Emergence by Ellie Beals - Book Tour - Guest Post - Giveaway - Enter Daily!

Hi, lovelies!  It gives me great pleasure today to host Ellie Beals and her new book, “Emergence”!  For other stops on her 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 $10 Amazon or Barnes and Noble Gift Card!!  Also, come back daily to interact with Ellie and to increase your chances of winning!

Thanks for stopping by!  Wishing you lots of luck in this fabulous giveaway!

Emergence

by Ellie Beals

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GENRE: Thriller

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BLURB:

It starts with Just Watching. But danger emerges when Just Watching ends.

When the "wild child" Xavier ¬ first encounters Cass Hardwood and her dogs in the woods of West Quebec, he is enthralled. Unknown to them, he Just Watches them in a lengthy ongoing surveillance, before ¬ finally staging a meeting. His motives are uncertain—even to him.

The intersection of the lives of Cass, a competitive dog handler; her dogs; her cousin Lori; and the complex and enigmatic Xavier leads them all into a spiral of danger. It starts when Just Watching ends—when Cass and her crew encounter tragedy in the bush. Xavier's involvement in the tragedy, unknown to Cass, sets off a chain of potentially lethal events that begin in the dark woods of Lac Rouge, when hiking, skiing, hunting, trapping, marijuana grow-ops, and pedophilia collide. It matures in the suburbs of both Ottawa and Baltimore, and culminates back in Lac Rouge, when Lori's spurned and abusive lover arrives uninvited at Cass' isolated cabin in the woods. In the night. In the cold. In the heavily falling snow. His arrival is observed by Xavier, whose motives are again uncertain, but whose propensity for action is not.

Join Xavier, Lori, Cass, and the realistic and compelling dogs that are essential players in this dark drama as their fates converge in a deadly loop of revenge, fear, guilt, and hope.

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EXCERPT TWO:

Xavier

My eyes did adjust, but I thought it would be a surer shot if he’d just stay still for a minute. He did. He was on alert, but not because of me. His back was to me. I settled the LeeEnfield firmly into my shoulder, took a deep breath, and pulled the trigger. The sound of the shot cut through the air. I suspect Jean-Luc didn’t hear it until he was already falling forward, like a tree felled by a pro like Stefan. I felt that rush that you always get when you’ve hit your living target.

And then, nothing. A stillness as thick as snow fell on us. No wind. No birds. No movement from Jean-Luc. And no awe. When I’ve shot a buck before with Stefan, there had always been that moment when you’re so full of life and joy, you think you’ll explode. But for Stefan and me, that is always quickly followed by a feeling that Stefan has told me is awe, where you feel small and grateful to and sorry for the beautiful animal that will feed you in the coming months, and where you hope he had had a good life and would be happy to die this way instead of getting old and sick and dying of starvation. This was different. At the moment I would have expected to feel awe, instead I just had a feeling of…. rightness. Stefan and I have been reading stories by Edgar Allen Poe, and I had been afraid that I’d feel the terrible guilt he wrote about. I didn’t. I felt peaceful.

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GUEST POST:

Fierce Women: Empathy Vs. Pity

When I was a little girl, my favorite game was Make Believe – essentially a child’s version of role-playing.  A persuasive child, I was able to convince my playmates that there was a better choice than those on the usual Make Believe menu of doctors and nurses, cowboys and Indians, or mommy, daddy & me.  My better choice was a family drama that featured one prominent character: the troubled teenaged daughter. I don’t know how I became aware of this stereotype when I was so young, but assume that I encountered it in television or movies, and as an emergent histrionic personality, was drawn to the dramatic possibilities written into this type of family drama.

