Book Blast: The Secret of Drulea Cottage

Posted on by Joanne Guidoccio

I’m happy to welcome author Claire Kohler. Today, Claire shares her new release, The Secret of Drulea Cottage.

Blurb

Briony Fairborn, a midwife in eighteenth-century Scotland, comes from a family shrouded in scandal. Left with only one friend after her mother’s death, she has little hope of gaining any others, let alone finding a husband. Instead, Briony tries to live a quiet life and avoid her neighbors’ ridicule as much as possible.

But things in Everton take a drastic turn when a storm brings foreigners to the village docks.

On the night Santiago Mendes arrives, he comes with a broken ship, a broken leg, and a broken spirit that Briony finds herself profoundly drawn to. Her scarred heart slowly starts to open, and although Briony suspects he may be hiding something, she cannot help but dream of the possibility of love.

That is, until another stranger appears in town, intent on repaying a childhood debt. A dangerously handsome stranger who shows Briony that she’s even more different than she could have imagined. And that her past is far darker than she realized.

Magic, romance, and political intrigue collide as the secrets surrounding one Scottish woman begin to unravel. Secrets that she may not be ready to face.

Excerpt

Screams drew Briony from her state of shock. They pierced the darkness as terribly as the lightning hitting the ground.

Except ’tis na just hitting the ground anymore! She gasped at the sight of flames rising from the town below. Her neighbors were flying through the streets in a panic, and Briony could see why: the tailor shop and the McGuffs’ house were alight!

Fergus! Briony forgot about Niall and charged down the hill with nary a care for her own well-being. All she could focus on was the thought of the little boy potentially trapped and scared. She reached the burning house and stepped inside. “Hello! Fergus?! Is anyone in here?”

Most of the fire was above her, hungrily swallowing the thatched roof. The smoke was so thick within the confined space that Briony struggled to breathe. Only a few licks of flame had reached the floor, and they were quickly spreading toward the McGuffs’ table.

“H-Here!” came a voice. Whoever it belonged to was too hoarse to identify. Briony covered her mouth with her hand and made her way forward, edging around the blazing table.

Briony hastened into the back bedroom, her eyes flicking between the open window and two beds before landing on their target: Penelope McGuff. The woman was on the ground, facedown. The rest of the family was nowhere in sight.

“Mistress McGuff!” Briony dropped to her knees and grabbed the woman’s hand, but Penelope didn’t stir.

CRASH!

Author Bio and Links

Claire Kohler grew up in Mooresville, NC, as the eldest of four daughters. Her love of stories began at an early age, and as a child, she could often be found borrowing way too many books from the library and scribbling away in a journal.

In 2016, Claire became a full-time middle school English teacher in a public school. In her second year of teaching, she also taught social studies. After becoming pregnant in 2018, Claire decided to shift careers and become an online ESL teacher so that she could also take care of her newborn at home.

She now lives in Statesville, NC, with her husband, two children, and three cats. She is also an active member of Christ Community Church Mooresville, where she often serves as a Bible study and small group leader.

Claire plans to continue creating exciting historical fantasy novels and potentially branching out into other genres as well.

Website | Facebook

Giveaway

Claire Kohler will be awarding a $25 Amazon or Barnes & Noble gift card to a randomly drawn winner via Rafflecopter during the tour. Find out more here.

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

10 Excellent Tips from Chuck Wendig

Posted on by Joanne Guidoccio

On Wednesdays, I share posts, fables, songs, poems, quotations, TEDx Talks, cartoons, and books that have inspired and motivated me on my writing journey. I hope these posts will give writers, artists, and other creatives a mid-week boost.

In his informative guide, Damn Fine Story, New York Times best-selling author Chuck Wendig shares 50 storytelling tips in the Appendix. Here are ten excellent tips about character development:

1. Characters are not role models, and stories are not lectures.

2. We care about characters we understand, so it’s your job to make us understand your characters.

3. Characters must earn their victories.

4. Characters also earn their failures and losses.

5. If your characters are getting in the way of your plot, good. Let them. They are the plot. They are the subject, so let the tale unfold in their wake, not in their absence.

6. Likeability is less important a factor in your characters than relatability. It’s not about wanting to sit down and have a beer with them; it’s about being able to live with them for the breadth of a whole novel. Forget liking them, but do remember that we have to live with them. If all else fails: Just make them interesting.

7. Characters must make mistakes. But they cannot only make mistakes. They must have triumphs, too. A story isn’t an endless array of failure and disaster—we must have some sense of success to understand why success must, above all else (and against all odds), not be lost. Further, characters who only make mistakes become intolerable to us. We start to actively root for their failure if we cannot see in them the potential for success.

8. The best villains are the ones we adore despite how much we hate and fear them. We should adore them, and we should understand them.

9. Characters don’t know what the plot is. So don’t ever expect them to follow it. We can feel when characters are forced from their own program because authors are overwriting them with the Plot Program. It feels gross. Characters only know what they want and what they’re willing to do or lose to get it.

