touch in college, I added it to my list of regrets. Now he’s back as the guardian of a student, and the years have been exceedingly kind. My habit of following rules is suddenly out the window. Risking the reputation I’ve worked so hard to gain isn’t on my to-do list.

Can we manage a relationship without it becoming a conflict of interest?


About the Author


USA Today Bestselling author Shyla Colt is a chaos wrangler, chronic crafter, and imaginary friend collector. The mom of two and a wife road trips with her weird brood when she’s not taking on a new hobby or bingeing on spooky podcasts and documentaries. She writes strong women with sass, plenty of nerdy tendencies, and the intriguing intense males who love them.

You can interact with Shyla Colt online via her website

www.shylacolt.net


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Virtual Book Tour: Killing Time by Mike Murphey #blogtour #interview #giveaway #humor #scifi #rabtbooktours @RABTBookTours
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Physics, Lust and Greed Series, Book 3

Humorous Science Fiction

Date Published: May 11, 2021

Publisher: Acorn Publishing



At every crossroads he has encountered in life, Sean Brody has made the safe choice. In the year 2046, at the age of ninety-three, Sean is given one final opportunity to deal with his greatest regret. Sean is the only man Marshall Grissom and Marta Hamilton can find who might be able to save Sheila Schuler, their friend and fellow traveler lost in the distant reaches of time. If Sean accepts the task of traveling to his childhood in a parallel universe—with no guarantee that any aspect of the past can be changed—Sean must also accept his death in the only world he knows.




Interview

 

What is the hardest part of writing your books?

 

        Maintaining the discipline of writing every day can be a challenge. Some days, finding that minimum 500 words can be difficult. But you must find a way to do it.

 

What songs are most played on your Ipod?

 

        John Prine, Chad Mitchell Trio, Linda Ronstadt, Susie Boggus, Tom Paxton. Lots of old-guy music.

 

 

Do you have critique partners or beta readers?

 

        I have a couple of people whose opinions and advice I trust. But that’s not a big part of my work process.

 

 

What book are you reading now?

 

        I’m reading John Sandford’s new book, getting ready to read Michael Connelly’s new Lincoln Lawyer book and Andy Weir’s latest.

 

How did you start your writing career?

 

        I was a newspaper reporter in another life. I took a long break from that career. Then, when I turned 60, I determined to see whether I had a novel in me.

 

 

Tell us about your next release.

 

        In August, we will release “We Never Knew Just What it Was … the Story of the Chad Mitchell Trio.” This is a my first non-fiction effort and looks at the 60’s era of folk music.


About The Author


Mike Murphey is a native of eastern New Mexico and spent almost thirty years as an award-winning newspaper journalist in the Southwest and Pacific Northwest. He left journalism in 1998 to form a business related to adult amateur baseball. At the age of 60, he stopped procrastinating and revived his life-long ambition to write a novel. He is author of Sections, an award-winning coming of age novel set in Eastern New Mexico where Mike grew up. He is also author of The Conman … a Baseball Odyssey, another award-winning novel. Killing Time is the third novel in his Physics, Lust and Greed Series. Mike splits his time between Spokane, Washington and Phoenix, Arizona where he enjoys life as a writer and old-man baseball player.


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Wednesday, May 26, 2021

Week Blast: Razor Wire Wilderness by Stephanie K. Dickinson #promo #truecrime #memoir #nonfiction #rabtbooktours @RABTBookTours
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True crime/memoir

Date Published: June 1, 2021

Publisher: Kallisto Gaia Press



Perpetrator. Bystander. Victim. Krystal Riordan watched as her boyfriend beat a drunk teenager to death in a vermin-infested hotel room. Could she have stopped it? Could she be his next victim? She is serving the maximum 30-year sentence while the man who beat the young woman to death is about to be released. This is no anomaly. Studies show over 80% of women who fail to stop their partner from committing a violent crime serve more prison time than the perpetrator. What does it take to survive in a maximum-security lockdown for 30 years? Is it possible to thrive? The answers only lead to more questions.


Excerpt

Somehow, the angels’ wings kept me alive long enough

to find out I wasn’t doing 30 years, but sentenced to nine years.

Lucy Weems, Inmate #781192


Her father, alarmed by the Public Defender’s 30 years, manages to hire a real attorney, and then everything changes. The facts of the case become distortions. He examines the evidence and gets much of it thrown out—blurry video footage, tainted DNA exhibits. The plea deal’s 30 years gets dropped to 15 and then to 9. Lucy accepts the 9 years and will be transported to Edna Mahan Correctional Facility for Women to begin serving her time. Ramón, the hard-core dealer who bullied his customers and sold tainted dope, shows up at the sentencing and claims he’ll be traumatized for life.