So is it a surprise that years later, I became a legendarily Troubled Teenager?  I think not. This speaks to the power of archetypes, whether they’re drawn from real life or from any of the media with which we’re constantly bombarded.  For those of us who are readers, the archetypes we absorb unknowingly can have a tremendous influence on our identities – including, and perhaps most particularly about what makes for an appealing woman. Many writers over many decades have recognized this and shaped female protagonists from Jo March (Little Women) to Nancy Drew, to Hermoine (Harry Potter) to help girls recognize strength and independence as desirable qualities for girls. But I wonder to what extent that kind of early indoctrination stands up to a steady and very different archetype that may subtly invade and pervade our adult reading?

My favorite genre is psychological suspense.  Of course there are some intrepid female protagonists that appear in contemporary works in that genre.  But in recent years, I’ve become concerned about the number of female protagonists who are weak and unreliable, either victimized by their remembered pasts, haunted by an inability to remember them, or paralyzed by their inability to trust their own perceptions.  Typically, these women turn towards men to somehow rescue them.  Typically, there are two attractive males in the cast, one of whom may in fact, be the Bad Guy.

Of course, I recognize the utility of this kind of scenario when drawing a portrait of an unreliable narrator, which is a staple of psychological fiction.  But when I wrote Emergence, I was determined to not pander to this convention when shaping the character of my lead female protagonist, Cass.  Instead, I embedded the potential for “unreliability” in her 13-year old alter-protagonist, Xavier.  Xavier is generally truthful.  But there are some things he doesn’t understand and thus can’t reveal, and others he chooses to keep to himself as “private”.  In any case, I have imbued him with qualities which cause readers to not completely trust him.

I shaped Cass as a character the reader can trust. She is independent, physically able, determined to triumph over her fears, and emotionally resilient. Which is not to say that she is flawless.  She is obsessive, vain, anxiety-prone, and craves approval.  But she is determined to earn that approval on her own merits.  She is married to Noah, an admirably supportive man, but she does not turn to him to rescue her.  Instead, her instinct is to “protect” Noah, by not revealing the full extent of the dangers she encounters throughout Emergence.  Noah is not present when Cass eventually faces the most dramatic events in Emergence, which are confronted only by Cass, her equally independent cousin, Lori, and her three dogs.

If I were to offer any advice to other writers trying to style strong female protagonists, it’s to always opt for empathy over pity.  Pity is the purview of the victim. If you want to create a fierce woman, you need readers to feel for your girl, but to never feel sorry for her.  That means you need to analyze any general pattern or specific incident you create, with an eye to whether it has the potential to induce pity from your readers.  Of course, it is much easier to tweak a specific incident, rather than the general pattern to which it contributes.  Which I guess means that as you write, you have to conduct an ongoing audit of the pity vs. empathy spectrum. For me, that ongoing audit was great fun.  I hope it is for you, too.

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AUTHOR BIO:

Ellie Beals grew up in Baltimore, Maryland and moved to Canada when she was 20. She spent the majority of her professional career as a management consultant in Ottawa, Ontario. Plain language writing was one of her specialties.

Dogs have been a constant in Ellie's life from the time she was a child. In the mid-1990s, she started to train and compete in Obedience with Golden Retrievers, with considerable success. In 2014, she had the highest-rated Canadian obedience dog (Fracas—upon whom Chuff is modelled), and her husband David Skinner had the second-rated dog. During a ten-year period, both Ellie and David were regularly ranked among Canada's top ten Obedience competitors. They have an active obedience coaching practice in Ottawa, having retired from their previous professional careers in order to spend more time playing with their dogs and their students.

Like Cass and Noah Harwood, Ellie and David have a log cabin in the wilds of West Quebec, where Ellie is an avid wilderness recreationist, constantly accompanied by her dogs. As COVID-19 spread in March of 2020, she and David temporarily shut down their coaching practice and retreated to their cabin, where Emergence was written. Lac Rouge is not the real name of the lake on which they live. Everything else about the locale for Emergence is faithful to the character of the gentle Laurentian mountains of West Quebec.

