Hello lovelies! It gives me
great pleasure today to host Teymour Shahabi and his new book, “The Secret
Billionaire”! For other stops on his
Goddess Fish Promotions Book Tour, please click on the banner above or any of
the images in this post.
Be sure to make it to the end
of this post to enter to win a print copy of his featured book, “The Secret
Billionaire,” with a personal message to ONE lucky winner!! Also, come back daily to interact with
Teymour and to increase your chances of winning!
Thanks for stopping by! Wishing you lots of luck in this fabulous
giveaway!
The Secret Billionaire
by Teymour Shahabi
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
GENRE: Young Adult Mystery
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
BLURB:
March 24. Billionaire Lyndon Surway takes off in his private
plane and never returns.
His
will leaves the entirety of his wealth—one of the largest fortunes in
history—to his “dear friend Lucian Baker.” Only there is no trace of anyone by
that name. And the fortune itself is nowhere to be found.
Andrew
Day knows nothing of wealth and privilege, but he won a scholarship to study at
the most exclusive school in the country, in the town where the mystery,
decades later, remains unsolved. There he discovers friendship and danger with
the aristocratic Cameron and the beautiful Olivia. But watchful eyes follow him
everywhere... Until, one night, he comes across a secret that will change his
life. As he begins to unravel what really happened to the Surway fortune, the
question remains: who is Lucian Baker?
Winner:
Northern California Book Festival, Best Young Adult Book, 2016
Winner:
Great Midwest Book Festival, Best Young Adult Book, 2016
Winner:
Florida Book Festival, Best Young Adult Book, 2016
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
EXCERPT TWO:
They
continued to follow the fence on the sandy path along the road. But the House
remained hid-den. The elms on the other side of the fence barred their sight.
They all sensed, without saying so, that the trees would thin out. They were so
hopeful for a clearing that they could picture it as they went, lying just
beyond the shadow of the last trunk they could see. But the last trunk kept
receding, and the curtain of trees kept on going beyond it, as silent and
unhelpful as the empty road alongside.
All
of a sudden, Olivia stopped. Her eyes were fixed on the ground. Neither Cameron
nor Andrew could make out what she was staring at in the sand of the path. She
brought a hand over her knee and crouched. The boys gathered closer. Their
shadows mingled over her. She looked up into their faces. After a few seconds,
she asked,
“What
do you guys think?”
“What
do we think of—?” Cameron began, taking another step closer, when suddenly she
shouted,
“Cameron,
stop!”
She
jumped up and held out her arms.
“What
the hell was that?” he yelled out.
“Don’t
step on it!”
“Don’t
step on what?”
“The
footprint!” she answered in a whisper, as if just remembering the sound of her
own voice. She glanced over both shoulders, gave Cameron and Andrew a
significant look, and slowly lowered herself once more to the ground. The two
of them mirrored her movement.
All
at once, Andrew saw it. It was a footprint, unmistakable, elementary, like a
picture in a comic book, a single elongated shape with a line separat-ing the
heel. Cameron asked in a muted voice,
“What
kind of shoe is that? It doesn’t have any—any details.”
Olivia
rolled her eyes. Not even whispering could soften her contempt.
“It’s
a boot,” she said.
“A
boot,” Cameron repeated. And after a sec-ond’s reflection, “So it’s a boot. So
what? People leave footprints every day on every path in the world. Some of
them wear boots.”
But
he didn’t dare to go back to his normal voice.
Olivia
continued to study the print as if he hadn’t spoken. It was Andrew who
answered,
“But
no one leaves footprints on this path.”
Cameron
and Olivia looked up.
“There’s
nothing along this road, nothing for miles in either direction, right? Nothing
but the gate of the Surway House.”
They
stared at him without reply.
“Well,”
he went on, examining the footprint, “as-suming that’s the case, then there’s
really no reason for anyone to have come here recently—no reason other than...”
His eyes turned to the fence.
Olivia’s
gaze followed his.
“It’s
not just the fact that someone was here re-cently—” she began.
“How
do you guys know it’s so recent?” Cameron broke in. “The print could go back
several days, anytime since the last rainfall. For all we know, someone could
have left it over the weekend. No one here’s an expert in detection.”
