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Monday, August 13, 2018

Raven's Eye by Adam Gowans Book Tour with Giveaway :)




Adam Gowans is the youngest of five Air Force brats, out of which his siblings have voted him the weirdest. He loves anything that deals with stories, including movies, novels, television dramas, music, video games, manga/manhwa, and webtoons.

In his mid-twenties, he lived and taught English in South Korea for four years before returning to the States to live, like many LDS authors, in Utah.

His first novel is On Angelic Wings, which has a planned sequel, but the sequel will be released after two other novels that are calling for his attention.




Ever since magic caused his mother's death, Ha-Neul, crown prince of Balhae, hates witches and the magic they wield. He has instituted harsh laws against all magic users.


Lisa is a young witch working undercover as a servant in his palace, hoping to gain freedom for her people. The last thing the two expect is to fall in love. But when Ha-Neul learns that Lisa is not only a witch, but the daughter of the Prince of Vires, land of witches, he banishes her. Distracted by heartbreak, he is caught off-guard by a military coup.

In hiding and on the run, Ha-Neul swallows his pride and travels with his siblings to Vires, planning to beg Lisa's aid, only to learn that she has mysteriously vanished.

Now his only hope in reclaiming his kingdom and reuniting with Lisa lies in the remote Northern Mountains, a country no one has ever penetrated and rumored home of a powerful magic source. There, Ha-Neul learns that a being powerful beyond comprehension has been carefully guiding his destiny. But if Ha-Neul can't let go of his hatred of all things magic, and accept the new path offered to him, it will mean the destruction of his entire world.




Snippet #1
“A servant is still a servant, no matter what title you give them.” Ha-Na’s shock turned to bewilderment, but Lisa kept talking. “Unless I am honorably dismissed, fired, or retired, my chance for earning a higher education is now over. I had plans, Gongju.”
Ha-Na’s posture fell with guilt as the weight of Lisa’s words hit her. By making Lisa a nain, a possible bride to the wangsil, Ha-Na had tied her to the palace. “I didn’t know.”
“You didn’t bother to find out.”

Snippet #2
He suppressed a shudder when her demeanor worsened. “I wasn’t entirely sure for the past couple of weeks, but now I’m convinced. You hate me,” he searched her face, looking deep into her eyes.
Lisa laughed, but it held no warmth, no amusement. “Yes, it is difficult for me to conceal it when you are in front of me.”
“Why?” His voice was a little soft, and his chest felt cold.
“Because you’re a monster.” Lisa spoke in Haeche.
He never believed he could see her countenance sour as much as it did at that moment. She no longer hid the extent of her hate for him, and it terrified him. The degree of it went past loathing and abhorrence. She held him in complete execration.




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Monday, July 30, 2018

HomeFairy Blue Mandala Ombre Pattern Hanging Tapestry Review


HomeFairy Blue Mandala Ombre Pattern Hanging Tapestry Review





***My Personal Review***

Very pretty mandala wall tapestry - the color is a cool blue ombre and white and it's just gorgeous!  This would go with any blue color decor in a house.


Keep in mind that this is a very large tapestry - the size is 60" x 80" and it takes up almost a whole wall in my place.  There are a lot of ways you could make this work in a smaller area - like maybe bunching it up, or making curtains out of it, something like that if you are crafty :)


This is made of a very light and thin fabric so it's very lightweight, but it is sewn well at the edges and is very easy to put up on a wall without using huge nails.


I love this, can't wait to put it on my wall at my new apartment! It will fit right in with my decorations   

Saturday, July 28, 2018

Great Summer Reads Part 18





Laurie (L.C.) Lewis will always be a Marylander at heart—a weather-whining lover of crabs, American history, and the sea. She admits to being craft-challenged, particularly lethal with a glue gun, and a devotee of sappy movies. Her ninth published novel, her first romance novella, Sweet Water, was inspired by a visit to Oregon’s magnificent coastline, and time spent with Mother Eugenie, upon whom the character Mother Thomasine is based. 