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CONNECT WITH ELLIE:

Website:

http://elliebealsauthor.ca

Blog:

https://elliebealsauthor.ca/category/blogs

Email:

emergence51-info@yahoo.com

Facebook:

https://www.facebook.com/ThrillerEmergence

Twitter:

https://twitter.com/BealsEllie

Goodreads Author Page:

https://www.goodreads.com/author/show/21057614.Ellie_Beals

Goodreads Book Page:

https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/56583699-emergence

Amazon Author Page:

https://amzn.to/3u6KNPY

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BOOK BUY LINKS:

Amazon US Kindle eBook:

https://amzn.to/2PBHBgD

Amazon US Paperback:

https://amzn.to/3u3V5AB

Amazon US Hardcover:

https://amzn.to/3w68km1

Amazon CA Paperback:

https://www.amazon.ca/dp/022884309X

Amazon CA Hardcover:

https://www.amazon.ca/Emergence-Ellie-Beals/dp/0228848652

Apple Books eBook:

https://books.apple.com/us/book/emergence/id1549092590

Barnes and Noble NOOK eBook:

https://www.barnesandnoble.com/w/emergence-ellie-beals/1138624466?ean=2940164789442

Barnes and Noble Paperback:

https://www.barnesandnoble.com/w/emergence-ellie-beals/1138624466?ean=9780228843092

Barnes and Noble Hardcover:

https://www.barnesandnoble.com/w/emergence-ellie-beals/1138624466?ean=9780228848653

The Book Depository Paperback:

https://www.bookdepository.com/Emergence-Ellie-Beals/9780228843092

The Book Depository Hardcover:

https://www.bookdepository.com/Emergence-Ellie-Beals/9780228848653

BAM! Books-A-Million Paperback:

https://www.booksamillion.com/p/Emergence/Ellie-Beals/9780228843092

BAM! Books-A-Million Hardcover:

https://www.booksamillion.com/p/Emergence/Ellie-Beals/9780228848653

Indigo Chapters eBook #1:

https://www.chapters.indigo.ca/en-ca/books/emergence/9780228843115-item.html

Indigo Chapters eBook #2:

https://www.chapters.indigo.ca/en-ca/books/emergence/9990058408600-item.html

Kobo eBook #1:

https://www.kobo.com/us/en/ebook/emergence-78

Kobo eBook #2:

https://www.kobo.com/us/en/ebook/emergence-79

Smashwords eBook:

https://www.smashwords.com/books/view/1064211

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GIVEAWAY INFO:

Ellie will be awarding a $10 Amazon or B/N GC to a randomly drawn winner via Rafflecopter during the tour.

a Rafflecopter giveaway

**This post contains affiliate links and if clicked and a purchase is 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.

Midnight Masquerade by Anya Summers - Book Blast - Giveaway - Enter Daily!

Hey, lovelies!  It gives me great pleasure today to host Anya Summers and her new book, “Midnight Masquerade”!  For other stops on her 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 $25 Amazon or Barnes and Noble Gift Card!!  Also, come back daily to interact with Anya and to increase your chances of winning!

Thanks for stopping by!  Wishing you lots of luck in this fabulous giveaway!

Midnight Masquerade

by Anya Summers

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GENRE: Contemporary Romance (Steamy)

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BLURB:

Sophia is in trouble. Again.

Maybe it’s the masks. Maybe she needs to feel something other than regret. Whatever the reason, she is either daring… or foolish… when she trades places with another submissive, and ends up spending the night in her mysterious boss’s bed.

He doesn’t recognize her, but now she’s had him, she knows one taste of his dark love will never be enough.

Gabriel Ryan has one firm rule: don’t sleep with employees.

Even though he’s infuriated beyond measure to discover Sophia in his bed after a night of mind-blowing pleasure, she is now in his blood. He craves her. Needs her. Yearns for her surrender.

But she is forbidden. He will break her with his dark desires.

When Sophia’s dangerous past waltzes into his club, Gabriel must protect her. He must claim her. And break every single one of his rules to keep her safe.

