The Woods of Hitchcock by Ann W. Jarvie - Book Tour - Guest Post - Giveaway - Enter Daily!

Hi, lovelies!!  It gives me great pleasure today to host Ann W. Jarvie and her new book, “The Woods of Hitchcock,” 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 $75 Amazon or Barnes and Noble Gift Card!!!  Also, come back daily to interact with Ann and to increase your chances of winning!!

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

The Woods of Hitchcock

The Henrietta Book Series

Book Two

by Ann W. Jarvie

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GENRE: Thriller, Psychological Suspense

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BLURB:

The Woods of Hitchcock by award-winning author Ann W. Jarvie is a thriller about a psychically gifted Chicago copywriter and victim of violence who returns to South Carolina's equestrian country to solve a riddle involving murder, the metaphysical and the secrets of her eccentric family.

Suzanne Clayborn is a psychically gifted southerner working in her dream job in Chicago, which also conveniently takes her away from the ghosts of her past. But when she's nearly killed, she realizes all she wants is to return home to her eccentric family, her horse and the one place she feels safe: Hitchcock Woods, an enchanting equestrian forest in South Carolina.

But instead of finding solace, Suzanne becomes entangled in a murder spree, while stumbling upon an old manuscript, written by her sage grandmother. As she explores it, Suzanne uncovers a tome of long-buried family haunts and ancient metaphysical secrets offering healing and inspiration. She also begins to understand her unwanted psychic abilities, especially after meeting a mysterious stranger in the Woods whose ominous riddle suggests others close to her will die within the week...

Brimming with raw emotion and a trail of psychological twists, a story of hope and transformation begins to unfold. Yet with the riddle's deadline looming, Suzanne's present must ultimately collide with a violent past. Will she be able to solve her life's riddle and fulfill her destiny? Or will she die along with those she loves?

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EXCERPT ONE:

Suzanne Clayborn woke up in darkness, mouth taped shut.

Jerking only made the ties around her wrists and ankles tighter, but it wasn’t just the bindings holding her down. Her muscles weren’t working right, like her whole body had fallen asleep. All she could do was lie there on a floor, heart pounding in terror, listening to the eerie bangs of pipes hidden somewhere behind the shadowed walls.

Her body trembled, despite an overwhelming heat, heavy and putrid, falling on her face and neck like the terrible breath of a monster. She had no memory of what had happened to her or where she was now. She only knew she was immobilized, maybe paralyzed, and every inch of her head ached. She might’ve welcomed another blackout, but the fumes were acting like smelling salts, forcing her to remain awake.

Yet she preferred consciousness—she didn’t want to die. It wasn’t that she feared the afterlife. That was actually the only good thing about the tragic accident years ago, when she was thirteen, when she’d felt her soul float away in bliss. It was the coming back that was the scary part. What she’d seen and felt when she’d woken up, and almost every day since then, could not be unseen or unfelt. It was a secret horror, her life irreversibly altered with strange, new abilities she didn’t need or want. Still, she didn’t want to die—not now, not like this—because she was struck in this dark moment with an awful knowing, a bothersome niggling in the deepest part of her soul about something important she had to finish in this life.

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GUEST POST:

Everyone loves a hero! Tell us all about this genuine character and the inspiration behind their development.

You’re right, Ally, and thank you for having me on Fabulous and Brunette! The love of a hero is in large part why in my new thriller, The Woods of Hitchcock, I was inspired to create a genuine Hero’s Journey for my protagonist, Suzanne Clayborn. A literary term originally coined by the acclaimed mythologist Joseph Campbell, the Hero’s Journey describes an archetypal story pattern that starts with a hero’s departure of some kind from his homeland. On his travels, he has an adventure fraught with trials and tribulations that he must overcome, and if the hero is successful, ends his journey with a triumphant return home.