Laurie’s women’s fiction novels include The Dragons of Alsace Farm (2016), Awakening Avery (2010), and Unspoken (2004), written as Laurie Lewis. 

Using the pen name L.C. Lewis, she wrote the five volumes of her award-winning FREE MEN and DREAMERS historical fiction series, set against the backdrop of the War of 1812: Dark Sky at Dawn (2007), Twilight’s Last Gleaming (2008), Dawn’s Early Light (2009), Oh, Say Can You See? (2010), and In God is Our Trust, (2011).

She is currently completing a political suspense novel planned for a summer 2017 release, a re -release of a romantic comedy, and she’s working on another historical fiction novel for a 2018 release. She loves to hear from readers.






Fears and secrets are the dragons we each must face. . . 

In need of his own redemption, Noah Carter finally confronts his childhood hero, the once-beloved uncle who betrayed him. Instead of vengeance, he offers forgiveness, also granting Uncle John a most curious request—for Noah to work on the ramshackle farm of Agnes Deveraux Keller, a French WWII survivor with dementia.

Despite all Agnes has lost, she still has much to teach Noah. But the pair’s unique friendship is threatened when Tayte, Agnes’s estranged granddaughter, arrives to claim a woman whose circumstances and abilities are far different from those of the grandmother she once knew.

Items hidden in Agnes’s attic raise painful questions about Tayte’s dead parents, steeling Tayte’s determination to save Agnes, even if it requires her to betray the very woman she came to save, and the secret her proud grandmother has guarded for seventy years.


The issue strains the fragile trust between Tayte and Noah, who now realizes Tayte is fighting her own secrets, her own dragons. Weighed down by past guilt and failures, he feels ill-equipped to help either woman, until he remembers Agnes’s lessons about courage and love. In order to save Agnes, the student must now become the teacher, helping Tayte heal—for Agnes’s sake, and for his. 




Snippet:

At the end of the physical exam the doctor praised her, explaining that her cognitive score was twenty-three out of thirty. She discreetly explained that Agnes’s short-term memory was failing despite the medication she’d been given. Agnes was slipping away.

Noah wanted to wrap his friend up in his arms and protect her from the disease, but this was another enemy he couldn’t fight. John’s mind was sharp, but his body was failing. Agnes’s body was strong, but her mind was dying, one cell at a time. He wondered which was worse.





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Friday, July 27, 2018

Great Summer Reads Part 17





Donna Hatch is the author of the best-selling “Rogue Hearts Series,” and a winner of writing awards such as The Golden Quill and the International Digital Award. A hopeless romantic and adventurer at heart, she discovered her writing passion at the tender age of 8 and has been listening to those voices ever since. She has become a sought-after workshop presenter, and also juggles freelance editing, multiple volunteer positions, and most of all, her six children (seven, counting her husband). A native of Arizona who recently transplanted to the Pacific Northwest, she and her husband of over twenty years are living proof that there really is a happily ever after.



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The widowed Elise is a perfect English lady living within the confines of society for the sake of her impressionable young son. Her quiet world is shattered when she meets the impulsive and scandalous Jared Amesbury. His roguish charm awakens her yearning for adventure. But his irrepressible grin and sea-green eyes hide a secret.


A gentleman by day, a pirate by night, Jared must complete one last assignment from the Secret Service before he can be truly free. Elise gives him hope that he, too, can find love and belonging. His hopes are crushed when his best laid plans go awry and Elise is dragged into his world of violence and deceit. She may not survive the revelation of Jared's past...or still love him when the truth is revealed.

The Guise of a Gentleman is a clean and wholesome Regency Romance, a.k.a. "clean" that explores finding one's true self, loyalty, honor, and trusting loved ones. With plenty of swashbuckling action, it provides a several good twists that play off of familiar situations and proudly proclaims the redemptive power of love.