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EXCERPT TWO:

By the time he ventured down into the Eros Pit, his exclusive, members only BDSM club hidden a floor beneath Eternal Eros, he was in no mood to play. It had been a spectacularly long day at the office. Shame, really, that his mind and body weren’t on board, given the submissive bounty in his club.

But tonight, he would participate in the event, under threats and orders by Sophia. He sighed over the fact that he could deny the woman little. And she had badgered him from the start about joining in the events each month, until he finally yielded.

Granted, that might have had something to do with the way she had stood in his office earlier today, her hands on her lush hips, a fierce scowl on her face and a glimmer in her eyes that told him that she would forcibly escort him if needed.

He’d folded like a house of cards while ignoring what the sight of her in his office did to him and his libido. Gabe refused to let his dick do his thinking for him, no matter how much Sophia stirred him.

In the elevator, he adjusted the black mask covering his face. He’d not changed into a costume, as much as his event coordinator had pestered him to wear one. The woman had gone so far as to have a costume made for him. But he couldn’t see himself prancing around in the dandy seventeenth century garb, not even to make her happy. Instead, he had stuck with his black suit and navy-blue tie. His one concession, besides his willingness to participate tonight, was the mask covering the top half of his face.

And the mask was all Sophia would get out of him.

The mood in the Eros Pit most nights tended to be more subdued—with the extra added elements of scenes in progress and muted music—than the club upstairs. That was by design on his part. At least, it usually was more laid back, with scenes at various stations and the occasional high-pitched moans from submissives. But tonight, with the masquerade event, the air in the Eros Pit held a thrill of excitement. Submissives in their exotic costumes were grouped together, talking excitedly, wondering who they would end up with for the night.

All participating Doms had been given a station in one of the scene areas or private rooms a floor down. Then the submissives, in their erotic ball wear, selected from a bowl a marker with the scene area and Dom listed. The submissive would head to the scene area or private room upon selection, and then the Dom would join them once all the selections were made.

It was a rather brilliant strategy and way of introducing unattached Doms and submissives to one another. In participating, they were agreeing to scene with another for the night—and possibly more, depending on the connection.

And the place was packed to the gills tonight.

Scanning the crowd, Gabe discovered that even his rapscallion brothers were in attendance—and had gotten into the spirit of the event, given their costumes, or most of them had, anyhow. Dean was a no show, but that had been the norm the last few months.

The submissive selection process was already in progress, with peals of laughter and squeals of delight from the women. It was arranged so that by midnight, all the submissives would be at their stations. With time to kill before he went to his private room, Gabe made his way through the throng to his private section of the club. Most nights there were available subs standing near the black velvet rope separating his section of the club, or sitting at one of the booths or tables nearby with the hope that either he or one of his brothers would give them a nod and join them. Yet, this evening, all those subs were dressed in costume and waiting in line to select their Dom.

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AUTHOR BIO:

Born in St. Louis, Missouri, Anya grew up listening to Cardinals baseball and reading anything she could get her hands on. She remembers her mother saying if only she would read the right type of books instead binging her way through the romance aisles at the bookstore, she’d have been a doctor. While Anya never did get that doctorate, she graduated cum laude from the University of Missouri-St. Louis with an M.A. in History.

Anya is a bestselling and award-winning author published in multiple fiction genres. She also writes urban fantasy, paranormal romance, and contemporary romance under the name Maggie Mae Gallagher. A total geek at her core, when she is not writing, she adores attending the latest comic con or spending time with her family. She currently lives in the Midwest with her two furry felines.