“No,”
Olivia rejoined, “but I’m an expert in shoes. That’s how I know it’s a boot.”
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
GUEST POST:
What It Feels Like to Read a Review for Your Book
It
is terrifying to read someone’s review of your book. The seconds before you
start reading—when perhaps you’ve recognized a dreaded subject line in your
inbox, or you’ve noticed a higher number of reviews on your book page since you
last checked—are filled with horror. I check the page about once a week, and I
employ more creativity in procrastinating against that moment than I could ever
pour into any book. It’s not the nervousness you feel before jumping off a
cliff, or when you’re about to take the stage, or when the audience is suddenly
silent, just a few feet away from the piano, waiting for you to play. Those are
active, empowering fears. The moment is yours to strike back; you can attack
and be victorious. When you’re reading a review, you’re defenseless. It’s the
trepidation you feel when the person you care about more than anyone else in
the world has heard your deepest truth, has seen your soul bare, sees you with
all you have, with every effort you could ever make, and is about to respond.
Maybe there’s a thrill in it. But mostly, it’s agony.
Then
it comes. You start to read. You hear what you cannot change. It’s an intimate
moment but you are mute. Bad reviews come in two kinds. There are the bad ones
that are wrong. I received two stars on Amazon not long ago from a woman who
had read another book, which apparently had lots of sex. I don’t have the power
to remove the review, but I can get over it. You can’t parade yourself in the
sun all day without the occasional bird dropping on your coat. But there are
bad ones that could be right, bad ones that could feel right. And those are
painful. But the pain is surmountable. The pain is what you feared a moment
ago, and in the mere revelation of that fear, there is relief. Then there are
the medium reviews. These are almost harder, because their edges are dull, and
their words can take their time against your defenses. With those, it is best
to try to learn something, and to feel grateful that you may have a chance to
do better with your next book.
Finally,
there are good reviews. And there are shades of good reviews, just as there are
shades of good weather—but even the worst shade is still good, just as every
beautiful day is joyous. Good reviews are the happy ending. They’re the
applause you never knew you were waiting for. On your side of the book, there
are years of toil and doubt, mountains of loneliness and fear. But the review
is on the other side; and with a good review, that side wins out. It’s when you
read a good review that you realize the fear was worth it, that you recognize
you were never alone. I read a review this morning from a fifteen-year old
girl. A few months ago, I read one from a young man in Australia. And one of
the Facebook friendships of which I am most proud, of which I am most protective,
is with a sixty-eight-year-old woman I’ve never met, who reached out to tell me
how much she loved my book. People think writing is solitary, but the kindness
of a reader is a friendship entire.
It
is not easy to read a review. But it is not easy to write a book. And for
years—about two decades—I wrote for myself. That is no longer true. Reviews
have made me realize that all this time I was writing towards a dream, both a
blessing and a privilege: that of writing for someone else.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
AUTHOR BIO:
Teymour Shahabi was born in Paris of
Persian parents in 1985. He moved to the United States to study Comparative
Literature and Mathematics at Harvard University. He lives in New York City
where he’s spent the last few years among serious professionals, many of whom
probably prefer to read nonfiction. The Secret Billionaire is his first
published book.
You
can watch him try to figure out writing and life at
www.facebook.com/Teymour.Shahabi.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
CONNECT WITH
TEYMOUR:
Website:
Facebook:
Twitter:
Instagram:
Goodreads Author Page:
Goodreads Book Page:
Amazon Author Page:
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
AMAZON BOOK BUY LINKS:
Amazon Kindle:
Amazon Paperback:
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
GIVEAWAY INFO:
Teymour will be awarding print copy of "The
Secret Billionaire" with a personal message (International Giveaway) to a
randomly drawn winner via Rafflecopter during the tour.
**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.
Thanks for hosting!
ReplyDeleteTeymour ~ It is great to have you here! Congrats on your new book and good luck on the book tour! :)
ReplyDeleteI'm so happy it's working out for you!
ReplyDelete--Trix
Thanks Trix! Great to see you here :)
DeleteThanks so much Ally! It's a pleasure to be on your beautiful site. Fabulous indeed! :)
ReplyDeleteWhen is the sequel????
ReplyDelete