In my thriller, my heroine Suzanne leaves her home in South Carolina, running away from the literal ghosts of her past. On her adventures in Chicago, she travels a road full of career excitement, but also danger. She faces various trials as an empath who has psychic abilities, learns about metaphysical secrets that may or may not help her, and gets drawn into a murder mystery. Her return involves choosing a life back in South Carolina; however, in order to stay and save those she loves, she must solve a life-or-death riddle, discover the secret gifts of spirit within herself and use them correctly, thereby completing her suspenseful Hero’s Journey.

Meanwhile, during the Hero’s Journey, the hero meets the mentor, who guides and grounds him as he makes his way in the story. Often the mentor has been through a similar journey and survived, so the mentor represents what the hero could become, if he makes the right choices and sticks to his path.

In The Woods of Hitchcock, our heroine Suzanne has a most excellent mentor in the character of her sage grandmother, Henrietta, who shares with her keen insights, humorous observations and “ancient metaphysical truths worth repeating” that she learned from an old friend and Apache shaman, Bears Repeating. [As an aside, Henrietta was the young heroine and Bears Repeating was her mentor in my first novel, The Soul Retrieval; however, both of these novels stand completely on their own.]

Ally, if you or your readers happen to be in Phoenix, Arizona this Saturday, Feb. 12, 2022, we can continue our conversation in-person about the Hero’s Journey in The Woods of Hitchcock and The Soul Retrieval. I’m excited to say I’ll be signing both of my novels in an in-store Book Signing Event at the Barnes & Noble at Desert Ridge Marketplace. Thanks again for having me here today to discuss a subject I love: The Hero!

PS: Since you also asked about my beloved pets, I’m attaching a photo of my boxer Rhett and boxer mix rescue, Georgie. I consider them my creative writing assistants!

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AUTHOR BIO:

Ann W. Jarvie has a B.A. in journalism and twenty-five years’ experience as a writer in advertising and public relations agencies, in Chicago and South Carolina. Although it stands completely on its own, The Woods of Hitchcock is an indirect sequel to Jarvie’s award-winning debut novel, The Soul Retrieval, which received four literary awards, the highest score by Writer’s Digest e-Book Awards’ judges (5 out of 5 on all points) as well as myriad positive reviews. Jarvie currently lives in Paradise Valley, Arizona with her husband, their boxer dog and boxer mix rescue.

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CONNECT WITH ANN:

Website:

https://www.annwjarvie.com

Facebook:

https://www.facebook.com/annwjarvie

Twitter:

https://www.twitter.com/annwjarvie

Instagram:

https://www.instagram.com/annwjarvie

Goodreads Author Page:

https://www.goodreads.com/author/show/13702568.Ann_W_Jarvie

Goodreads Book Page:

https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/59469121-the-woods-of-hitchcock

Amazon Author Page:

https://amzn.to/3J7N6d7

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BOOK BUY LINKS:

The Woods of Hitchcock, A Thriller by Ann W. Jarvie, is available online everywhere, including:

Amazon US Kindle eBook:

https://amzn.to/3GByFMO

Amazon US Paperback:

https://amzn.to/3HxCV1a

Amazon US Hardcover:

https://amzn.to/3B1xR2R

Amazon CA Kindle eBook:

https://www.amazon.ca/Woods-Hitchcock-Thriller-Henrietta-ebook/dp/B09J9VSGTV

Amazon CA Paperback:

https://www.amazon.ca/Woods-Hitchcock-Thriller-Ann-Jarvie/dp/0578932008

Amazon CA Hardcover:

https://www.amazon.ca/Woods-Hitchcock-Ann-W-Jarvie/dp/0578949814

Barnes and Noble NOOK eBook:

https://www.barnesandnoble.com/w/the-woods-of-hitchcock-ann-w-jarvie/1139765258?ean=9780578932019

Barnes and Noble Paperback:

https://www.barnesandnoble.com/w/the-woods-of-hitchcock-ann-w-jarvie/1139765258?ean=9780578932002