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CONNECT WITH ANYA:

Website:

www.anyasummers.com

Newsletter:

www.eepurl.com/bPCkZ5

Email:

https://anyasummers.com/contact

Facebook Personal Page:

http://www.facebook.com/AnyaSummersAuthor

Facebook Fan Page:

http://www.facebook.com/AnyaSummers

Twitter:

https://twitter.com/AnyaBSummers

Instagram:

https://www.instagram.com/anyasummersauthor

BookBub Author Page:

https://www.bookbub.com/authors/anya-summers

BookBub Book Page:

https://www.bookbub.com/books/midnight-masquerade-dungeon-singles-night-book-1-by-anya-summers

Goodreads Author Page:

https://www.goodreads.com/author/show/15183606.Anya_Summers

Goodreads Book Page:

https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/56985537-midnight-masquerade

Amazon Author Page:

https://amzn.to/2mDG76P

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BOOK BUY LINKS:

Amazon Kindle eBook:

https://amzn.to/3deZ2M2

Amazon Paperback:

https://amzn.to/2PAXP9M

Apple Books eBook:

http://apple.co/30bEOga

Barnes and Noble NOOK eBook:

https://www.barnesandnoble.com/w/midnight-masquerade-anya-summers/1138906257

Kobo eBook:

https://www.kobo.com/us/en/ebook/midnight-masquerade-6

Universal eBooks/Paperbacks:

https://books2read.com/u/me7vDl

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GIVEAWAY INFO:

Anya will be awarding a $25 Amazon or B/N GC to a randomly drawn winner via Rafflecopter during the tour.

a Rafflecopter giveaway

Eat Your Heart Out by Shirley Goldberg - Blurb Blitz - Book Sale - Book Review - Giveaway - Enter Daily!

Hey, lovelies!  It gives me great pleasure today to host Shirley Goldberg and her new book, “Eat Your Heart Out”!  For other stops on her 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 $20 Amazon or Barnes and Noble Gift Card!!  Also, come back daily to interact with Shirley and to increase your chances of winning!

Thanks for stopping by!  Wishing you lots of luck in this fabulous giveaway!

Eat Your Heart Out

by Shirley Goldberg

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GENRE: Romantic Women's Fiction

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BLURB:

When a tyrant in stilettos replaces her beloved boss, and her ex snags her coveted job, teacher Dana Narvana discovers there are worse things than getting dumped on Facebook. Time for the BFF advice squad. Alex—hunky colleague, quipster, and cooking pal extraordinaire is Dana’s staunchest ally. So what’s with the smooching after hours? And why won’t this grown man make up his mind?

Actor turned teacher Alex Bethany craves a family of his own. Newly hotified, he’s now got the confidence to try online dating. Meanwhile he’s sending Dana mixed messages in the kissing department. After a surprising event rocks his world, Alex panics, certain he’s blown his chances with his special person. Funny and bittersweet, Dana and Alex’s story will have you rooting for them all the way to dessert.

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EXCERPT ONE:

“So, this is what it’s like being on a date with you.” Dana hesitated—caught herself. “This isn’t a date, is it?

Her voice flattened and she took a sip of wine. “Oh, I’m not belittling your gesture, bringing me to this fine establishment. But it isn’t a date because you’re seeing that woman, aren’t you? The one you asked me for advice about.”

Alex fidgeted. Idiot.  Asking Dana how to recognize the signs a woman was interested––what had he been thinking? What could be more awkward? This. This was definitely up there on the list of more awkward moments.

“You’ve always been straight with me,” she said, holding the wine glass in midair.

That little flash of skin whenever she raises her arm.  He picked up his wine glass. At this rate, he’d have to order a second bottle, simply to block his mind from going where it shouldn’t.

“Alex, do it again, be straight.”

He leaned in, took the glass from her hand and put it on the table. “Come closer,” he said. “I want to whisper sweet somethings in your ear.”

She bent toward him, a puzzled but amused expression percolating, her face glowing in the subtle lighting.

“Yes?” Her voice throaty, challenging.

“This is a date,” he said and tilted his head, brushed her lips with his, pulled back slightly, and did it again.

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MIDDLE AGEISH - BOOK ONE - STARTING OVER BOOK SERIES:

Check out my blog post from last October, featuring Shirley's first book in this exciting new series, “Middle Ageish,” below:

https://fabulousandbrunette.blogspot.com/2020/10/middle-ageish-by-shirley-goldberg-book.html

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Also, be sure to check out my 4 1/2 STAR Book Review on Book One, “Middle Ageish,” below:

This book was such a fun, exciting, entertaining, light-hearted read!!!