&

In the doggie wagon van the sun has gone out, and Lucy sits with her head bowed. There’s no room to straighten up without hitting the van’s roof. Better to contemplate the shackles around her ankles and the handcuffs encircling her wrists. Soon she’ll add inmate to her list—a college graduate, a flutist, an artist, a mother, a wife, an accountant, a heroin addict, a prostitute, and an armed robber and kidnapper.

Maybe it rains only inside her or the doggie wagon. The same kind of van that Animal Control transports stray dogs in. All afternoon it’s been the gray overcast that makes you feel like you’re floating inside the steam that rises off a kettle. Yet she’s high on being out of Cell 1313. She’s interested in her neighbors, her fellow prisoners, and the noises of the interstate. Instead of how the jailed world sounded—the outside muffled and half drowned. After being in solitary confinement for a year, the breathing and shuffling of her neighbors being transported to prison is music.

&

You can feel the highway but not see it. One of the other prisoners says she’s from Newark and the other from Camden. The Newark girl violated her parole and she’s on her way back to EMCF. This is her return trip past the cliffs of Weehawken, past the sea-oats sloughs that once flourished and now are a toxic nothingness that ducks putter through.

So long, Newark, all dying cathedrals and abandoned factories. So long, tall clusters of trees, poplar and hickory. The Ironbound section—foreclosure storefronts, mosques, flu shots advertised $24.99. All the doggie wagon ladies have tasted the dark matter bubbling at the universe’s core, the trapdoor that leads to the street, the homeless shelter, or prison. Like Lucy, the other shackled women bow their heads and to God, glancing down from the clouds, it looks like they’re praying.


About the Author


Stephanie Dickinson, raised on an Iowa farm, now lives in New York City with the poet Rob Cook and their senior citizen feline, Vallejo. Her novels “Half Girl” and “Lust Series” are published by Spuyten Duyvil, as is her feminist noir “Love Highway.” Other books include “Heat: An Interview with Jean Seberg” (New Michigan Press); “Flashlight Girls Run” (New Meridian Arts Press); “The Emily Fables” (ELJ Press); and “Big-Headed Anna Imagines Herself” (Alien Buddha). She has published poetry and prose in literary journals including Cherry Tree, The Bitter Oleander, Mudfish, Another Chicago Magazine, Lit, The Chattahoochee Review, The Columbia Review, Orca and Gargoyle, among others. Her stories have been reprinted in New Stories from the South, New Stories from the Midwest, and Best American Nonrequired Reading. She received distinguished story citations in Best American Short Stories, Best American Essays and numerous Pushcart anthology citations. In 2020, she won the Bitter Oleander Poetry Book Prize with her “Blue Swan/Black Swan: The Trakl Diaries.” To support the holy flow, she has long labored as a word processor for a Fifth Avenue accounting firm.


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Tuesday, May 25, 2021

Release Blitz: The Fourniers by Vera Jane Cook #promo #womensfiction #releaseday #giveaway #rabtbooktours @RABTBookTours @verajanecook
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Women's Fiction

Date Published: 5/26/2021

Publisher: Indies United



When Hannah Reilly steps off the ship on the shores of Ellis Island in 1912 she has no idea that it is not a convent that awaits her. It is a man who finds her far too beautiful to marry God.

Hannah turns her back on the church and she and Wade settle in Jacksonville, Florida, where the world holds the promise of sunshine. They have two wonderful children before life changes and Wade insists that Hannah abort her third child. When Hannah refuses, light turns to darkness and fate unfolds before Hannah with the cruel consequences of her choices.

A story told against the backdrop of the Depression, Hannah struggles with anguish and despair highlighted by brief moments of triumph, lost love returned, deep friendship and the cruelty of laws so unfavorable to women.


About the Author


Vera Jane Cook enjoys writing in a variety of genres. As Olivia Hardy Ray, Jane is author of the dark, suspenseful scifi novel, Pharaoh's Star. In the fantasy genre she is the author of Annabel Horton, Lost Witch of Salem, Annabel Horton and the Black Witch of Pau. She has numerous forthcoming titles in this genre which include Annabel Horton and the Demon of Lodun, Fox Hollow and Nobody's Road.

As Vera Jane Cook, she often explores her southern roots and complex family dynamics in her women's fiction. Her novel Dancing Backward in Paradise won the Indie Excellence Award for notable new fiction when it was first released in 2007 and an Eric Hoffer Award for publishing excellence that same year. Dancing Backward in Paradise received a five-star review from ForeWord Clarion. The Story of Sassy Sweetwater, first released in 2012, was a finalist for the ForeWord Clarion Book of the Year Award. Additionally, Jane has published the southern fiction novels Where the Wildflowers Grow and Pleasant Day. Her newest women's fiction novel, When Hannah Played Ragtime, Book One in a family trilogy will be published this year.

