Bittersweet Alliance by Kathleen Rowland - Blurb Blitz - Reviews - Giveaway - Enter Daily!

Hey, lovelies!  It gives me great pleasure today to host Kathleen Rowland and her new book, “Bittersweet Alliance”!  For other stops on her Goddess Fish Promotions Book Tour, please click on the banner above or any of the images in this post – except the Available at Amazon picture, which takes you directly to the Amazon Book Sale Page.

Be sure to make it to the end of this post to enter to win ONE of TEN fabulous Gift Bags that each contain exciting prizes like a shell necklace, chocolates, and a flower pen!!!  That’s right – there will be TEN lucky winners!!!  Also, come back daily to interact with Kathleen and to increase your chances of winning!

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

Bittersweet Alliance

by Kathleen Rowland

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GENRE: Romantic Suspense

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BLURB:

Will a snap decision change their lives forever?

Bizarre kidnappings stun the Big Island of Hawaii, pulling Danker Donahue back into the game and forcing him to partner with Jolene Kualoha, the woman who left him seven years ago when his DNA showed up in paternity lawsuit. The prejudice-motivated hate crimes are the wildest anyone has ever seen. Victims are being poisoned then released once the ransoms are paid, many losing their lives.

In the shadow of Jolene's success as a helicopter pilot, a troubled woman develops a fixation on Jolene and imitates her appearance. Matters turn dark when the copycat is shot dead. Was Jolene the target? Threats mount when she barely survives an accident after her brake cables are severed.

When these crimes threaten her sanity, Jolene is forced to trust the one person she thought she’d lost forever, Danker. Instantly, sparks fly between them, and as much as she wants to rekindle their relationship, she must protect her heart.

An old enemy, Seamus McGinn, breaks out of a maximum-security prison and invites Danker to a meet-up. Surprisingly, the kidnapper joins forces with McGinn along with his sick fans. McGinn trumpets his ‘murders by ice pick’, and it’s up to Danker to stop him. The whole island is on edge with a live feed from the maniac’s website.

In a stolen moment, Jolene shows him hope, and he makes a snap decision that will change their lives forever. Will he make it back to show her?

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EXCERPT ONE:

Seven years since their breakup, Jolene Kualoha spotted Danker Donahue, ambling from the parking lot toward the store. She recognized him by his height and long gait. Wind from the north ruffled his hair and brought a bone-biting chill to her heart. Nuts, here he was, ducking his head to miss the bell overhead. It tinkled, and a strange twisting sensation hit her in the stomach.

This happened at the Kalua-Kona Food Emporium on a Sunday morning in July. She stared from where she stood near the avocados. His dangerous edge drew her in, but she turned her back to him. Her body reverberated like when her cellphone was on vibrate in her pocket. Stunned with minor electric shock, she froze.  Maybe he wouldn’t see her.  Wouldn’t recognize the back of her head or the once familiar shape of her ass.

Was someone waiting for him in the parking lot? Someone like Louella, the baby’s momma who’d summoned him for an immediate DNA test? For a split second, she craned her head around but didn’t see her with him.

She and Danker were a couple when the test confirmed his fatherhood. Her heart ached at the memory. Love hurt, but that wasn’t all. Loneliness hurt. Losing someone hurt. Decision-making hurt when you force yourself to do the right thing.

She’d pulled away, giving him space to work on his previous relationship for the sake of their child. The most shameful thing a woman can do is take parents away from a baby, and this began her year of stubborn steadfastness.

I did the breakup rituals. Got the dramatic haircut. Engraved a piece of jewelry he got me with a new message. Deleted the photos that made me cry.

To have been his woman was like living where the air flowered with jasmine, and the weather day after day was flawless, but the forecast was a hurricane.

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REVIEWS:

What Reviewers Say About Kathleen Rowland:

~From The Romance Studio~

Windward Whisperings – Kathleen Rowland spins a creative story with romance, passion and suspense making it an adventure hard to put down. The banter she creates between the two lovers is spine-tingling robust in this keeper of a read.

http://theromancestudio.com/reviews/reviews/windwardwhisperingsrowland.htm

~From Midwest Book Review~

Deeds of Deceit – Circled by the bloodthirsty and untrusting, you learn to appreciate the few allies you have. Deeds of Deceit is an excellent addition to any thriller assortment.

http://www.midwestbookreview.com/sbw/mar_12.htm

~From Long and Short Reviews~

A Key to all That Glitters – Is a mesmerizing love story that vibrates with love and suspense.

http://longandshortreviews.blogspot.com/2009/05/key-to-all-that-glitters-by-kathleen.html

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AUTHOR BIO:

Book Buyers Best finalist Kathleen Rowland is devoted to giving her readers fast-paced, high-stakes suspense with a sizzling love story sure to melt their hearts. Kathleen used to write computer programs but now writes novels. She grew up in Iowa where she caught lightning bugs, ran barefoot, and raced her sailboat on Lake Okoboji. Now she wears flip-flops and sails with her husband, Gerry, on Newport Harbor but wishes there were lightning bugs in California.