Barnes and Noble Hardcover:

https://www.barnesandnoble.com/w/the-woods-of-hitchcock-ann-w-jarvie/1139765258?ean=9780578949819

Book Depository Paperback:

https://www.bookdepository.com/Woods-Hitchcock-Ann-W-Jarvie/9780578932002

Book Depository Hardcover:

https://www.bookdepository.com/Woods-Hitchcock-Ann-W-Jarvie/9780578949819

Books-A-Million Paperback:

https://www.booksamillion.com/p/Woods-Hitchcock/Ann-W-Jarvie/9780578932002

Books-A-Million Hardcover:

https://www.booksamillion.com/p/Woods-Hitchcock/Ann-W-Jarvie/9780578949819

Bookshop Paperback:

https://bookshop.org/books/the-woods-of-hitchcock/9780578932002

Bookshop Hardcover:

https://bookshop.org/books/the-woods-of-hitchcock-9780578949819/9780578949819

Kobo US eBook:

https://www.kobo.com/us/en/ebook/the-woods-of-hitchcock

Kobo CA eBook:

https://www.kobo.com/ca/en/ebook/the-woods-of-hitchcock

Powell’s Paperback:

https://www.powells.com/book/the-woods-of-hitchcock-9780578932002

Powell’s Hardcover:

https://www.powells.com/book/the-woods-of-hitchcock-9780578949819

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GIVEAWAY INFO:

Ann will be awarding a $75 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.

My Irish Dog by Douglas Solvie - Book Tour - Guest Post - Giveaway - Enter Daily!

Hi, lovelies!  It gives me great pleasure today to host Douglas Solvie and his new book, “My Irish Dog”!  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 Doug and to increase your chances of winning!

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

My Irish Dog

by Douglas Solvie

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GENRE: Suspense (Psychological)

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BLURB:

Spencer held on to the faintest of hope, but still he knew the trip to Ireland had almost no prospect of remedying his internal dilemma. Then again, he never imagined that a chance meeting with a lost and dying dog named Shandy would change his life forever.

Step into the small Irish village of Galbally, where the unwitting Spencer stumbles headfirst into a parallel world that will test his will, sanity, and even physical well-being.

Time and promise are running out. Will unnatural forces and events scare Spencer away before he can connect again with the mysterious dog? Will he find his way forward before Shandy meets her inevitable fate? Or will suspicious locals and a nefarious Dublin innkeeper force Spencer from the village before he completes his life-altering mission?

Follow Spencer as he races to save a little Irish dog named Shandy. If he only realized that it is Shandy who is trying to save him...

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EXCERPT ONE:

“Good morning,” Spencer greeted her. “Do you remember me?”

The woman stood in the doorway and did not respond immediately. “No, I can’t say I do,” she finally said with a blank expression.

Spencer felt a wave of dizziness overtake him.

“I was here a couple of days back and dropped off that little dog, which you kindly took from me,” he said desperately. “Anyway, I have been worried about her and wanted to make certain that everything had turned out all right.”

“I’m sorry,” the woman said warily, “I really don’t know what you’re talking about or who you are. You must have made some kind of mistake. We don’t have a dog and never have. And I’ve certainly never seen you before.”

Spencer was incredulous, his smile falling slowly. He also felt a little defiant.

“Excuse me, but I was here just two days ago. I told you I had found a stray dog that I didn’t know what to do with, and you agreed to take her from me. You said your husband would deal with the matter once he got home that night.”

“Listen, you have obviously made a mistake,” the woman said. Spencer winced inside; the woman was now the defiant one. “I have a husband, but I have no idea what you are talking about. Are you sure it wasn’t some other house?”

For a moment Spencer thought he might have gone crazy. He peered through the door, and though he could hear the sound of children inside, he could not see them.

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GUEST POST:

BRING ON THE BOOS

(VILLAIN CHARACTER DEVELOPMENT)

When I had finished the initial draft of my manuscript, I sent it to a friend (a beta reader in a way). I knew I needed some help, and I also knew this particular person was someone who would actually read the darn thing.