This book is about Sunny, who is starting a new life.  After years of being ignored and discounted, she is divorcing her husband of 23 years and leaving Paris to move to the States.  The sky’s the limit for Sunny for she is ready to get back to living her best life.  Reconnecting with her gal pals encourages her to get back into the dating world and try online dating.  But what follows leaves little hope for the dating scene as some of the craziest, silliest, weirdest, and just uhhhhh??? guys come out of the woodwork.  They can’t all seriously be this bad, can they?!?!  Sunny continues to work on rebuilding her new life and tries to believe that the right guy will come along when it’s meant to happen.  But as time lingers on and loneliness feels even more deafening, she can’t help but wonder if she’s meant to be alone forever.  However, someone unexpected is about to venture into her life and perhaps Sunny will finally get her muchly deserved HEA!!!

I really enjoyed every page of this book and even look forward to reading it again in the future – which is not something I do very often.  As well as planning to send a copy to my mom, my best friend, for her to love too!!

This cleverly written story has many LOL moments that left this reader glad she was reading this book home alone so no one gave her weird stares when she couldn’t stop laughing lol!!

I thoroughly enjoyed the entertainingly witty banter and the crazy mishaps that find Sunny and her friends!!  There is so much humor found all over the pages that will be sure to bring a smile, a laugh, and an enticement for more!!

I really liked Sunny!!!  She was smart, compassionate, caring, kindhearted, determined, driven, passionate, and thoughtful.  Sunny is ready to start the next chapter of her life, as a divorcee after getting out of a hapless marriage of 23 years.  I was proud of her bravery to get out of her tired marriage, to want to have a better life, and to work towards making her dreams come true.  It was inspiring and motivating to see her accomplish so much!!

One of the best parts of this book was seeing all these silly, ridiculous guys that came across the dating market that really made dating life seem even more hopeless lol…  I certainly remember those days…  Not exactly the same as Sunny, as I am not a divorcee, or dating in the same age pool as her, but guys are guys, so it's pretty much close enough to the same lol…  Plus, I've watched my mom, a divorcee, try getting back into the dating world and she hated it.  So, I definitely commend anyone who can push themselves to try to get back out there.  Love and life don't have to end at divorce (or a failed marriage) and Sunny does a great job of showing us that!!

I loved the deep-rooted themes in this book such as the second chances, new beginnings, starting over, rebuilding, etc.  I strongly believe in second chances and even more so in starting over.  So many people get tunnel vision of things being a certain way and once they're not they don't know what to do or if anything can be done and they just get stuck.  Starting over and rebuilding - especially from scratch is not easy, but as someone who has had to go through it many times (long story) it is not only important, it can be the best thing for you!!

There are some predictable scenes.  However, there are still a few unexpected twists and turns that you won’t see coming!

This book is Book One of the Starting Over Book Series.  This book can easily be read as a standalone.  The author recently just released "Eat Your Heart Out," which is Book Two in this book series and is available for purchase at most retail book stores and online. 

All in all, I really enjoyed reading this book and would absolutely recommend it!  I think all romantic women’s fiction readers and romance fans will like this book too!  So, add it to your TBR List and get to reading - you won't be disappointed!

**Disclaimer: I received a complimentary copy of this book and have voluntarily provided an honest, and unbiased review in accordance with FTC regulations**

Did you find this review helpful?

If so, please, please, please mark it as helpful on Amazon here:

https://www.amazon.com/gp/review/R11B907A1R2WXJ

**********

Special eBook Sale!!!  Book One of Shirley's latest Book Series, "Starting Over," is available on SALE for ONLY $0.99!!!

https://amzn.to/3cNSPWU

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AUTHOR BIO:

Shirley Goldberg is a writer, novelist, and former ESL and French teacher who’s lived in Paris, Crete, and Casablanca. She writes about men and women of a certain age starting over. Her website http://midagedating.com offers a humorous look at living single. Her books FINISH THIS and dating in mid life, and her friends like to guess which stories are true. Eat Your Heart Out is the second book in the series Starting Over. Middle Ageish, the first, is available now. Her characters believe you should never leave home without your sense of humor and Shirley agrees.

