Not My Ruckus by Chad Musick - Book Tour - Guest Post - Giveaway - Enter Daily!

Hi, lovelies!!  It gives me great pleasure today to host Chad Musick and his new book, “Not My Ruckus,” here on FAB!!  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!!  Also, come back daily to interact with Chad and to increase your chances of winning!!

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

Not My Ruckus

by Chad Musick

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GENRE: Literary

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BLURB:

Folks know 14-year-old Clare isn't normal, even for a tomboy. She runs too much, talks too little, carries a gun too often, and holds a grudge forever. Only her papa's job at the bank keeps gossip quiet. It's unwise to risk the cold anger of the man who knows everyone's secrets.

Clare feels prepared for everything from fire, to flood, to what her momma calls demon attacks. When her neighbor Esther kisses her, though, Clare has no ready script. Maybe she could write one, given time she doesn't have. At the moment of that first kiss, Esther's mom is bleeding out from a gunshot wound.

Clare can read the signs everyone else is determined to ignore. A murder was only the beginning. Esther needs protection, whether she wants it or not, and Clare won't abandon her friend just because things are hard.

Maybe one day she'll be forgiven for doing what's needed.

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EXCERPT TWO:

Instead of the library, I went to the local graveyard. There were older graveyards outside the city. I liked to run to them sometimes, when things were too noisy, but the one out back of the library was my favorite. There seemed like worse places to wait for the call to serve in the army of the Lord.

I went first to where Esther’s mom was buried. It wasn’t marked yet, but she was the only one who’d been buried in the last couple weeks so unless folks were digging up the graveyard for giggles, the spot where the grass was fresh laid and you could still see the turf lines must be hers. Esther didn’t seem to be hanging around, though. Probably it would have been suspicious if she had been haunting her mom’s grave.

That had been my only idea, but momma wasn’t expecting me back for a couple of hours, so I wandered around the graveyard reading the graves.

A few times, we’d gone to one of the worker graveyards, momma and me, and done some rubbings of the few gravestones there. Mostly those were just old stone bricks set on the ground. You couldn’t avoid stepping on people in that yard, so I wasn’t shy now about tramping on graves or anything, but I was trying to show some respect. Here, at least, there was a pretty good chance you could avoid stepping on a body’s grave if you followed the neat rows of stones and metal vases.

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GUEST POST:

Bring on the boo’s!  Everyone loves to hate the villain!  Tell us all about this truly loathed character and the inspiration behind their development.

Not My Ruckus is a book that lives by its villains, and they’ve generated a lot of discussion among readers. Clare is our narrator, and readers are spoiled for choice of villain: Clare’s father, “Papa,” is so monstrous he never gets a name; her neighbor Gunnar is violent; her mother Iris is alternately violent and passive.

And readers absolutely loathe Iris. She’s far and away the most hated character. Without getting into spoiler territory (but do either read the content notes or heed the warning of one reader that “this book will mess you up”), what Iris does is objectively not as bad as either of the men.

The thing that makes Iris a great (that is, terrible) villain is that she’s not trying to be a villain. Her actions can’t be justified, but they can be understood as originating from Iris’s own weakness and bad judgement, rather than from any benefit that she obtains from them. Readers won’t forgive Papa or Gunnar, but they know that early. There’s never a sense that either of those characters will be better, nor that they have the capacity to be reformed. Iris, though, becomes sympathetic to some readers after they have grown to hate her. Or, as one reader wrote to me, “Damn you for making me care about Iris.”

I based Iris on my own mother (who died more than 30 years ago, so no mom’s feelings were harmed in the writing of this novel), with some elements highlighted and others ignored. Ultimately, many readers feel about Iris what Clare does: betrayed. The monstrosity is personal, and the personal is powerful. There’s a reason Dante reserved the deepest level of Hell not for murderers but for traitors.

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AUTHOR BIO:

Chad Musick grew up in Utah, California, Washington, Texas, and (most of all) Alaska. He fell in love in California and then moved with his family to Japan, where he's found happiness. He earned a PhD in Mathematical Science but loves art and science equally.