He got back to me several weeks later and kindly pointed out some inconsistencies and some misconceptions, things that I honestly did not recognize. Perhaps the most important element he discovered was that all of my characters were too nice. It wasn’t so much that they were all nice, but rather that the book completely lacked a villain. That fact hadn’t occurred to me, and I knew he was right – a psychological suspense novel certainly requires a bad character or two to make it interesting. Sure, I had antagonists of a sort, notably an evil spirit and the mental anguish of the protagonist, but I knew now that I needed more.

I sat on the manuscript for a few days, wondering how I could bring a true antagonist into the fold. Introducing a new character out of nowhere seemed a bit intimidating. So how could one of my present characters become a villain? The answer soon came. In the first chapter, my protagonist Spencer becomes acquainted with the owner of a B&B in Dublin named Mike. That character Mike was initially a nice guy as well, but I thought perhaps I could turn him. I maintained Mike’s amiable disposition, but at the very end of that beginning chapter I added a slight twist to make the reader believe that the innkeeper had a sinister side.

Still, a problem remained: Mike is in Dublin and Spencer would spend the rest of the book in another part of Ireland. How could I possibly keep them connected? Problem solved: I’d simply give Mike an accomplice of sorts, an old friend and sometimes business partner who did Mike’s bidding.

So, enter Owen. He operates near where Spencer is spending his time, and Mike enlists Owen to carry out his nefarious plan. Mike is a bad man in his own right, but I knew I needed to take Owen to a higher level, someone who has no qualms about doing whatever is necessary to get what he wants. He needed to be as loathsome as possible, someone the reader would love to hate as the story progresses.

Owen doesn’t get a ton of page time in the story, but enough to make him an integral character. Without him, the story could never reach its climax. His methods and intent know no bounds, and his first and last direct meeting with Spencer offers a heart-pounding scene. (Thank goodness for a little Irish dog that saves the day.)

Just when the reader’s disdain for Owen can’t be any worse, I thought it appropriate to send him off in the most unceremonious of ways. Writing the demise of a character is never easy, but I doubt there are few readers who would disagree that Owen receives his just deserts. Mike gets his as well, but in a different and less profound way. And Spencer, a rather sympathetic protagonist, eventually benefits from his ill-fated association with Mike and Owen.

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AUTHOR BIO:

My Irish Dog is the debut novel by Douglas Solvie and was motivated by a trip taken to Ireland and the chance discovery of a lost dog there. After spending most of his adult life living and working in Japan, Douglas is currently living in his home state of Montana. He hopes to make a new career out of writing and to travel the world, looking for inspiration for that next book, perhaps another set in beautiful Ireland. My Irish Dog is, after all, a story with a lot of unanswered questions.

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CONNECT WITH DOUGLAS:

Website:

https://www.myirishdog.com

Blog:

https://www.myirishdog.com/blog

Email:

dsolvie18@gmail.com

Twitter:

https://twitter.com/DSolvieAuthor

LinkedIn:

https://www.linkedin.com/in/douglas-solvie-44210333

Goodreads Author Page:

https://www.goodreads.com/author/show/20210363.Douglas_Solvie

Goodreads Book Page:

https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/53327383-my-irish-dog

Amazon Author Page:

https://amzn.to/2W4zMkb

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AMAZON BOOK BUY LINKS:

Amazon Kindle eBook:

https://amzn.to/3b6K9bA

Amazon Paperback:

https://amzn.to/2YzAV4X

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

GIVEAWAY INFO:

Douglas will be awarding a $25 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.

The Empty Room by Sarah J. Clemens - Book Tour - Giveaway - Enter Daily!

Hello lovelies! It gives me great pleasure today to host Sarah J. Clemens and her new book, “The Empty Room”!

Be sure to make it to the end of this post to enter to win a $10 Amazon Gift Card!  Also, come back daily to interact with Sarah and to increase your chances of winning!

