I’m happy to welcome actress, author and motivational speaker Celisha J. Today, Celisha shares her new release, I Survived.

Blurb

In “I Survived” the author’s journey through a life marked by hardship, pain and resilience. From the devastating loss of a mother at a young age to abusive relationships and a harrowing escape, this gripping memoir unveils the story of survival, redemption, and the enduring strength of the human spirit. With unwavering determination, the author overcomes the shadows of her past to forge a path toward self-discovery, healing, and hope.

I Survived is an inspiring testament to the power of resilience and the unwavering belief that no matter the obstacles, one can triumph over adversity and ultimately thrive.

Excerpt

Introduction

My name is Celisha J. I have been through a lot, learned, and am better because of it. I am a firm believer that every lesson is a blessing. God has saved me so many times. I know he did this because he has something bigger planned for me.

My prayer for this book is that it helps women and children who have gone through the same or similar situations to know that they don’t have to allow the traumas of their past to keep them from being successful. I believe that God has a plan for our life, but we did something to alter that plan along the way. He did not intend for us to struggle or have a hard life. He allows us to choose the path we want to go on. The good thing is he is that he is Always there to pick us up when we fall. We were born for greatness.

Hold yourself accountable for your mistakes and forgive yourself and those who hurt you. Forgiveness is for you. I want people to know you can be the best you that you allow. No one says it will be easy, but the main thing to remember is that you are responsible for you. I believe that the only person you can truly believe in life, who won’t let you down, is God and yourself. In order for you to crawl out of the slump of being abused, hurt, let down, controlled, and battered is, your faith in God and the belief that he has better for you. He does not want us to live in our past. He intended for us to learn from it and allow our past to help other people gain strength, but if we tell our stories and we have not grown from what happened to us, then who can we really help?

I have done some things in my past that I am not proud of, and this book tells you my story and how I remember it. No, it is not everything, but the book will tell you the things that stood out the most to me. I have learned a lot and grown from my mistakes, and I have decided not to allow the embarrassment, pain, and struggles from my past to hold me back, so I am releasing it in this book.

This is my Ugly Truth!

Author Bio and Links

Born in Michigan now living in Atlanta Celisha J. is an Actress and Author all in one, landing a role in a movie and a lead role on a TV Series.

She currently has a book entitled “I Survived”. It is a chilling story about her life from losing her mom at an early age and all the things that she has endured in her life, that should have broken her but she uses her pain as motivation to continue on her journey to following her dreams of being an actress, author and motivational speaker. She is currently pursuing more roles in acting.

Website | Instagram | Facebook | Amazon Author Page | Amazon Buy Link | YouTube Video

Giveaway

One randomly drawn winner will win a $25 Amazon/Barns & Noble gift card. Find out more here.

Follow Celisha J on the rest of her Goddess Fish tour here.

I’m happy to welcome bestselling author A.C. James. Today, she shares her new release, Nerd Meets Curvy.

Blurb

Coralie dreads starting over, but Mystic River beckons her home like a siren’s call. Armed with determination and a toolkit full of DIY magic, Coralie sets out to revive her grandmother’s worn-down house. If anyone can breathe new life into the old walls, it’s her. And with lifelong friendships awaiting her, she has a support system as sturdy as a bear shifter’s embrace.

Little does she know that her homecoming will launch her into the wildest roller coaster ride of midlife dating and a mating bond that makes her head spin faster than a tornado. Coralie certainly hadn’t signed up for this level of excitement, but here she was, courtesy of the enigmatic mastermind herself, Mrs. Wilde. The queen of matchmaking and the architect of the notorious Peculiar Hearts Dating Agency promises Coralie a spicy rebound for her upcoming high school reunion.

Enter Jax, a scorching hot bear shifter haunted by a love that’s gripped him since high school. Just when he finally has a shot at settling down, a pesky ex-harpy swoops in, flapping her wings and causing more drama than a forest full of squawking birds. Tired of the chaos, this bear is ready to throw in the towel and hibernate for good!

But as they say, fate has a wicked sense of humor.

Beneath the surface of his chance to make things right and rewrite history are secrets that could detonate like a ticking time bomb, threatening to shatter their fragile bond. Coralie holds a haunting secret buried deep within her heart. It shapes the choices that molded her into the fierce, curvy woman she is today. As for Jax, his past is a murky labyrinth of pain and darkness. Lives and love swing on a high-stakes pendulum as danger closes in.

Can Coralie and Jax beat the odds, untangle the mystery of the danger stalking them, and build a future that defies the limits of their pasts?

Excerpt

Coralie smoothed her hair, taking a deep breath to gather her courage before rapping her knuckles against the door. This whole situation was stupid-crazy, maybe even certifiably insane. She couldn’t believe she allowed Jessie to convince her to go along with it. She mentally questioned her sanity and wondered how she always found herself in these absurd situations.

The door swung open, revealing a pint-sized dynamo with a fabulous white bob that would make Cruella de Vil jealous. Except this woman’s hair was tinged with a hot pink streak, and her beaming smile could power a small city.