Jane lives on the Upper West Side of Manhattan with her spouse, her Dachshund, Karly, her Chihuahua, Peanut, and her two pussycats, Sassy and Sweetie Pie.


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Book Blitz: My Job Gen Z by Suzanne Skees & Sanam Yusuf #promo #nonfiction #business #rabtbooktours @RABTBookTours @BookBuzznet
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Finding Your Place in a Fast-Changing World

Non-Fiction, Careers, Business

Date Published: March 2021

Publisher: Skees Family Foundation



Nonfiction business/career studies, sociology of work, real-life vignettes of young people at work along with how-tos for job hunting and career building.

MY JOB Gen Z:

--provides hope and help to young adults launching careers during a pandemic and recession,

--defines the unique qualities of Generation Z based on field research and our survey,

--profiles "ordinary" and famous Gen Zers striving toward and succeeding in their dream jobs, and

--offers resources on how to identify your skills, apply for internships and jobs, negotiate terms and salary, work remotely, and forge ahead with your dream job in a fast-changing world.

MY JOB Gen Z, written by and for Generation Z (born in and after 1995), combines research into the unique experiences and qualities of this rising generation with the results of our own global survey.

We compare what the ""data"" say about Gen Z with who YOU say you are, including an array of real-life profiles of ordinary Gen Zers--how they feel about work, what they want most from their careers, and the challenges they encounter along the way.

We spotlight famous Gen Zers who've already had impact on society, built companies, and made millions--and reveal what drives them to succeed.

Then we guide you through best practices for creating your own resume and professional profile, applying for internships and jobs, conducting online and in-person interviews, discerning your valuable skillset and pursuing your own dream job.

The real-life examples and pragmatic advice offered in MY JOB Gen Z will convince you that you are not alone, in an often-challenging and isolating world. It will leave you inspired by your peers doing amazing things and motivated to pursue your own dream job.



About the Authors


SUZANNE SKEES
works in international development as director of the Skees Family Foundation and as a storyteller who travels from schools to slums, prisons to farms, writing for nonprofits and their courageous clients who toil every day to end poverty and create equality. She holds masters’ degrees in English literature from Boston College and world religions from Harvard Divinity School.


SANAM YUSUF
is a student at Occidental College in Los Angeles, focusing on religious studies and diplomacy/world affairs. She was trained in dialogue and conflict resolution at Seeds of Peace International Camp and spent five years as a delegate with Model United Nations (MUN). Through these experiences, she was able to truly see the power of narratives and storytelling–which is why she’s so excited to coauthor this book!


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Virtual Book Tour: Return to Palm Court by Stephanie Edwards #blogtour #interview #giveaway #romanticsuspense #romance #rabtbooktours @RABTBookTours
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Book 2 in the Isle of Palms Suspense series

Romantic Suspense

Date Published:05-04-2021



Brittany Nelson returns to the South Carolina Lowcountry to help her sister, Blake, run the family bed and breakfast and care for her three-year-old niece. Soon after, strange occurrences begin taking place. Brittany can’t shake the feeling that the ghosts of her family’s past haven’t been laid to rest, after all.

As she works to unravel how this is possible, she finds herself in the center of unfathomable events. But if the Nelson sisters know anything, life at Isle of Palms isn’t always a day at the beach.




Interview

What is the hardest part of writing your books?
I have difficulty finding time to write, but I’m always excited once I’m in the flow of the process.

 

What songs are most played on your Ipod?

I listen to Dolly Parton pretty frequently. I live close to her hometown, and I grew up admiring her. That admiration has only grown as she has done impressive work to support literacy, at-risk families and many other causes.

 

Do you have critique partners or beta readers?

Yes! I have a great group of beta readers, who I can count on to give me an honest and helpful critique.

 

What book are you reading now?

I’m getting reading to go through my collection of the late Dorothea Benton Frank’s books about the South Carolina Lowcountry.

 

How did you start your writing career?

I landed my first newspaper column at the age of 13, and I’ve been writing professionally ever since.

 

Tell us about your next release.

I’m working on the third book in my Isle of Palms Suspense series. It will be from the point of view of the middle Nelson sister, Elaina. She has a different gift from her sisters, Blake and Brittany, and she has to find new ways to combat the evil at hand. 


About the Author


Stephanie Edwards has been writing professionally since she landed her first newspaper column at the age of 13. Her love for the Lowcountry, the Atlantic Ocean and a good ghost story inspired her to write her first book, The Haunting on Palm Court: An Isle of Palms Suspense. A stay at a beach cottage with a spooky backyard, filled with old oak trees, inspired the novel.

Stephanie lives in Tennessee with her husband, Ron, and their adorable dog, Shadow. Be sure to keep up with Stephanie’s publishing news at stephedwardswrites.com.


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