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

The Empty Room

by Sarah J. Clemens

Genre: Psychological Suspense, Thriller, Mystery

Rain soaked and dreary, it was a 1901 abandoned Victorian that newlyweds Dean and Elizabeth Montgomery hoped would fulfill their dreams of a new start in life, even if the town of Eastbrook, Maine was nestled under a constant blanket of fog.

The first neighbor the couple meets dashes those hopes when he raises a bizarre question: what happened to the last person who lived in their house? A cryptic question, but nothing to worry about. At least not until the couple looked under the floorboards inside the house.

Under mounting pressure from the residents of Eastbrook to stop questioning the past, Dean and Elizabeth are driven deeper into the history of the house, the town, and their neighbors. When the couple discovers what happened in Eastbrook, keeping the secret could save their lives, but uncovering the truth might be worth the risk.

What happened inside The Empty Room is a mystery until the last page. A gripping psychological suspense, the story takes readers on a cat-and-mouse game where some secrets are better off hidden.

*Goodreads * Amazon*

Dean made his way to the end of the hall, but found the smile on his face slide off when he turned to find Elizabeth standing motionless at the opposite end of the hallway.

“Honey?” he questioned, still panting from the recent marathon. “What is it?”

Trying to catch his breath, he walked toward the room where Elizabeth stood. It was as if she was frozen in time just outside the last room on the right. Dean joked, “Don’t tell me. It’s floral wallpaper, isn’t it? I knew this home was too good to be true.”

But Elizabeth did not respond.

He took a deep sigh in a final attempt to catch his breath, and stood to the left of Elizabeth looking for some indication for her silence, but no clues found their way. “Hey, if I wanted to be ignored I’d call your mother,” he teased. “What’s going on?”

He stepped in front of Elizabeth to see what it was that had caused his wife to lose any grasp of the English language, but was confused at what he saw. The room she was staring at, one of four bedrooms throughout the house, was empty.

Under any other circumstances, an empty room was nothing but evidence to the fact that the house was unoccupied, but in this home, where the kitchen still had year-old leftovers, an empty room was anything but ordinary.

He stood beside her in the doorway for several moments. Elizabeth stepped forward, only permitting a few steps past the door frame. “Why only one room?” she said half to herself. “Was this the only room he packed when he left?”

Dean followed her lead into the room. “I don’t think so. The realtor said that no one had seen him moving, just that he’d left.”

One of the smaller rooms in comparison to the rest of the house, the only item in the room was a sheer white curtain that hung in front of the window adjacent to the door. Snagged in the wooden frame of the window on a piece of flaking white paint was a small red ribbon that had caught a weak breeze from a draft in the window. To the left were two white doors to the closet, and aside from a few spiders that had staked their claim, it was the only room not bombarded with belongings.

Dean nudged Elizabeth gently and persistently with his elbow as he looked up and down the room. “This is fascinating and all, Liz, but remember when we were looking for the master bedroom in our new home? That was fun, wasn’t it?” he said.

Sarah J. Clemens is the author of the debut mystery novel, The Empty Room. She started writing The Empty Room in 2008 and formed her own imprint in 2016 called Off the Page Publishing.

She started out her professional career working as a news assistant for her local newspaper before finding a passion for the law and pursued an education in criminal justice. In addition to writing fiction, she is also a legal assistant with an Associate of Arts and a Bachelor of Science in Criminal Justice with an emphasis in Human Services.

Sarah was born in California and now lives and works in Boise, Idaho. She has the same sarcastic sense of humor as the characters in her books, and she has an unparalleled love for animals.

*Website * Facebook * Twitter *
*Pinterest * Amazon * Goodreads*

a Rafflecopter giveaway

**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 Silver Dagger Scriptorium.  Prizes are given away by the sponsors and not Fabulous and Brunette. The featured author and Silver Dagger Scriptorium are solely responsible for the giveaway prize.