Snippet:


Mr. Amesbury moved closer to Elise. Her heart pounded as he neared. His smile turned smug as if he knew her thoughts.
“Despite your earlier refusal, I’m glad to finally learn your name. At least, part of it. What is your Christian name?”
“Missus,” she said through clenched teeth, and turned to leave.
“Wait. Please don’t go.”
The desperation in his softly spoken words arrested her movement. Slowly, she turned back to him. His disconcerting eyes traveled over her face with such intensity it seemed a physical touch. She wondered if he looked at every woman thusly. He probably did. The rake!
“I wanted to thank you again for your assistance in the woods.” A seductive tone rumbled his voice.
“You’re welcome,” she snapped. Her own rudeness shocked her, but this womanizing cad deserved to be brought down a peg or two.
“And to apologize,” he added, unperturbed. “I offended you that day. I do not wish to destroy any chance I might have in the future to become better acquainted.”
“I believe we are too well acquainted already.”
“But I’m in your debt. Please allow me to thank you properly.” His lazy smile and smoldering eyes made her wish she had worn a dress with a higher neckline.
She nervously touched the cameo on the ribbon at her throat. “It’s not necessary to thank me. Besides, I doubt I can trust your definition of ‘properly.’ ”
He laughed softly. “You’re a perceptive woman, Mrs. Berkley. However, I have something less nefarious in mind.” He executed a courtly bow. “I thank you, madam, from the bottom of my heart, for coming to my rescue.”
From an inner coat pocket, he retrieved a velvet drawstring bag, opened it, and inverted it in his hand. A perfect pearl lay in his palm.
He held it out to her. “There is an island in the Pacific where the natives harvest these from the ocean. You can’t see it in this light, but it’s pink. The chief gave this to me to thank me for saving his son. So, to thank you for saving the boy and me, I hope you will accept this token of my gratitude. And, I hope, as an apology.”
She stilled at his unexpected words.
He added, “I offended you with my impulsive behavior, and I humbly beg your forgiveness.” A smile lurked around the corner of his eyes despite the contrition in his tone.
Had a man ever left her so thoroughly confused? He was a muddle of a perfect gentleman and an incorrigible tease. Truly he was a cad. She’d just have to ignore those annoyingly strong elemental stirrings he aroused in her; they would be extremely inconvenient if she, as a mother and widow, followed them.
She indicated the pearl. “Truly, this is not necessary.”
“Please take it.” He grinned with roguish charm. “Otherwise, I’ll be honor-bound to find some other way to thank you.”
Something in his tone dispelled her guard. Laughing softly at his audacity, she picked up the pearl and admired it. “Very well, I accept, lest you become even more outrageous in your expression of gratitude.”
A place in her heart was touched that he’d be so thoughtful as to have brought her a gift that possessed sentimental value, rather than merely one of monetary worth—not that she should be accepting either one from a stranger, but somehow, she could not refuse.
Archly, she said, “And as you were clearly not in your right mind after such a terrible ordeal, I forgive you for your misconduct.” She wrapped the pearl in a lace handkerchief and put it in her reticule.
His smile appeared both wicked and relieved. “I cannot express how much that means to me. I have thought of you often since that day.”
“You, sir, continually breach the boundaries of propriety.” If only she could slow down her traitorous heart and force it to accept her decision to dismiss him as beneath her notice. But she couldn’t simply dismiss someone whose very presence filled the entire garden, and whose thoughtfulness touched her more than she cared to admit.
She almost uttered a sound of disgust. When had she become so easily ensnared by the charms of a libertine? She took another step backward and lost her balance. With a cry, she teetered at the edge of the pond.
His hand shot out to catch her by the arms. Laughter leaped into his eyes while he slowly pulled her closer to his broad chest. His clean and earthy and so very masculine scent crept into her senses. For one brief moment of insanity, she enjoyed his nearness, his arms around her making her feel safe, protected, desirable.
Where had she left her wits?
“Thank you,” she whispered, dropping her eyes and shrugging off his touch.
He dropped his hands to his sides. “Do you really fear me so? Or is it that this isn’t proper, either?”

