BOOKS AND BLOGGING PHILOSOPHY

Philosophy is defined as a theory underlying or regarding a sphere of activity or thought. Well, my theory is if I can add at least 10 new books to my Wishlist and move at least 5 older Wishlist selections to my TBR list every month, then life is a ice cream sundae. And if I can find those 10 books from at least 5 new blogs each month then that's the cherry on top.

NEW VISITORS AND OLD- WELCOME!

NEW VISITORS AND OLD- WELCOME!
Well, I've made it almost 5 years now, so for better or worse, I continue on. I tend to blog in spurts as the urge to be creative erupts. As I don't have an artistic bone in my body, you will see very few changes in the layouts. Hey, I'm a reader not an artist like so many of the awesome bloggers I follow. I know you don't always have the time but if you stopped and looked, take a half a minute and say your piece. Recommend a book that you have enjoyed or hated for that matter. Thank you to all who visit.
Oh, and I moved my Google Friend Connect info and share this buttons to the top, as without our friends, who are we?


Wednesday, November 29, 2017

Release Blast For SPARKS OF DECEPTION By Barb Shuler


Sparks Of Deception
Shattered Lives Series; Book 4
Publish Date: November 29, 2017
Genre: Suspense/Thriller

Cover Design by: MadHat Books

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Where there are sparks, there are flames.

Nothing is ever what it seems. When you think life is straight-forward, someone kicks your feet out from under you.
Starting a new journey in our lives was supposed to be a happy, joyous occasion… but things burst into flame. We have to fight to keep alive, keep breathing, and to find the answers to the questions swirling around us.
I found the love I'd been waiting for when I was thirteen. Today someone tried to take me away from her. They stalk and lay in wait for me to stumble.
But I'm going down swinging. Deception will do nothing to change what we have. Sparks may fly, but we'll fight the fire… together.


Amazon US : AU : CA : UK

Excerpt:

I slid to the floor beside Lana and pulled my phone back out.
“Butterfly, can you look at me?” I asked, leaning down to make sure she was breathing. She had blood all over her face.
“Is she okay?” Carter asked, the anger in his voice set my own anger off.. I ignored him. I wasn’t sure if she was okay. I dialed Gramps.
“Kid, you should be in-”
“Gramps, there’s an emergency at the school. I need you... We need an ambulance. It’s Lana… she was attacked.”
“Shit. Alright, kid. I’m on my way. I’ll call in backup. Do not move her. I will call Abe at the station and get him and Riley there. Do you know who did it?”
“Yes, we have the assholes that attacked her. They have evidence all over them, too,” I said as I glared at both of the girls. They tried to get away from Sasha and - I think her name was Kate, but I wasn’t sure. They were both on the volleyball team, I knew that much. I leaned down and whispered to Lana as I squeezed her hand. “Hold on, baby. Help’s coming.”
“What’s going-” I looked up to see the biology teachers, Mrs. Trimble and Mr. Gardener standing there. It was only a moment before they jumped into action. Mr. Gardner cleared everyone out of the bathroom and Mrs. Trimble went to call the nurse. By the time the school nurse arrived Lana was starting to come around, or it seemed that way. She kept her still until the EMS crew arrived. It seemed to take forever for Abe and Riley to get to the school. The damn firehouse and EMS complex was a five minute walk for fuck’s sake.
I had ignored the she-beast when she showed up. I’d had enough of her this week as it was. Once Lana was on the stretcher and more alert Gramps and the others arrived. Charlie was going to ride with Lana to the hospital, so Carter and I could go to the principal's office and tell everyone what we knew. The moment I walked in and saw the cocky grin on Corey’s face I lost it. I charged him, but was stopped when Drew body checked me. His hands went to the side of my neck, making me look up at him as he shoved me back.
“Not here. Not now,” he snapped.
“What happened in the bathroom? And listen to me when I say I do not have the time nor the patience for bullshit,” Gramps said, glaring at the three students seated in front of the principal's office.
“Sheriff, they are underage, you cannot question them without a parent or legal representative here,” Miss Jennings stated, sounding bored. She was right, though. The girls were under eighteen.
“Corey is eighteen. He’s a fucking adult. He doesn’t need a parent,” I said. Drew pushed me back again when I took a step closer.
“I ain’t got shit to say,” Corey said, his narrowed gaze on me.
“Son, I will say this once. And I mean that. You are facing some serious charges. You beat up a minor child. If you are eighteen, you can and will be tried as an adult. As Officer Landry stated earlier when he read you your miranda, you have the right to remain silent. I suggest you sit there and stay quiet until you learn to speak in proper English and like you have a lick of sense,” Gramps said, turning to look at Jackson. “I want them all in cuffs. Now! They’re all under arrest for assault, causing a public disturbance and anything else that applies.”
“You can’t do that! She got what she deserved!” Ashlee screeched. Gramps turned back around to her and sneered.
“Little girl, no one deserves that. Not even the likes of you.” With that he walked off. Carter and I followed him out while Drew and Jackson got their prisoners in cuffs and escorted them to the waiting police cars.