Despite a tendency for electronic devices to burst into flame after Chad handles them, he persists in working in various technical and technology-related roles.

Chad makes no secret of being epileptic, autistic, and arthritic, facts that inform how he approaches both science and the arts.

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CONNECT WITH CHAD:

Website:

https://cinnabarmoth.com/chad-musick

Twitter:

https://twitter.com/TheMusicks

Goodreads Author Page:

https://www.goodreads.com/author/show/20831411.Chad_Musick

Goodreads Book Page:

https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/55751950-not-my-ruckus

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BOOK BUY LINKS:

Amazon US Kindle eBook:

http://amzn.to/2TbV1BP

Amazon US Hardcover:

http://amzn.to/3bHAD1N

Amazon US Audiobook:

http://amzn.to/2T6BkLA

Amazon CA Paperback:

https://www.amazon.ca/Not-My-Ruckus-Chad-Musick/dp/1953971008

Amazon CA Hardcover:

https://www.amazon.ca/Not-My-Ruckus-Chad-Musick/dp/1953971024

Amazon CA Audiobook:

https://www.amazon.ca/Not-My-Ruckus/dp/B08YFLKZ89

Amazon UK Kindle eBook:

https://www.amazon.co.uk/Not-My-Ruckus-Chad-Musick-ebook/dp/B08LKJ12P2

Amazon UK Paperback:

https://www.amazon.co.uk/Not-My-Ruckus-Chad-Musick/dp/1953971008

Amazon UK Hardcover:

https://www.amazon.co.uk/Not-My-Ruckus-Chad-Musick/dp/1953971024

Amazon UK Audiobook:

https://www.amazon.co.uk/Not-My-Ruckus/dp/B08YFMZ1GX

Amazon AU Kindle eBook:

https://www.amazon.com.au/Not-My-Ruckus-Chad-Musick-ebook/dp/B08LKJ12P2

Amazon AU Paperback:

https://www.amazon.com.au/Not-My-Ruckus-Chad-Musick/dp/1953971008

Amazon AU Hardcover:

https://www.amazon.com.au/Not-My-Ruckus-Chad-Musick/dp/1953971024

Amazon AU Audiobook:

https://www.amazon.com.au/Not-My-Ruckus/dp/B08YFLGF2Z

Barnes and Noble NOOK eBook:

https://www.barnesandnoble.com/w/not-my-ruckus-chad-musick/1137961595?ean=2940164288372

Barnes and Noble Paperback:

https://www.barnesandnoble.com/w/not-my-ruckus-chad-musick/1137961595?ean=9781953971005

Barnes and Noble Hardcover:

https://www.barnesandnoble.com/w/not-my-ruckus-chad-musick/1137961595?ean=9781953971029

The Book Depository Paperback:

https://www.bookdepository.com/Not-My-Ruckus-Chad-Musick-Nada-Backovic-Elizabeth-Roderick/9781953971005

The Book Depository Hardcover:

https://www.bookdepository.com/Not-My-Ruckus-Chad-Musick/9781953971029

BAM! Books-A-Million Paperback:

https://www.booksamillion.com/p/Not-My-Ruckus/Chad-Musick/9781953971005

BAM! Books-A-Million Hardcover:

https://www.booksamillion.com/p/Not-My-Ruckus/Chad-Musick/9781953971029

Google Play Audiobook:

https://play.google.com/store/audiobooks/details/Chad_Musick_Not_My_Ruckus?id=AQAAAEBcswnzRM

Kobo US eBook:

https://www.kobo.com/us/en/ebook/not-my-ruckus

Kobo US Audiobook:

https://www.kobo.com/us/en/audiobook/not-my-ruckus-1

Kobo CA eBook:

https://www.kobo.com/ca/en/ebook/not-my-ruckus

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GIVEAWAY INFO:

Chad will be awarding a $25 Amazon/BN 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.