“Of course this isn’t proper. And I’m wise to mistrust a man whose conduct and intentions are questionable, at best. Unless I have my gun, of course.”





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Thursday, July 26, 2018

Great Summer Reads Part 16






Russ Wallace is long-time student of history and religion. He employs a vivid imagination to fill in the life of Zenobia, a real historical figure and one of the most fascinating women who ever lived. 

He is working on future books in the Zenobia Book Series. Zenobia - Birth of a Legend won a 2012 IPPY award in Historical Fiction.













Sequel to the award-winning Zenobia - Birth of a Legend.

The continuing saga of the deadly young warrior who will one day challenge Rome for the supremacy of her world. As the dynamic girl continues her education in Egypt, for a time she is diverted from her warrior path. Complicating Zenobia's life is a budding romance with her brilliant and charismatic instructor. The challenge - he is the scholar, she the warrior. Can they blend their worlds to become the most exciting couple in Alexandria?

Learning of a slave trade in kidnapped young women, Zenobia determines to free the oppressed. Warrior skills will not be enough. Her new challenge - to become a pirate, then a temptress in her fight for justice.

The Author is putting both books in this Series on special offer on Amazon 25 - 26th of July 2018! 
·       Click the Amazon Link below to view the steeply discounted price!



Snippet:

     Almost as an afterthought Zenobia asked, “How many men do you know that you can really trust?”
     “How many men can I really trust?” Jasmine repeated Zenobia’s question. After careful thinking, she replied, “None! Whatever you are thinking of doing, if it requires trustworthy men, forget it!”
     The look of controlled, determined intensity on the girl told her that was not likely to happen. This girl is dangerous, extremely dangerous!
     Zenobia waited a minute before questioning, “Aren’t you going to ask me?”
     “No! You don’t know me and I don’t know you. Possession of certain types of knowledge brings danger. I don’t need that!”
     Zenobia contemplated her next step. She needed a man with particular skills, and she did not know how to go about finding him. She made a decision. “I do know you. You are like the leopardess in the forest that I spared. You are alert, skilled, and intelligent, trying to survive in a perilous wilderness of a sort, the alleys of this city. Therefore, I both respect you and value your opinion. I need your help!”
     “Helping you could be dangerous,” Jasmine answered quietly. “Convince me it will be worth the risk.” She liked the girl before her and decided she was willing to be recruited for the right price.
     “First, I already promised your ‘business partner’ 100 gold darics. Second, I guarantee you that, provided I survive, I will personally see to it that you are reunited with him. Third, if you wish to settle in Syria, I will be glad to employ the talents of both of you there. You will find that very profitable.”
     Jasmine was amazed. “I have heard a legend that you were born to rule. I can see that. I can believe that. What exactly do you want?”
     Zenobia thought back to the words of Saladir nine months earlier, A legend has power. He had proved to be a valuable and wise ally.
“Hasshel has a ship carrying kidnapped young girls who are to be sold as slaves.” She paused to read Jasmine’s expression and was gratified to see the older woman’s eyes flash with anger. She continued simply, “I want to take it!”
     “Of course you do,” Jasmine responded. “I saw that in your eyes.” She took a deep breath and said, “I will help.”
     “How do I do it?” It was clear to her that she had another ally, at least for this mission.
     “When does it sail? And which ship is it?”
     “In three days. Your partner told me I was to be one of the captives. We know the vessel.”
     Jasmine considered the options. “You could capture it here in the harbor, but I think that would be too high a risk for several reasons. First, the place is crawling with Roman sailors. Second, there are too many chances that someone would see or hear your attack and report it.
It would be far safer to take the ship in the open sea. What kind of vessel is it, and how large?”
     Zenobia was not pleased about sharing the information, but she did not see another choice.       “It is a coaster, about forty cubits long.”
     “That is helpful. Coasters usually anchor for the night, so you might be able to do a sneak attack. You would want to make your assault early in the morning when the watch tends to be less alert. In any case, you will need a ship, a fast one, to overtake it. Thus, you are going to have to hire the ship, and you need a captain/owner who’s willing to engage in an act of piracy.”
     “I don’t consider capturing a slave ship to be piracy.”
     Jasmine smiled. “Call it what you wish, maiden, but the authorities would consider it piracy, and they execute pirates for it. I recommend you do not get caught.”
     “Good advice. Do you know a pirate with a fast ship?”
     “Yes.”
     “I don’t suppose this pirate is a woman?”
     “No,” she said with a smirk.
     “Will he deal with me?”
     “What color is your gold?”
     “Deep yellow.”
     “Then yes, he will deal with you.”
     “When can I meet him?”