10. Characters are more interesting when they are smart and capable instead of dumb and pliable.

Source: Damn Fine Story pp. 218-225.

Happy National Book Lovers Day!

Posted on by Joanne Guidoccio

This is a day for bibliophiles (and wannabe bibliophiles) to find their favorite reading places, a good book, and time to read the day away.

*Bibliophile – A person who collects or loves books.

Here are ten ways to celebrate:

1. Visit your local library and browse through the latest bestsellers and beloved classics. Take some time to check out the bulletin boards and pick up any pamphlets. Libraries have become hubs of activity, offering everything from author readings to craft sessions to technology workshops.

2. Support your local indie bookstore. Introduce yourself to the owner and connect with fellow bibliophiles.

3. Celebrate your favorite authors. You can follow them on Twitter, join their Facebook group, or snap pictures of their latest releases for Instagram.

4. Spend the day with an audiobook. You can purchase your own through Audible or borrow one from the local library.

5. Start a blog, booktube channel, or bookstagram.

6. Organize your bookshelves. As you tidy up, cull those books that no longer speak to you. You can “gift” them to friends, donate them to a Little Free Library in your area, or drop them off at a second-hand store.

7. Write a review. A few sentences on Amazon or Goodreads will suffice. Share what you loved, what you didn’t love, and what inspired you.

8. Invest in an eReader. Physical books take up a lot of space and aren’t too convenient when traveling. Also, ebooks are often half the price of a physical novel.

9. Participate in a virtual event. During the pandemic, authors and publishers organized online interviews, panels, and in-depth discussions. Visit your favorite author’s website for more details.

10. Use #NationalBookLoversDay to spread the news on social media. Here are four quotations you can share:

“When I look back, I am so impressed again with the life-giving power of literature. If I were a young person today, trying to gain a sense of myself in the world, I would do that again by reading, just as I did when I was young.”
Maya Angelou

“Some books leave us free and some books make us free.” Ralph Waldo Emerson

“Libraries will get you through times of no money better than money will get you through times of no libraries.” Anne Herbert

“There are many little ways to enlarge your child’s world. Love of books is the best of all.” Jacqueline Kennedy Onassis

Writing as Restoration

Posted on by Joanne Guidoccio

On Wednesdays, I share posts, fables, songs, poems, quotations, TEDx Talks, cartoons, and books that have inspired and motivated me on my writing journey. I hope these posts will give writers, artists, and other creatives a mid-week boost.

In a recent post on Writers Unboxed, author KL Burd shares his perspective on the restorative powers of writing. Here’s an excerpt from that post:

Writing has the power to restore, not only within your life but the lives of others as well. That’s why our words, our art, our craft is so powerful. It can be used to tear down or build up. It can be used to enslave and entrap. To inspire and set free.

There are two ways that you can bring restoration through your art. The first is to write your story. It can be fiction or nonfiction, but there’s a certain freedom that comes from putting your story to paper and letting it burst forth into life. You open your world to others and invite them in. There’s healing in knowing that you are not alone.

The second way is the same as the first:

Write your story.

This time, however, you have to go to the place where your human skill and imagination collides. You have to take whatever hope you have, be it small or large, and cast it — like an anchor — into the future. Take your imagination and dream up what your story can be, what it will be. Use your imagination to create your future reality.

Read the rest of the article here.

Excerpt Tour: City of Lights

Posted on by Joanne Guidoccio

I’m happy to welcome middle-grade author Kelly Byrd. Today, Kelly shares her new release, City of Lights.

Blurb

What happens when oh so ordinary Mary Jingo, follows her instincts (and her nose) and ends up in a magical land Far From Home?

In City of Lights, author Kelly Byrd introduces readers to Mary, who is one week away from finishing fifth grade. Mary’s mind is on starting middle school in the fall and finally getting her own phone. But then this ordinary girl notices glimmers of light and meets a strange little man who conjures the best smell she has ever smelled. Before she even stops to consider what she’s doing, she agrees to accompany the man to the land of LeeChee, where our Mary Jingo from the Shadowlands in seen as warrior and a great hope.

Now this very ordinary girl must find a way to help save LeeChee from Thrall and restore the Everything—a magical life- and joy-giving force that somehow connects Mary’s world to LeeChee. How can she face the Void, the foul-smelling Shoeboxians, or the evil Mellie? And how can she do all of the Far From Home?

Excerpt

“How do you feel, Mary Jingo?” Heavy Dill asked. He was behind a table full of gadgets and instruments, some of them giving off a heavy smell of the Everything. His robes swished pleasantly as he walked back and forth.

“I think I’m okay. I feel, well, more or less normal. Showing everyone my memories really tired me out.”

Mary looked around at all the objects and instruments and wondered if she would get in trouble if she picked any of them up. She couldn’t try anyway, with her hands full of a hot teacup, which she remembered and slowly sipped.

“That was a powerful bit of controlling. Not many oracles or forecasters have that talent.”

Heavy Dill paused as if she were meant to respond. Mary only nodded silently.