Kathleen exists happily with her witty CPA husband, Gerry, in their 70’s poolside retreat in Southern California where she adores time spent with visiting grandchildren, dogs, one bunny, and noisy neighbors. While proud of their five children who’ve flown the coop, she appreciates the luxury of time to write!

Kathleen is an in-house author at Tirgearr Publishing. Her Irish-American Donahue Cousins series includes Deadly Alliance, Unholy Alliance, and another, Bittersweet Alliance is in the works. One Night in Havana (in the City Nights series) has a release date of January 31, 2018.

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CONNECT WITH KATHLEEN:

Website:

http://www.kathleenrowland.com

Blog #1:

https://kathleenrowland.wordpress.com

Blog #2:

http://kathleenrowland.blogspot.com

Newsletter:

http://www.eepurl.com/b2QOxT

Email:

kathleenrowland10@gmail.com

Facebook Fan Page:

https://www.facebook.com/romanticsuspense.kathleenrowland

Facebook Personal Page:

https://www.facebook.com/kathleen.rowland.50

Twitter:

https://twitter.com/rowlandkathleen

BookBub Author Page:

https://www.bookbub.com/authors/kathleen-rowland

BookBub Book Page:

https://www.bookbub.com/books/bittersweet-alliance-donahue-cousins-series-3-by-kathleen-rowland

Goodreads Author Page:

https://www.goodreads.com/author/show/786656.Kathleen_Rowland

Goodreads Book Page:

https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/46030813-bittersweet-alliance

Amazon Author Page:

https://amzn.to/2Y8HATH

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AMAZON BOOK BUY LINK:

https://amzn.to/2NZN7YW

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GIVEAWAY INFO:

Kathleen will be awarding ten gift bags each containing a shell necklace, chocolates, and a flower pen to randomly drawn winners 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.

Shadow's Way by Barbara Frances - Book Blast - FREE Chapters - Book Praise - Giveaway - Enter Daily!

Hello lovelies!  It gives me great pleasure today to host Barbara Frances and her new book, “Shadow’s Way”!  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 Barbara and to increase your chances of winning!

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

Shadow's Way

by Barbara Frances

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GENRE: Suspense

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BLURB:

Prepare to be spellbound. Barbara Frances' long-awaited third novel, “Shadow's Way,” takes you to the coastal, deep South, where the past and the present mingle in a gothic tale of insanity, murder, and sexual intrigue.

You'll meet the beautiful Elaine Chauvier, former actress and proprietor of Shadow's Way, her family's antebellum home; the esteemed Archbishop Andre Figurant and his fallen identical twin, Bastien; newly arrived Ophelia and Rudy, here to explore their Chauvier roots and their ties to Shadow's Way; and the mysterious Madame Claudine. Under a veneer of piety and graciousness, i.e., the questions: What is good? What is evil? What is reality?

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EXCERPT TWO:

Archbishop Figurant gazed down the extended maple table, luminous from layer upon layer of bee’s wax. Soon they would be arriving. It was going to be a hard hitting but necessary meeting, long overdue. Abandoning protocol, he would be going against the Church’s hierarchy to expose a long-lived charade of denial and hypocrisy. No longer was he going to ram his head up his self-righteous ass. He was going to act.

Lanita entered the room with a large tray of chicken sandwiches and fruit pastries. “Oh, ‘cuse me, your Excellency. I didn’t know you were already here. I’ll be out of your way in no time.” Her words hummed with the rhythmic cadence of a Caribbean island. Neat as a pin in a freshly starched uniform and hair tucked away in a plain white turban, she slipped from point to point, smooth and efficient.

“You’re fine, Lanita. I’m trying to get my thoughts in order. You’d best put out some ashtrays. I anticipate Monsignors Flannigan and Murphy will burn up a field of tobacco when they hear what I’ve got to say.” She laughed out loud. “Maybe I should put out the whiskey, too, yes?