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~Meet Barb Shuler~

I’m a Carolina Girl by right and a Texan by birth. Best of both worlds. I have the brass sass to keep up with my Texas sized temper. Living and working in both states I’ve learned a lot about hard work, adapting to your surroundings and making the best of the path that you have been led down. My grandma Dollie once told me I would know what I was meant to do when it happened. She was right, as always.
As with most book lovers, I am an avid reader. Reading has always been a hobby - a passion, really and a way to get lost in other people’s lives, their drama and other worlds. It’s a private movie in your imagination that you get to cast and navigate through, at your own pace. Reading helps to expand the perimeters of one's mind. That is what got me into writing. Writing has been something that I have done since I was a kid. If I had paper, I was writing. Nine out of ten times it made no sense but what are words if they are not to be used to your advantage? Words are a part of us all. Why not use them, right?
During the day I work as a ‘desk jockey’ and help the residents of my county navigate themselves around our little, but not too little country town. By night I am either blogging with my best friends, doing PA work for some of my favorite authors or fighting with the voices in my head. They can be stubborn at times. It’s a blessing and I am cherishing every moment. Tomorrow is never guaranteed so I want to make sure I live the day as fully as possible. For what is my creation, can become someone else's treasure.

~ Connect with Barb here ~


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Release Week Blitz & Giveaway For UNDERCOVER ATTRACTION By Katee Robert

Celebrate the Release of UNDERCOVER ATTRACTION! 
A last chance for justice!


New York Times and USA Today bestselling author Katee Robert delivers the next book in her sizzling O'Malleys family series, hailed as "The Godfather meets Romeo & Juliet." In UNDERCOVER ATTRACTION Aiden O'Malley, one of the most dangerous men in Boston, offers ex-cop Charlotte Finch her last chance for justice.

Meet Aiden and Charlie!

Add UNDERCOVER ATTRACTION to your TBR pile on Goodreads! Then keep reading to get an EXCLUSIVE first look at UNDERCOVER ATTRACTION and to enter the giveaway for a $50 Amazon gift card or an O'Malley heroes candle set!

Title: Undercover Attraction
Author: Katee Robert
Genre: Contemporary Romance
Release Date: November 28, 2017
Publisher: Grand Central/Forever
Series: The O’Malleys
Page Count: 352 pages
Format: Digitial and Print
ISBN-13: 978-1455597079


Scandal. Wealth. Power. Seduction. Welcome to the world of the O'Malleys.
Ex-cop Charlotte Finch used to think there was a clear line between right and wrong. Then her fellow officers betrayed her, and the world is no longer so black and white. Especially when it's Aiden O'Malley, one of the most dangerous men in Boston, who offers her a chance for justice. The only catch: she'll have to pretend to be his fiancée for his plan to work.
Aiden can't afford to let anyone see the man behind the mask. To run the O'Malley empire, he has to be cool and controlled at all times. But the moment he meets Charlie, they're playing with fire. Her slightest touch is enough to send him over the edge. At first their "engagement" was a way to eliminate his enemies. Now he'll do whatever it takes to keep her safe-- even if he has to destroy his own family to do it.

Order at:

Undercover Attraction Excerpt
Copyright © 2017 Katee Robert

Monday, November 27, 2017

Release Day Blitz For HAUNTED By Shari Nichols


Haunted
Shari Nichols
Genre: Paranormal Romance
Publisher: Liquid Silver Press
Date of Publication: 11/27-2017
ISBN: 978-1-62210-452-9
Number of pages: 234
Cover Artist: Valerie Tibbs

 No matter how he tried, he couldn’t give her up.
When medium Karly Matthews agrees to move into a haunted inn, she’s not sure what’s more dangerous, the ghost or the sexy innkeeper she tries to resist. She’s can’t deny the intense rush of desire she feels every time he’s near. When she agrees to embark on a no-strings-attached relationship, she finds herself thrust into a world of mind blowing pleasures. Now she must face the aching truths of her past.