“Well, hello there, honey! I’m Eleanora, but you can call me Elle. And goodness gracious, you’re even more stunning than Jessie’s wild exaggerations. Step right in, my dear. I was just about to have a cup of tea. Care to join me?”

Following Eleanora’s lead, she found herself in the heart of the home—the kitchen. The bubbling pot on the stove released a fragrant symphony of tea leaves.

Eleanora gestured towards a chair with a mischievous glint in her eyes. “Darlin’, have a seat, and let’s tame those wild thoughts with some good ol’ tea magic. Milk, sugar, or a dash of devilishness?”

Before Coralie could respond, Eleanora poured two cups with practiced precision. She handed Coralie a cup, the warmth radiating through the porcelain. “Here you go, love. Sip away your worries.”

Coralie’s nod was accompanied by the comforting warmth of the teacup cradled in her hands.

“Thanks,” she murmured, cautiously taking a sip from the oversized cup. The rich, flavorful tea danced across her taste buds, offering a soothing embrace like a warm hug on a chilly day.

Author Bio and Links

New York Times and USA Today bestselling author A.C. James writes paranormal romance and erotica, including Eternal Ever After (rebranded as Eternal Lover), featured in the bestselling Spice Box anthology. Her Ever Dark Immortals Series, which begins with Eternal Lover, has been described as “brimming with sensuality” and “romantic and sizzling hot.” The Isle of the Horse Shifters series starts with Ride: Awakening and is “lighthearted,” that is a “joy ride from beginning to end.”

She resides in the Philadelphia suburbs with her adoring husband Ron (aka Mr. A.C. James), who loves her imaginative yarns and punny sense of humor. She’s also a domestic violence advocate and discusses intimate partner violence and addiction to raise awareness on social media and through her writing. Many of her books include themes like alcoholism or addiction. If you love books that feature underdogs and redemption, her stories will capture your heart.

She spends most of her time drinking large vats of coffee while wrangling kids by day and writing by night. Recovering video game beta tester and tech geek who grew up going to cons and watching SmackDown. There’s probably some cosplay pictures around somewhere of her dressed up as Bloodberry from Saber Marionette J. Just don’t tell anyone.

Website | Instagram | TikTok | Facebook | Facebook Fan Page | Reader Group | Newsletter | Amazon Buy Link

Giveaway

The author will award a winner a book box with the stunning hardback special edition with sprayed and stenciled edges, a dual-sided dust jacket, and custom swag. Please include this link with your post for her giveaway: https://acjames.com/blogs/news/nerdmeetscurvystories-hashtag-challenge-special-edition-book-box-giveaway

Find out more about the author’s Goddess Fish tour here.

I’m happy to welcome poet Paul Guerin. Today, Paul shares his new release, Poetry from My Heart.

Blurb

“Poetry: writing that formulates a concentrated imaginative awareness of experience in language chosen and arranged to create a specific emotional response through meaning, sound, and rhythm.”

“Poetry: a literary work in which special intensity is given to the expression of feelings and ideas by the use of distinctive style and rhythm.”

Poetry means different things to different people. For me, it is all about feelings. If it captures the emotions of the reader, a poem will resonate and fill the soul. It can mean everything to one person and not much at all to another. The mood of the reader, and no one else, determines the outcome.

For example, love poems are wonderful when you are in love, and their passion is amazing. If you are facing adversity, however, love poems likely will just annoy you.

In this second book, Poetry from my Heart: The Journey Continues, I have again divided the poems into categories which will fit your mood no matter what you are experiencing at the time you choose to explore them. There should be something for everyone, whether you are in love, out of love, hurt, lonely, angry, abandoned, or facing other challenges in your life.

Poetry has a healing power that nurtures the soul and quietens the mind and so I hope that whatever your situation is in life, you have found something here that helped you safely on your own journey.

Excerpt

Silent sentinels

We’re rocky Sentinels in the trees
With mossy heads and jagged knees
We’ve stood here silently for years
We feel no stress we have no fears

A thousand years or more we’ve stood
Deep within our woodland world
Our greenly forest neighbourhood
With silent meaning still unfurled

With heads of moss and cobweb beards
We look so strong and brave
We have no needs, we know no fears
This forest home is all we crave

We proudly lay beneath the trees
Our walls are hard we feel no pain
We’re Stoney Sentinels on our knees
We guard our world of wind and rain

We have no roots we have no heart
We’re solid in the ground
We’re stony stoic works of art
We’re lurking here without a sound

When next you walk our forest floor
Remember not to make a sound
We’ll stare at you but won’t say more
Just Silent Sentinels in the ground

Author Bio and Links

Paul Guerin is an Irishman. He was born in September 1946 in Castletownroche, a small townland village in County Cork, Eire.

It was there in Castletownroche that his romantic imagination was sparked as he came to love and appreciate the magic of his surroundings. Those early experiences were the genesis of his poetry that emerged in later life.