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CONNECT WITH SHIRLEY:

Website:

https://sixtyandme.com/author/shirley-goldberg

Website:

http://midagedating.com

Facebook:

https://www.facebook.com/midagedating

Twitter:

https://twitter.com/mylifeasadate

Instagram:

https://www.instagram.com/shirleygoldbergauthor

BookBub Author Page:

https://www.bookbub.com/authors/shirley-goldberg

BookBub Book Page:

https://www.bookbub.com/books/eat-your-heart-out-by-shirley-goldberg

Goodreads Author Page:

https://www.goodreads.com/author/show/3916624.Shirley_Goldberg

Goodreads Book Page:

https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/56936933-eat-your-heart-out

Amazon Author Page:

https://amzn.to/33eUNwa

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BOOK BUY LINKS - EAT YOUR HEART OUT - BOOK TWO - STARTING OVER BOOK SERIES:

Amazon Kindle eBook:

https://amzn.to/395Mmps

Amazon Paperback:

https://amzn.to/395rb77

Apple Books eBook:

https://books.apple.com/us/book/eat-your-heart-out/id1552301489

Barnes and Noble NOOK eBook:

https://www.barnesandnoble.com/w/eat-your-heart-out-shirley-goldberg/1138734045?ean=2940162478133

Barnes and Noble Paperback:

https://www.barnesandnoble.com/w/eat-your-heart-out-shirley-goldberg/1138734045?ean=9781509235391

The Book Depository Paperback:

https://www.bookdepository.com/Eat-Your-Heart-Out-Shirley-Goldberg/9781509235391

BAM! Books-A-Million Paperback:

https://www.booksamillion.com/p/Eat-Your-Heart-Out/Shirley-Goldberg/9781509235391

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GIVEAWAY INFO:

Shirley will be awarding a $20 Amazon or B/N GC to a randomly drawn winner via Rafflecopter during the tour.

a Rafflecopter giveaway

**This post contains affiliate links and if clicked and a purchase is 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.

Ellerslie by William Francis - Book Blast - Giveaway - Enter Daily!

Hi, lovelies!  It gives me great pleasure today to host William Francis and his new book, “Ellerslie”!  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 $25 Amazon or Barnes and Noble Gift Card AND the Winner's Choice of a Publisher Certificate for a FREE Copy of a Digital Book OR a 50% Off Discount Coupon for a Print Book!!  Also, come back daily to interact with William and to increase your chances of winning!

Thanks for stopping by!  Wishing you lots of luck in this fabulous giveaway!

Ellerslie

by William Francis

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GENRE: Paranormal/Historical/Mystery

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

BLURB:

Did you know author F. Scott Fitzgerald and his wife Zelda lived in a haunted house?

It’s the Jazz Age, it’s Prohibition and aviator Charles Lindbergh is the most famous person in America. Author F. Scott Fitzgerald rents a mansion in Edgemoor, Delaware called Ellerslie hoping for a quiet retreat so that he can write his next novel following The Great Gatsby.

April Ross, the first and only female history major at the University of Delaware, is commissioned by the owner of Ellerslie to research the estate’s history for a potential sale. At least, that’s what April is told. In the days ahead, April’s historical research uncovers Ellerslie’s former owners dating back to 1810. She interacts with the Fitzgeralds, yet endures unexplained occurrences and visits by an unknown woman. Against her better judgement, April eventually accepts that the woman is a ghost and realizes that her true purpose is to find out who this woman is, or was, and what happened to her in real life.

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EXCERPT ONE:

The door had swung violently away from April and slammed shut.

“How did that happen?”

Nobody closed the door, nor did she feel a gust of wind. It would take a strong wind to close the heavy door. So how had it shut on its own?