Hotel heir Thayne Harper has a laser-like focus on success that doesn’t include the help of his family. He’s always been the black sheep, living in the shadow of his dead brother. His dreams are put to the test when a supernatural entity threatens to ruin everything. The one bright spot is the woman who intrigues his mind and heats his blood.

If only he can convince her that, despite his bad boy ways, he can change for the good. Her love becomes his only salvation. Passion burns white-hot as a dark threat looms. The ghost doesn’t want them to be together and sets her sights on Thayne, luring him to a place that goes beyond death. Will Karly be able to save him before it’s too late?


Excerpt:

Wednesday, November 22, 2017

Book Blitz & Giveaway For GIRL VS By X. Culletto

 
Welcome to the Book Blitz for
Girl Vs (Sinister Skies#1) by X. Culletto!
Be sure to enter the giveaway found at the end of the post!
 

Before the Vela invasion, Rhyan's biggest concern was getting through a day of school. But when she is thrust into the madness of a kill-or-be-killed world, her true strength emerges and a deadly warrior is unleashed. Stumbling through the new morals of a post-apocalyptic world, she learns to depend only on herself. As she gets closer to discovering what the aliens actually want, her lethality becomes unmatched, and she soon learns the extent she'll go to in order to survive.

Girl Vs (Sinister Skies#1) 
by X. Culletto
Publication Date: November 4, 2017
 
Xela Culletto loves all genres, but especially loves to geek out to sci-fi and fantasy. She currently lives in Utah with her husband and three children.



Complete the Rafflecopter below for a chance to win!

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Blog Tour & Giveaway For SAVING IT By Monica Murphy


Saving It by Monica Murphy

Publication Date:  November 6, 2017
Publisher:  Entangled Teen Crush


Eden: Josh Evans and I have been best friends forever. He knows all my secrets, and I know all of his. So when he randomly asks me to help him lose his virginity, I sort of flip out. That’s a question that sends your mind to places you’ve seriously never considered before. Like, you know. Having sex. With your best friend. Except Josh doesn’t want to have sex with me—he wants me to help him find a girl. A nice girl who’s funny and smart and cute. Except he already knows a girl just like that…
Josh: Eden Sumner is my best friend. So of course she’d be the person to help me find my perfect match, so I can drop my V card before I head off to college. Except the more we search, the more I realize that maybe the right girl has been by my side all along. I don’t need Eden’s help in finding me a girl to love. I’m pretty sure I’m already in love with Eden. But now she thinks I’m only after one thing…with anyone but her.

Disclaimer: This Entangled Teen Crush book is what happens when American Pie meets Friends with Benefits. It contains two best friends, plenty of angst, and lots and lots of sex talk. Reading this might have you looking at your best friend in a different light!
Purchase Links:


Monica Murphy is the New York Times, USA Today and #1 international bestselling author of the One Week Girlfriend series, the Billionaire Bachelors and The Rules series. Her books have been translated in almost a dozen languages and has sold over one million copies worldwide. She is a traditionally published author with Bantam/Random House and Harper Collins/Avon, as well as an independently published author. She writes new adult, young adult and contemporary romance. She is also USA Today bestselling romance author Karen Erickson. She is a wife and a mother of three who lives with her family in central California on fourteen acres in the middle of nowhere, along with their one dog and too many cats. A self-confessed workaholic, when she’s not writing, she’s reading or hanging out with her husband and kids. She’s a firm believer in happy endings, though she will admit to putting her characters through many angst-filled moments before they finally get that hard won HEA.

Website • Twitter • Facebook • InstagramPinterestSnapchat • Goodreads



Giveaway Details:

  • A Signed copy of Saving It. (US only)

Monday, November 20, 2017

Review For NOW YOU SEE ME By Kierney Scott-5*



Title: Now You See Me
Series: Detective Jess Bishop #1
Author: Kierney Scott
Genre: Psychological Thriller
Rating: * * * * *
Publishers: Bookouture
(Nov 27, 2017)
Ebook: 318 pages
ISBN: B075CTYPDK
FTC Disclosure: ARC provided by the publisher via Netgalley
Copy provided for the purpose of providing an honest review. 
This does not affect my opinion of this book.