“It seems to me that you have heard that phrase many, many times since you arrived here.”

Mary thought about all the things that she had done and been able to do since she arrived in LeeChee. She had disabled Flikes in the air, called a forest to her aid, sensed an entire army of Shoeboxians, and now shown People her memories. She was in awe of it all and still unsure what any of it meant. She looked up and Heavy Dill’s wise eyes were trained on her. She expected him to respond to her thoughts, as so many People here seemed to always know exactly what she was thinking.

“You have gotten better,” he said. “Better at what?”

“Better at shielding your thoughts.” “How do you know?”

“Because you were silent for a very long time, and the only thing that came across Mindspan was your wondering if I could hear your thoughts. So, either you spent that entire pause with nothing on your mind, or you have already figured out a way to quiet your mind.”

Mary felt shocked. This was yet another skill that she had just developed out of the blue.

Author Bio and Links

Kelly Byrd is a middle-grade author by choice, a writer by discipline, home-grown chef, and amateur gardener. She lives in Nashville, Tennessee with her husband and two cute-as-buttons rescue pups. The Far From Home series is about growing up, finding your voice, and rescuing the Everything.

Website | Instagram | Twitter | Amazon Buy Link

Giveaway

Kelly Byrd will be awarding a $25 Amazon or Barnes & Noble gift card to a randomly drawn winner via Rafflecopter during the tour. Find out more here.

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

Honoring My Inner Sloth

Posted on by Joanne Guidoccio

For too many years, I subscribed to the busy bee myth: Complete all given tasks and start on tomorrow’s To-Do List. That was my modus operandi for the first fifty years of my life. Or, more precisely, the first forty-nine years, seven months, and seven days.

All that changed with a diagnosis that came out of nowhere: Inflammatory Breast Cancer, Stage IIIB. To be truthful, my body had tried to communicate with me many years before the diagnosis. Persistent colds and bouts of bronchitis. Slow-healing bruises. Bone-crushing fatigue. Determined to soldier on without taking advantage of sick days or lazy weekends, I chose to ignore those whispers. But I knew all about them from the Oprah shows.

Continue reading on the 2021 Authors Showcase here.

Book Blast: Body Conscious

Posted on by Joanne Guidoccio

I’m happy to welcome award-winning author Ana Diamond. Today, Ana shares her recent release, Body Conscious.

Blurb

Mortician, Lily Reynolds is used to seeing bodies, but not the type murdered in her own funeral home. As Detective James Rivers zeroes in on her as the town’s number one suspect she must rise above the accusations and rumors to solve the case herself while keeping her attraction to the troubled detective at bay.

James has a past. The last time he let someone into his life she wound up dead. Vowing never to let that happen again he has sworn off dating for good. Until he meets Lily. In his gut he knows she’s not the murderer but pressure to solve the case puts him on the wrong trail while he struggles to keep Lily off the case.

Can she solve the case on her own or will their scandalous romance get in the way of proving her innocence?

Excerpt

“Lily, can you go down and check on the new body? The last thing I need is a decomposing corpse.”

Lily Reynolds sucked in a frustrated breath at her older sister Shanna’s yell from the Reynolds Funeral Home embalming room.

Zachary strikes again.

“All right.”

Her twenty-year-old younger brother, Zachary, often forgot to secure the latch on the refrigerator doors after he pushed the recently deceased into the compartment. It was a critical mistake no one wanted to explain to the dead person’s family. But Lily didn’t understand what was difficult about doing it right the first time. Zachary had been working at the family business for almost five years—same as her. One would think the importance of the simple task would sink into that thick skull.

Now, she had to stop applying lipstick to Mrs. Klein, whose viewing was scheduled to start in one hour, and go downstairs to check on the refrigerator.

She pulled off her latex gloves and made her way down to the basement level where Antonio, their hearse driver, usually pulled in with Zachary in the shotgun seat and their newly acquired client in the back. Upon arrival, the client was inserted into an individual horizontal refrigerator for preservation until it was time for embalming and then a makeover by Lily.

At the bottom of the stairs, she flicked on the fluorescent lights, and didn’t see the black hearse. That meant Zach was with Antonio, probably picking up another client. It had been a busy week at the funeral home—not a complaint. She liked her job. She got to perform a service for the loved one’s family and be creative at the same time.

What’s not to like?

Author Bio and Links

When Ana Diamond isn’t writing about tough gals finding love in unexpected places, she’s at work by day in the medical field. She writes romantic cozy mystery novels with feisty strong women and alluring men who can’t resist them. Her books are fast paced, entertaining and heartfelt all at once.

Ana is a 2020 Tara Contest Finalist for Body Conscious and 2015 Melody of Love contest finalist. She lives in New York with her husband, two children and two needy but wildly entertaining kitty cats.

Twitter | Instagram | Facebook | Tiktok | Books2Read

Giveaway

Ana Diamond will be awarding a $25 Amazon/BN GC to a randomly drawn winner via Rafflecopter during the tour. Find out more here

Visit Ana on the rest of her Goddess Fish tour here.