Hi
lovelies! It gives me great pleasure today to host Patricia V. Davis and her new
book, “Cooking for Ghosts”! For other
stops on her Goddess Fish Promotions Book Tour, please click on the banner
above.
Be sure to
make it to the end of this post to enter to win a $30 Amazon or Barnes &
Noble Gift Card. Also, come back daily
to interact with Patricia and to increase your chances of winning!
Thanks for
stopping by! Wishing you lots of luck in
this exciting giveaway!
Cooking for
Ghosts
by Patricia V Davis
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GENRE: Women's Fiction/Magical Realism
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BLURB:
A Vegas cocktail waitress. An Indian herbalist. A British chemistry
professor. An Italian-American widow. Four unique women with one thing in
common: each is haunted by a tragedy from her past. The women are surrounded by
ghosts long before they step aboard, but once they do...
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EXCERPT ONE:
Somewhere in the Atlantic, 1949
In an ocean as dark and still as death, the Queen
floated. The scythe-shaped moon engulfed in mist gave off only a dank tinge of
light. Waves skimmed lazily along the Queen’s sides, like the careless caress
of an indifferent lover. She was only fifteen years old, but she’d already
witnessed so much misery: war, love lost to tragedy, and once, a vile murder
that had left a stain on her no sea she traveled had ever washed away.
Now she was about to witness another. The killer’s
rage was silent and patient. And yet, she could feel it. In desperation, the
Queen willed her fog horn to blow…
***
Under the cover of the dimly lit stairwell on the
deserted sports deck, the sailor waited. He’d timed it well. The watch wouldn’t
make his rounds up here until after it was over.
Long before he could see his prey, he heard the
click of her heels on the planked wood, echoing off the water as she
approached. He pressed himself back further into the darkness as she came into
view, her eyes focused on what he’d stolen to lure her, carefully placed so
that it would be visible to her while he remained hidden. As she bent to pick
it up, he stepped swiftly behind her and clamped his forearm around her throat,
cutting off her scream and her breath as he pulled her into the shadows.
She felt her windpipe close up and the blood rush
to her head. She couldn’t twist around
to face him, but ─ oh, God ─ she knew who he was. How ironic. In a life as
mousy as the color of her hair, the one impetuous thing she’d dared do, would
end her. As dreary as her life had been, she didn’t want it to be over.
So she struggled. She dug her nails into Death’s
rigid forearm and clawed at the skin on his elbow. But he only swore at the
blood she’d managed to draw and kept that arm hooked resolutely under her chin,
dangling her legs up off the deck, pressing even tighter against her throat as
she kicked. He shook her and she felt the cool night air hit the sole of her
foot as one of her shoes fell off. The thump it made against the deck startled
him. He lost his vice hold on her for an instant and she tried again to scream.
He slammed his other hand across her nose and mouth. With a rush of stinging
pain, the salty iron taste of blood filled her mouth, mingled with the smell of
his familiar aftershave. Who’d have thought Death would come wearing Old Spice? He’d groomed himself as carefully for her
murder as he once had for her seduction. She went queasy with the realization
that his arms were not the only part of his body that felt rigid against her.
But mere seconds later, she was too lightheaded to
feel disgust or even fear. She now lay in his arms, compliant, his hand still
pressed against her bloodied mouth and nose. Her head was tipped back as he
continued to suffocate her and she could see the night sky, a depthless
backdrop for the stars that flickered through the gauzy veil of ocean fog. And
the moon looked like a grin. Lovers walking the decks below must think it all
so romantic. Dimly, she could hear the
band playing in the ballroom. She was amazed she could even recognize the tune
─ a new one, just come out that year:
“Some enchanted evening, you may meet a
stranger…”
Her final act was to pray that he wouldn’t dump her
before she was truly dead. As cruel as his arms were, at least they were warm.
She didn’t want the ice cold water to be the last thing she felt.
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BOOK TRAILER:
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AUTHOR BIO:
Patricia V. Davis is the author of the bestselling Harlot's Sauce: A
Memoir of Food, Family, Love, Loss and Greece, and The Diva Doctrine: 16
Universal Principles Every Woman Needs to Know. Her latest work, "Cooking
for Ghosts: Book I in The Secret Spice Cafe Trilogy" first of three novels
set aboard the RMS Queen Mary, is due to be released in October 2016. Despite the diversity of Patricia's writing
projects, they share the universal theme of "female dynamism," a term
she's coined which signifies women taking positive action to support each other
and better the world around them. To that end, Patricia also founded The
Women’s PowerStrategy™ Conference: http://womenspowerstrategyconference.com.
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CONNECT WITH PATRICIA:
Website:
Facebook Contest and Updates Page:
Amazon Author Page:
Goodreads Author Page:
Twitter:
Personal Facebook Page:
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AMAZON BUY LINK:
**Cooking for Ghosts is
also available at retail book outlets.**
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GIVEAWAY INFO:
Patricia V. Davis will award a randomly drawn
commenter via Rafflecopter a $30 Amazon/BN GC.
**This post contains affiliate links and if clicked and a
purchase made I may receive a small commission to help support this blog. This does not cost you anything, it just
helps pay for all those awesome giveaways on here.**
This contest is sponsored by a third party. Fabulous and
Brunette is a registered host of Goddess Fish Promotions. Prizes are given away by the sponsors and not
Fabulous and Brunette. The featured author and Goddess Fish Promotions are
solely responsible for the giveaway prize.
Thank you for hosting
ReplyDeleteGreat book blog Ally! I look forward to reading much more from Patricia V. Davis, she's already one of my favorite authors!
ReplyDeleteHi, there! Thanks for hosting my book! I hope one of your readers wins the amazon gift card. And who doesn't love a Fabulous Brunette? ; )
ReplyDeleteI love the book trailer and excerpt! Now I'm even more excited to curl up and get lost in this story!
ReplyDeleteThis sounds very interesting. Can't wait to read it.
ReplyDeleteThis sounds very interesting. Can't wait to read it.
ReplyDelete