As she saw his face for the first time, she knew he was going to kill her. She just didn’t know when.
Three young women are dead. Thousands of miles between them and nothing except the marks on their bodies to link them.
Detective Jess Bishop sees something that strikes fear into her heart: the similarities between this case and the one she’s spent her entire career trying to forget. Brilliant and methodical, Jess always plays by the rules. But she’s not the person anyone thinks she is. And she’ll do whatever she can to keep her secrets hidden. 
As more bodies are found, it seems Jess’ past is coming back to haunt her. And with her partner, Jamison, back from two years undercover, she doesn’t know if she can still trust him.
When the hunt goes cold, Jess knows she has to confront her past in order to catch the killer, even if that means making herself the bait… 
Now You See Me is a gripping and heart-stopping thriller full of twists and perfect for fans of Robert Dugoni, Karin Slaughter, Robert Bryndza and Lisa Gardner.


I've got to admit, in the beginning I wasn't much of a fan of Jess Bishop. She was almost autistic with a bit of an edge to her. She only got edgier as the book went on but I grew to enjoy her quirky (and sometimes questionable) personality/behavior and once learning more of her history, appreciating how far she had grown as an individual.  This was a very quick read that was really hard to put down once you get into the meat of the story, though I figured out the baddie as soon as I met him. The why didn't come out until much later in the story. This kind of had a Criminal Minds feel to it and unfortunately I won't get another taste of it till much later down the road instead of tuning in next week. This was an excellent start to a new series and at present only $.99 so a heck of a deal too!

Mum, wife, tea addict, writer. Massive fan of kindness. Irrationally scared of zombies. Always trying to keep it classy but usually wildly inappropriate.

Edinburgh, Scotland



Blog Tour & GIFs For THE NOVEMBER GIRL By Lydia Kang



The November Girl 
 Lydia Kang
Publication Date: November 7, 2017
Publisher: Entangled Teen

I am Anda, and the lake is my mother. I am the November storms that terrify sailors and sink ships. With their deaths, I keep my little island on Lake Superior alive.
Hector has come here to hide from his family until he turns eighteen. Isle Royale is shut down for the winter, and there’s no one here but me. And now him.
Hector is running from the violence in his life, but violence runs through my veins. I should send him away, to keep him safe. But I’m half human, too, and Hector makes me want to listen to my foolish, half-human heart. And if I do, I can’t protect him from the storms coming for us.


Purchase Links:





 Guest Post 

5 to 7 GIFs telling the story along with comments by author

The world building in The November Girl was easy—because it’s contemporary and it’s already exists! 




The book takes place on Isle Royale, on Lake Superior. But the hard thing was—I’d never been there. 




So there was a flurry of research, Google Earth perusing, book buying, and image hunting that I had to do to learn all about the area, the weather, the transportation, and what life was like on the island. Once I’d had a really good grasp, and I could literally see and feel my way around the island in my mind—then I wrote it. 



Months later, I found a local who frequented the Island and could beta read the facts about the island for me, and then—finally—in August of 2016, I got to visit! It was breathtaking. So unspoiled, so lush and wild and beautiful. 



And to top it all off? I was so sick on that trip. I’d gotten a terrible cold, and I felt just like Hector on that island (who gets sick in the book as well). It was kind of perfect!



Lydia Kang is an author of young adult fiction, poetry, and narrative non-fiction. She graduated from Columbia University and New York University School of Medicine, completing her residency and chief residency at Bellevue Hospital in New York City. She is a practicing physician who has gained a reputation for helping fellow writers achieve medical accuracy in fiction. Her poetry and non-fiction have been published in JAMA, The Annals of Internal Medicine, Canadian Medical Association Journal, Journal of General Internal Medicine, and Great Weather for Media. She believes in science and knocking on wood, and currently lives in Omaha with her husband and three children.



·         Three (3) The November Girl Swag Packs. 