“No, they’ll have to survive on coffee or water today.” He smiled at her. “Be good for them.”

He and Lanita had a comfortable relationship. She had been his housekeeper for six years. He knew some of her secrets and she knew some of his. Late afternoons he often watched her from the upstairs window as she rode her bicycle home, hair fanning out in an Afro halo and a colorful skirt billowing in the wind.

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FREE CHAPTERS:

Want to read more???

First TWO chapters are FREE at:

http://shadowsway.com/chapters.html

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BOOK PRAISE:

“A spell weaver, Shadow's Way, kept me in suspense, which, as a lover of good mysteries is not easy for an author to do. I often guess an ending before I hit the middle. As in her last book, Like I Used to Dance, Ms. Frances' characters are delicious portrayals, richly textured, gradually revealing their good and evil humanity, as her hauntingly realistic settings and surprising story unfolds.  To say more might give away the best of her new book. I have thoroughly enjoyed both of her novels and highly recommend them.”
~ Sherry Haskin

“Two of the historic forces that still shape American culture, ante-bellum southern ideology and the catholic church, are brought into fascinating and disturbing juxtaposition in this novel. Barbara Frances lays bare traditions that while often enough exposed as decadent in some measure, still retain strong elements of venerability through the usual telling of their stories. Not here. Nothing is embellished or disguised. At its core, like a Russell Lee camera lens, this work shows us marginalized people seeking growth and redemption without filters or touch-up. With all their blemishes, in their stumbling nakedness they emerge as utterly noble.”
~ David Wiener

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AUTHOR BIO:

Barbara Frances has plenty of stories and a life spent acquiring them. Growing up Catholic on a small Texas farm, her childhood ambition was to become a nun. In ninth grade she entered a boarding school in Our Lady of the Lake Convent as an aspirant, the first of several steps before taking vows. On graduation, however, she passed up the nun’s habit for a college degree in English and Theatre Arts. Her professors were aghast when she declined a PhD program in order to become a stewardess, but Barbara never looked back. “In the Sixties, a stewardess was a glamorous occupation.” Her career highlights include dating a very gentlemanly Chuck Berry and “opening the bar” for a planeload of underage privates on their way to Vietnam.

Marriage, children, school teaching and divorce distracted her from storytelling, but one summer she and a friend coauthored a screenplay. “I never had such fun! I come from a family of storytellers. Relatives would come over and after dinner everyone would tell tales. Sometimes they were even true.” The next summer Barbara wrote a screenplay solo. Contest recognition, an agent and three optioned scripts followed but, weary of fickle producers and endless rewrites, she turned to novels. Shadow’s Way is her third book. Her first, Lottie’s Adventure, is aimed at young readers. Her second, Like I Used To Dance, is a family saga set in 1950’s rural Texas. Barbara’s fans can be thankful she passed up convent life for one of stories and storytelling. She and her husband Bill live in Austin, Texas.

Barbara welcomes questions or comments about Shadow’s Way at barb@barbarafrances.com.

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CONNECT WITH BARBARA:

Blog:

http://shadowsway.com

Website:

http://barbarafrances.com

Email:

barb@barbarafrances.com

Goodreads Author Page:

https://www.goodreads.com/author/show/2311807.Barbara_Frances

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BOOK BUY LINKS:

Amazon Kindle:

https://amzn.to/2NHJW2E

Amazon Paperback:

https://amzn.to/2NH43hu

Barnes and Noble:

https://www.barnesandnoble.com/w/shadows-way-barbara-frances/1128577690

The Book Depository:

https://www.bookdepository.com/Shadows-Way-Barbara-Frances/9781944071417

BAM! Books-A-Million:

http://www.booksamillion.com/p/Shadows-Way/Barbara-Frances/9781944071417

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GIVEAWAY INFO:

Barbara 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 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.

New! New! New! - Coming Soon!!!

Hello lovelies!  I have huge plans for this blog and I have so many exciting new posts coming this year!  I can’t wait to share them with you!  There will be a variety of new posts, book tours, guest posts, interviews, giveaways, book reviews, product reviews, fitness journals, and so much more!!  So be sure to check back often so you don’t miss out on the FAB journey!