     “I can try to set something up for tonight.”





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Wednesday, July 25, 2018

Great Summer Reads Part 15






Russ Wallace is a long-time student of history and religion. He employs a vivid imagination to fill in the life of Zenobia, a real historical figure and one of the most fascinating women who ever lived. 

He is working on future books in the Zenobia Book Series. Zenobia - Birth of a Legend won a 2012 IPPY award in Historical Fiction.













In the 3rd century, a girl of uncommon abilities was born in the desert wilderness of Syria. Rescued from death by her courageous mother, Zenobia masqueraded as a boy to stay alive. She grew up to become one of the toughest, deadliest women who ever lived.


The first book in the series traces Zenobia’s life from age nine to fifteen, setting the stage for her amazing rise to power. It includes the beginnings of her legend and her budding romances.

No one who reads her captivating story will ever forget Zenobia!




The Author is putting both books in this Series on special offer on Amazon 25 - 26th of July 2018! 
·       Click the Amazon Link below to view the steeply discounted price!



Snippet:

Suddenly it came – a roar reverberating the ground. Jumping up she yelled, “Bethy, come!” She did not want her mare to bolt in panic through the fence and straight into the fangs and claws of a lion. Bethy trotted over nervously and Zenobia said, “Good girl. Bethy, hold!” Several of the horses began to whinny and run around the corral, but Bethy held her place by her mistress.

Zenobia moved into the corral while straining to see into the darkness. Then she saw them – spread out before her three sets of large yellow eyes glowing in the darkness. It was the most threatening sight she had ever seen. She had learned that at night a human could only see the eyes of the big cats when they were focused on the observer and there was a little light coming from behind the watcher. Their eyes must be reflecting the faint moonlight.

Now she could barely make out the shadowy shapes of the three huge cats. She caught a glimpse of movement behind their eyes, and she hoped it was her imagination and not more lions. She instinctively glanced to her left and right. Another set of luminous eyes appeared briefly to her far right. She made an almost involuntary snarl. Not too bad, she thought. The eyes stopped moving. Where is Julian? He and other guards must have heard the roar.

As she watched intently, the pair to her left disappeared and reappeared. It’s flanking us. The eyes to the far right were gone now, but the two pairs of golden orbs straight ahead began to slowly draw closer. She now noticed that one set of eyes was larger, evidently the male. Then the eyes stopped dead ahead. She guessed that the lions were energizing for a charge.

Her decision was calculated and determined in an instant. She drew her bow and shot behind the flanking eyes to her left. She was relieved to hear a yowl of pain and a snarl, as she had hoped. As she quickly placed her next arrow, the smaller pair of eyes ahead suddenly veered away into the night, perhaps scared off by the painful yowl of the wounded lioness.


She was startled to see the eyes belonging to the male grow still larger, bobbing up and down. It’s charging! She knew she had only seconds to live. Bethy saw the lion charge and finally bolted. Zenobia aimed below the eyes and shot fast. She grabbed another arrow, rushing to get off a second shot. Then she heard a crash and she was slammed in the chest, fell backwards to the ground, hit her head hard, and lost consciousness.





To view our blog schedule and follow along with this tour visit our Official Event Page