Saturday, November 18, 2017

Review For THE ALMOST SISTERS By Joshilyn Jackson- 5*

Title: The Almost Sisters 
Author: Joshilyn Jackson
Genre: Women's Fiction
Rating: * * * * *
Publishers: William Morrow
(July 11, 2017)
Hardback: 352 pages
FTC Disclosure: Copy from library


WITH EMPATHY, GRACE, HUMOR, AND PIERCING INSIGHT, THE NEW YORK TIMES BESTSELLING AUTHOR OF GODS IN ALABAMA PENS A POWERFUL, EMOTIONALLY RESONANT NOVEL OF THE SOUTH THAT CONFRONTS THE TRUTH ABOUT FAMILY, RACE, AND THE DISTINCTIONS BETWEEN PERCEPTION AND REALITY—THE STORIES WE TELL OURSELVES ABOUT OUR ORIGINS AND WHO WE REALLY ARE
Superheroes have always been Leia Birch Briggs’s weakness. One tequila-soaked night at a comic-book convention, the usually level-headed graphic novel artist is swept off her barstool by a handsome and anonymous Batman. She remembers he was tall, black, and an excellent French kisser—but not much else.
It turns out the Caped Crusader has left her with more than just a fond, fuzzy memory. That pink plus sign on the stick isn’t wrong: she’s having a baby—an unexpected but not unhappy development. She always wanted to fall in love and have a child, but as a young woman, she learned exactly what betrayal felt like. Now she’s thirty-eight and dead single, having walked—no, run—away from every man she might have married, trying to avoid more loss, more regrets.
Before Leia can break the news of her impending single-motherhood (including the fact that her baby is biracial) to her conventional lily-white Southern family, her perfect stepsister Rachel’s marriage implodes. Leia wants to help, but Rachel is married to the very man who broke her heart all those years ago. Worse, she learns her beloved ninety-year-old grandmother, Birchie, has been hiding her rapidly progressing dementia with the help of her lifelong best friend, Wattie. Birchie is Leia’s only living paternal relative, a proper yet fierce woman who has long lived by her own rules in Birchville, Alabama, the small town her family founded generations back. Now this grande dame has started a row at the church fish fry that has set every tongue wagging, pitted neighbor against neighbor, and made it plain to Leia that her grandmother needs some serious looking after.
Heading seven hundred miles south, Leia plans to put Birchie’s affairs in order, clean out the big Victorian that has been in the Birch family for generations, and break the news of her blessed event. Yet just when Leia thinks she’s got it all under control, she learns that illness is not the only thing Birchie’s been hiding. Tucked away in a trunk in the attic is a dangerous secret with roots that reach all the way back to the Civil War. Its exposure threatens the family’s freedom and future, and will change everything about how Leia sees herself and her sister, her unborn son and the possibilities of his absent father, and the warm and friendly—yet deeply flawed and contradictory—world she thinks she knows.

Enchanting, wry, honest, and hopeful, The Almost Sisters compels us to explore our own origins and the stories we tell ourselves.

I read a lot of great books each year and twice that many good books. This book was just so much more than great. It made me laugh out loud, cry a few tears and nod my head with understanding when reading about this small southern Baptist town. This author so knew what she was talking about when she expounded on this small town. Been there, grew up there and it ain't changed a damn bit!
This book has so many layers- family loyalty, a budding romance, unplanned pregnancy, second chance romance, family secrets, racial tension, and a fabulous mystery in a trunk. If this is not optioned for a movie, I'll be so surprised. There is little I can say that has not already been said about this book but it has definitely risen to the top of the list of books that I will try to push on every reader in my orbit so anyone that knows me just give up now and read this fabulous book. Just know that once you start it everything else will go to the wayside till you finish that last page.


View all my reviews

Jackson's latest novel, THE OPPOSITE OF EVERYONE, is now out in paperback. Her new book, THE ALMOST SISTERS, launches July 11th, 2017

New York Times Bestselling novelist Joshilyn Jackson is the author of gods in Alabama, Between, Georgia, The Girl Who Stopped Swimming, Backseat Saints, A Grown-Up Kind of Pretty, and Someone Else's Love Story. Her books have been translated into a dozen languages, won SIBA’s novel of the year, twice been a #1 Book Sense Pick, and three times been shortlisted for the Townsend prize. A former actor, Jackson reads the audio versions of her novels; her work in this field has been nominated for the Audie Award, was selected by AudioFile Magazine for their best of the year list, and garnered two Listen Up Awards from Publisher’s Weekly.

She lives in Decatur, Georgia with her husband, their two children, and way too many feckless animals.