April cautiously turned the metal door latch and peeked into the hall. She looked left. She looked right. Nobody was present. She glanced across the way and might’ve suspected the maid Elena, but the maid was busy rehanging Zelda’s clothes. So without a logical explanation for what happened April had no choice except to shrug it off and close the door.

April stripped to her slip and turned the handle to the sink’s hot water facet. The plumbing made a low rumbling noise for a couple of seconds before rust-colored water spilled out. April wasn’t alarmed. The same discoloration happened at her family home. And like home, she waited a few seconds for warm and clear water to appear.

She grabbed a bar of Pear’s soap already at the sink and started to wash her hands when a familiar aroma struck her nose.

Lavender?

April knew the fragrance well. It was her mother’s favorite. Mama rubbed the oil on her face and hands in the belief that it calmed the skin and reduced wrinkles.

Something flashed in the mirror.

Like the sensation of being watched, April felt someone, or some-thing stood near, very near. It was close enough to give her goosebumps on her arms and raise the hair on the back of her neck.

Squeak.

There was a clawfoot tub in the back half of the bathroom. The hot and cold-water valves were turning on their own.

Splash.

Water shot from the two spigots.

April’s eyes bulged. “Sweet Jesus.”

She hurried to the tub, shut off the flow, and then stared dumbfounded at the draining water. Her heart pounded as she scratched her head and wondered out loud. “How did that happen? What’s going on?”

Tink.

A tiny crack developed on the upper right corner of the mirror.

April sucked in air and watched in disbelief as a jagged fissure slowly spread diagonally across the mirror, about to split the glass in two.

Smash!

April ducked and covered her head as the mirror shattered and shards of glass clinked into the porcelain sink and scattered onto the tile floor.

When she raised her head, April stared at the glassless frame awestruck and bewildered. “Sweet Jesus, it really happened. I didn’t imagine it. It’s not a delusion.”

April then experienced a paralyzing fear as she felt something like fingertips caress the back of her neck.

“Elena!”

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AUTHOR BIO:

Raised in Newark, Delaware, William spends his days working in Corporate America and writing about the First State. He achieved a Masters Degree in Writing Popular Fiction from Seton Hill University, but also writes non-fiction. Through Arcadia Publishing he has produced 5 books related to Delaware: The DuPont Highway, Along the Kirkwood Highway, Along the Christina River, Building Interstate in 95 in Delaware and Newark Then & Now. Fiction titles include: A Life Told to None, The Umpire, Seacrest, and the five-star The Katie Dugan Case. Whether his books are fact or fiction, William hopes to entertain as well as inform and leave the reader with a satisfying experience.

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CONNECT WITH WILLIAM:

Email:

author225049@yahoo.com

Facebook:

https://www.facebook.com/William-Francis-542158412788405

BookBub Book Page:

https://www.bookbub.com/books/ellerslie-by-william-francis

Goodreads Author Page:

https://www.goodreads.com/author/show/7752881.William_Francis

Goodreads Book Page:

https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/57502301-ellerslie

Amazon Author Page:

https://amzn.to/2O4UVJW

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BOOK BUY LINKS:

Amazon Kindle eBook:

https://amzn.to/3w9T7AA

Amazon Paperback:

https://amzn.to/3mc9J6h

Barnes and Noble Paperback:

https://www.barnesandnoble.com/w/ellerslie-william-francis/1138992788

The Book Depository Paperback:

https://www.bookdepository.com/Ellerslie-William-Francis/9781950502295

BAM! Books-A-Million Paperback:

https://www.booksamillion.com/p/Ellerslie/William-Francis/9781950502295

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GIVEAWAY INFO:

William will be awarding a $25 Amazon or B/N GC AND the Winner's Choice of a Publisher Certificate for a FREE Copy of a Digital Book OR a 50% Off Discount Coupon for a Print Book to a randomly drawn winner via Rafflecopter during the tour.

a Rafflecopter giveaway

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