As a young adult, Paul lived in London, England, where he became a chartered accountant.

At age 25, restless for adventure, Paul moved to Vancouver, British Columbia, Canada, where he still resides today.

Paul is happily married and is a proud father and grandfather.

Paul writes poetry as the inspiration comes to him. As long as his mind, body and soul are willing companions and his spark of inspiration remains alive, he will continue to write.

This book is Paul’s second publication in his Willing Heart series. His first book was published in the Spring of 2022 and is called Poetry from My Heart: A Journey through Feelings. The book reached #1 on Amazon’s Kindle chart in British Poetry and #2 in Poetry Anthologies November 2023.

Website | Goodreads | Facebook | Amazon Buy Link

Giveaway

Paul Guerin will be awarding a $10 Amazon or Barnes & Noble gift card to a randomly drawn winner via Rafflecopter during the tour. Find out more here.

Follow Paul on the rest of his Goddess Fish tour here.

I’m happy to welcome multi-published author and poet Rachel Dacus. Today, Rachel shares her new release, Return to Lerici.

Blurb

A suspenseful, uplifting story of second chances, family bonds, and redemption.

Sisters Elinor and Saffron rarely see eye-to-eye, but they agree that an unknown half-brother appearing in their lives can only spell trouble. The Greene sisters want to support their ailing mother, Betsy, as they gather in their cottage in Lerici, Italy. But they don’t want Betsy to keep searching for Baby Boy, the only name they have on faded adoption papers.

While the Greenes debate, Baby Boy finds them. A rough childhood has led Daniel to a life as a thief. When he learns of his connection to the wealthy Greenes, he decides to scam them. He goes to Italy and using a fake identity observes them at close range. Watching these people makes him ache for what he never had—a loving family.

Betsy is touched by the young man’s story and guesses their hidden connection. Discovering his true identity, she asks the family to help him. But Daniel’s shady past is catching up and putting the Greenes at risk. Should they bring their lost lamb into the fold—and can he claim his heritage if it endangers his family?

Excerpt

Robert sang a few words. “How about this?”

“I don’t know it, but it sounds good.”

“It’s my own. I wrote it.”

He began to strum, accompanying his soft voice, and Betsy had another jolt of recognition. It was the voice. There was so much of a similarity in the timbre that it made her ache. She wondered what Elinor would think if she came in while he was singing and heard Nathan’s singing voice coming out of this young man.

The song soothed her every aching muscle and bone. It did her body good and her nerves too. Like a fond memory, it wrapped her in the sensation that life was good and harmonious, that there was honey in every breeze and heaven just around the corner. He had a gift, this fellow. He definitely had talent. So how had he wound up tinkering with plumbing in Lerici? Maybe her intuition was true, and he had come for them.

Betsy lay back as he sang, her arm across her eyes, and thought of days past when musicians sang just for her, and she went home with one of them. Days long before Nathan and his stuffy circle of academics. The music was pulling her back to a time when she could relax and be herself, and her stuffy daughter didn’t criticize her every impulse and comment. She understood that Elinor felt criticized by her; what Elinor didn’t realize is that she’d adopted Betsy’s habit of sharp comments. And somewhere—God knew where—she’d picked up that skepticism that was going to burn her sweetheart down, if she didn’t marry the wonderful Tonio soon.

Robert strummed a last chord, his voice fading into the silence.

She sat up and looked at him. They stared at each other for a moment.

“You remind me of someone,” she murmured. “My ex-husband, Nathan.”

Why didn’t Robert look surprised?

Author Bio and Links

Rachel Dacus is the author of six novels, four time travel books in the Timegathering Series and two books of women’s fiction. She has also published four poetry collections. Rachel’s work has appeared widely in print and online, in journal that include Boulevard, Gargoyle, and Prairie Schooner. Her poetry is in the anthologies Fire and Rain: Ecopoetry of California and Radiant DisUnities: Real Ghazals in English. She lives in the San Francisco Bay Area.

Website | Facebook | Instagram | Amazon Author Page

Giveaway

Rachel Dacus will be awarding a $15 Amazon/Barnes & Noble gift card to a randomly drawn winner via Rafflecopter during the tour. Find out more here.

Follow Rachel on the rest of her Goddess Fish tour here.

Riveted from the start, I struggled to put down this well-plotted, character-driven novel. Set in a picturesque town on the Ligurian coast, the storyline alternates between the members of the Greene family: half-sisters Elinor and Saffron, their mother Betsy, and Daniel, aka Baby Boy. I immediately connected with all the characters. I could empathize with Elinor’s wish to live a calm, predictable life while also appreciating Betsy’s more dramatic antics. I enjoyed reading about Saffron’s relationship with the spirit of nineteenth-century poet Shelley and learning more about his connection to the Greene family. And I found myself rooting for Daniel, the underdog who struggled with a rough childhood and brief foray into a life of petty crime.

Written as a sequel to The Invisibles, Return to Lerici can be easily read as a stand-alone novel.