Thumb Fire Desire by Carol Nickles - Book Tour - Guest Post - Giveaway - Enter Daily!

Hey, lovelies!!  It gives me great pleasure today to host Carol Nickles and her new book, “Thumb Fire Desire,” here on FAB!!  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 $50 Amazon OR Barnes and Noble Gift Card!!!  Also, come back daily to interact with Carol and to increase your chances of winning!!

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

Thumb Fire Desire

by Carol Nickles

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GENRE: Historical Romance

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BLURB:

In the Spring of 1881, indigent seamstress Ginny Dahlke arrives in one of the earliest Polish American settlements-Parisville, Michigan. Deemed charmless and awkward by her mean-spirited sister-in-law, Ginny disparages her chance of securing love. But sought-after widowed farmer Peter Nickles is enamored by Ginny's perseverance, her pioneer spirit and, her inclusive acceptance of the indigenous peoples of Michigan. The seductiveness of a buxom heiress, a twisted story of an old-country betrothal, and the largest natural disaster in Michigan's history-The Great Thumb Fire of September 5, 1881, challenge their fledgling attraction and ultimate committal.

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EXCERPT ONE:

“Watch your step. Watch your step, please,” the steward beckoned from his place on the platform, offering his arm to leave-taking passengers. Ginny stepped down. The heel of her kid leather pump caught in the juncture of the aisle floor and the train ladder’s top step. The blankets in her arms dropped onto the backs of the descending nuns. Her valise—weighted with a treasured book collection, conveyed from her father’s study, and two pounds of beef jerky wrapped in butcher’s paper—whacked the starched veil of the woman who spoke on her behalf. The target’s knees buckled. The nun tumbled face down on the back of her traveling sister.

Ginny toppled next. Mark Twain’s bestseller, the Dahlke family Bible, and a cracked leather-bound copy of Aesop’s Fables fluttered open and sailed into the congregation of the fallen.

From behind them, platform-roosting farmers rushed to retrieve the books, the butcher paper, and the integrity of three ladies.

A man resembling her father’s daguerreotype tugged Ginny by the shoulders and plucked her from the rubble. She clasped his neck and crushed her bonnet against his cheek. “Joseph,” she whispered, kissing a prickly cheek and whiffing aromatic cedar. She sneezed.

“Ginny, so glad you made it safely, even though the very last step of the journey is a sure-as-hell chance you’re going to Purgatory.” Her brother laughed, claiming her. “I mean, Ginny, you almost killed some nuns—nuns, for God’s sake,” he whispered as he tipped his hat to the black-and-white-clad women scurrying to a waiting wagon.

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GUEST POST:

Seven Ways to Your Engage Readers

Cass River Mirror

PC: Carol Nickles

1.)  Include a sensory item (in addition to sight) on every page - the mournful whistle of a night time train, the coo of a dove in the overhanging eave, the clang of a metal pail, the aroma of blooming lilacs, the odor of rum-flavored bananas, the stench of a pit latrine, the satiny surface of a hairdresser’s cape, the scratch of a burlap landscape wrap, the slipperiness of goop applied to a brow, the shaky waver of a ship’s galley.  You get the idea.

Parisville Plaque

PC: Carol Nickles

2.)  Include suspense on every page.  The suspense can be minimal.  Your character needs a facial tissue.  But why?  The suspense can be moderate.  Your character sees a quick-footed, unrecognizable animal.  Is it close, or far away?  Is it dangerous or is it harmless?  The suspense can be maximized.  A fire is raging toward your character.  A train has come to an unexpected standstill.  Make your reader always wonder - What next?

3.)  Be specific.  It’s not only an apple.  It is a golden yellow orb covered with gossamer-winged fruit flies.  It’s not only a sock.  It is a sagging around the ankles crew sock.

4.)  Read your manuscript aloud or better yet, enlist your computer to read aloud your work.  Listen to the rhythm of the words and sentences.  Listen to how the words sound next to their word neighbors.  Do you hear patterns that please the ear?  Your readers will too.

Tombstone Rock Hillside

PC: Carol Nickles

5.)  Begin your story in the middle of action.  One of your characters is on a motorcycle cruising down interstate I-80, inhaling diesel fumes from log hauling trucks. One of your characters is leading a hike through a remote Grecian Island. One of your characters is dancing the salsa in a Cuban nightclub. Your reader will be drawn in.

6.)  Keep your story moving.  Avoid the tendency to include too much backstory.

7.)  Every section and chapter conclusion should end with a hook.  Peace flooded her heart, yet she knew not why.  Was he biting off more than he could chew? By default, Ginny would be the new gunslinger of the family. Dear God.

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AUTHOR BIO:

Carol Nickles is the sixth generation of a German textile aficionado family.  In 1881, her great-great-great-grandfather founded Yale Woolen Mill—the longest-lasting of Michigan’s once twenty-nine woolen mills.  Carol earned a Master’s degree in Historic Clothing & Textiles at Michigan State University.  Her thesis is a narrative of the Yale Woolen Mill. She held faculty positions at both Utah and Michigan State universities. She lives in West Michigan and enjoys spinning a tale, weaving a story, and threading a luring hook.

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CONNECT WITH CAROL:

Website:

https://www.carolnicklesauthor.com

Email:

carolnickleswriting@gmail.com

Facebook:

https://www.facebook.com/Author-Carol-Nickles-102231548918144

Twitter:

https://twitter.com/CarolNickles

TikTok:

https://tiktok.com/@authornickles

Goodreads Author Page:

https://www.goodreads.com/author/show/22372820.Carol_Nickles

Goodreads Book Page:

https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/60867832-thumb-fire-desire

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AMAZON BOOK BUY LINKS:

Amazon US Kindle eBook:

https://amzn.to/3OBVV28

Amazon US Paperback:

https://amzn.to/3yxbGBG

Amazon CA Kindle eBook:

https://www.amazon.ca/Thumb-Fire-Desire-Carol-Nickles-ebook/dp/B09VZSPJ9Z

Amazon CA Paperback:

https://www.amazon.ca/Thumb-Fire-Desire-Carol-Nickles/dp/1509241981

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GIVEAWAY INFO:

Carol will be awarding a $50 Amazon OR Barnes and Noble Gift Card (Winner’s Choice!!!) 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 fabulous community outreach projects and 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.