~!~BLOG POSTS~!~

~!~BOOK TOURS~!~

~!~GUEST POSTS~!~

~!~INTERVIEWS~!~

~!~GIVEAWAYS~!~

~!~BOOK REVIEWS~!~

~!~PRODUCT REVIEWS~!~

~!~FITNESS JOURNALS~!~

AND SOOOOO MUCH MORE!!!

The Year I Dated the Internet by Stacy Lynn Carroll - Book Tour - Book Sale - Giveaway!

The Year I Dated the Internet by Stacy Lynn Carroll

With her 30th birthday fast approaching, Chelsea Wilson decides she is done being single. She is going to be married by the end of the year if it kills her. And sixteen first dates might just do that. With no male companionship, other than her cat Daughtry, Chelsea reluctantly creates an online dating profile. She begins meeting all kinds of men in a world now full of man buns and skinny jeans. While trying to find one good man, she ends up with four. How will Chelsea ever decide? The best part is she doesn’t have to. It’s up to you. In this romantic comedy like no other, you, the reader, get to pick who Chelsea chooses in the end. Her fate is in your hands.

  

Grab your copy for just 99 cents from July 11th to 15th

Praise for the Book

"I highly recommend reading this book. The story is fantastic, the dates memorable, and the ending is what you decide. I was so happy to choose which guy Chelsea ends up with, I felt even more involved in her story." -- Stacy Lybbert, Amazon Reviewer

"Having read plenty of fiction with endings I didn't love, this book was refreshing and fun. And having been married for a couple of decades and out of the dating scene, it was eye opening to get of glimpse of the new world of online dating and how difficult it can be." -- Holly Frasche, Amazon Reviewer

"There was plenty of humour throughout the story and I shared some of the jokes with friends and family who all laughed as well. I would like to see more books like this. It lived up to its description and recommendation and I'm glad I read it. I would recommend it. It was just what I was looking for: a nice, light read with no heavy stuff." -- Autism Mom, Amazon Reviewer

"I especially liked how real and well developed the characters were. The main character has dating experiences that anyone in the dating world can relate with, as well as experiences that no one would want, and ones that are unique to our age of the internet, taking the reader on a ride that is entertaining and heart warming." -- Leilani Peterson, Amazon Reviewer

Excerpt #3

I would rather clean a gas station bathroom with my bare hands than be here right now. I hate blind dates. I don’t know how I let myself get talked into one. As soon as married people find out I’m single, it’s like they feel it is their personal duty to find my husband. You’re single? I have a second cousin who is single. I should set you two up! Does he like the same things as me? Doubtful. Is he attractive? Probably not. Do we have anything in common? No … but you’re single and he’s single so it must be a match made in heaven, right? I pick up my glass and take a sip. There’s a huge burst of laughter at the other end of the bar. I look over and see several barely twenty-year-olds in tight dresses with perfect hair and more makeup than I’ve ever worn. They are surrounded by older men who appear to be comedians by the incessant giggling pouring out from them. I watch the men buy another round of shots, followed by more laughter. I feel like an old lady sitting grumpily on my stool, wishing the youngins would keep it down...

 

Grab your copy for just 99 cents from July 11th to 15th

Author Stacy Lynn Carroll

Stacy Lynn Carroll has always loved telling stories. She started out at Utah State University where she pursued a degree in English, learned how to western swing, and watched as many of her fellow students became ‘True Aggies’. She then finished her BA at the University of Utah where she got an emphasis in creative writing. After college, she worked as an administrative assistant, where she continued to write stories for the amusement of her co-workers. When her first daughter was born, and with the encouragement of a fortune cookie, she quit her job and became a full-time mommy and writer. She and her husband have four children, two dogs, two rats, two fish, and a partridge in a pear tree.

* Website * Facebook * Twitter * Pinterest * Instagram *

 

$50 Amazon Gift Card or Paypal Cash Giveaway

Ends 7/23/17 Open only to those who can legally enter, receive and use an Amazon.com Gift Code or Paypal Cash. Winning Entry will be verified prior to prize being awarded. No purchase necessary. You must be 18 or older to enter or have your parent enter for you. The winner will be chosen by Rafflecopter and announced here as well as emailed and will have 48 hours to respond or a new winner will be chosen. This giveaway is in no way associated with Facebook, Twitter, Rafflecopter or any other entity unless otherwise specified. The number of eligible entries received determines the odds of winning. Giveaway was organized by Kathy from I Am A Reader and sponsored by the author. VOID WHERE PROHIBITED BY LAW.

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.**