Tuesday, June 9, 2015

MELANIE'S EVANESCENT JOURNEY BY B. TRULY - VIRTUAL TOUR & REVIEW + GIVEAWAY


Melanie's Evanescent Journey
by B, Truly

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BLURB

True Love may cost a price, if the greater good preordains that you are the sacrifice.

There are always two sides to a story. Melanie Wilhelm's begins after she moves from Australia and starts her senior year at Cashmere High. On her first day, she bumps into a mysterious guy, and they form an instant connection. They become friends and he shares his deepest secret with her. As they grow closer, their relationship amplifies and becomes binding. Strange things occur, but instead of worrying, Melanie's feelings intensify.

The excitement of New Year's Eve approaches, and so does Jason's most devastating revelation of all. She learns his ultimate truth and is now spun into his chaotic web. The danger rises and hard choices must be made. By being with Jason, Melanie may have to sacrifice more than her heart. It may cost her life.

Melanie's Evanescent Journey ties into books one and two of The Sonar Trilogy. From spiraling twists to devastating plots, her journey will make you question fate and true love.

Is fate something you can control? Some believe it's in the hands of what you behold.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~

EXCERPT:

Work was busy this evening and it was a welcome distraction. I worked as a waitress with Ebony at the Burger Grill. It was a small, family-owned diner. It had been around for over forty years. Ebony had gotten me on a few weeks ago.

“How was your day?” Ebony asked as we were putting our aprons on.

“I’m getting used to the flow of school. How was yours?”

“It will be better once this shift is over. I’m bloated and cramping today.”

“Did you take some medicine?”

“Yes, but it hasn’t kicked in yet. Any luck with J?”

“Not sure. We talked some.”

“At least he is talking with you. It’s a good sign.”

“I hope so.”

“People are getting seated in our sections. We’d better get to our tables,” she said.

We tended to our tables, and around an hour later, Ebony tapped me on my shoulder.

“Look what the cat dragged in. I sat him in your section,” she said and giggled. I saw Jason across the room, sitting with his brother and sister.

“Thanks a lot,” I said, sarcastically. Now I would have to face him again.

“You’re welcome,” she replied still laughing and walked off.

I took in a deep breath and went to their table.

“Hi guys, I’m Melanie. What can I get for you this evening?”

Jason looked up in surprise and blushed slightly, making my stomach do a somersault. Their sister said, “Hi Melanie. We get to formally meet now, I’m Harmony. And I will have a Coke.”
She and her brother did look exactly alike. “Are you guys twins?” I blurted out.

“Yes,” her brother replied. “Nice to meet you, Melanie. I’m Jaden. How do you like Cashmere so far?”

“It’s okay, but slightly different from school in Australia.”

“I love your accent,” Jaden said.

“Thanks.” Jaden was handsome, but his brother was gorgeous.

“Melanie, how long have you been working here? My siblings and I come here often,” Jason interrupted and appeared to give his brother an evil glare.

“For just a few weeks.”

 He looked like wanted to ask something else but didn’t.

“What can I get you guys to drink?” I didn’t want to stand there making goo-goo eyes at him.

“I will have a Coke,” Jaden said.

“And I will have a Sprite,” Jason replied.

“Coming right up.”

I brought them back their drinks, took their food order, and took care of my other tables. A little while later Ebony stood next to me, waiting on her order.

“I’ve noticed he keeps staring at you.”

“Who?”

“You know who. Jason.”

“Don’t you have tables to tend to?” I replied playfully.

“I just thought you should know.”

She winked at me and took her food order. He was eating a French fry. Gosh, he even looked sexy doing that. He caught my eye and signaled for me to come over.

“We’d like the check, please,” Harmony said.

“Sure,” I answered, pulling out the bill and placing it on the table.

“So Melanie, are you seeing anyone?” Jaden asked.

Excuse me! He was very direct. I had just met him. Harmony giggled, and Jason turned red. I cleared my throat. “No, not at the moment. Why?”

“Maybe we can hang out sometimes,” he replied with a smile. He leaned back and folded his arms behind his head, waiting for an answer. Harmony was amused, and Jason looked aggravated.

“Um no. Absolutely not.”

“Geez, well why not?”

“Because Ebony’s my friend first off, and second, I have my eye on someone else.”

“Oh, sorry. I didn’t know you guys were friends,” he replied, looking remorseful.

“Yeah, we are good friends,” I said, walking off.

I went to the kitchen and glanced back at their table. Harmony and Jason were laughing. Jaden appeared annoyed. Served him right. It was obvious he thought he was Mr. Casanova.

“What was Jaden talking to you about?” Ebony asked.

“Nothing much, the usual. He noticed my accent and wondered where I was from,” I lied. I wasn’t about to tell her he was flirting. He did apologize when he realized we were friends though, so maybe he wasn’t a total douche. I glanced back over to my section, but they were gone.

*  *  *
After my shift I stopped at the corner store. There were only a few cars in the parking lot, and no one in sight. I headed to my car, and hit the alarm. Before I could get the door open someone grabbed me from behind. I struggled against them, and fought with all my might, but he dragged me into the side alley. Another person charged from the side, and then something hit me in the head. I fell to the ground, and touched my throbbing wound. It was dark with only the side light from the building, so I couldn’t see the blood clearly. But I could feel the liquid stickiness on my fingers. I squinted in the dim light, straining to see my attackers, but I couldn’t see any facial features. They were blurry. They appeared to be males with short hair, and their broad body frame.

“Leave me alone!”

One man’s response was a kick to my stomach. I gasped and cringed in pain. Why was this happening to me? I had been told that burglaries and assault hardly ever happened on this side of town. Me and my rotten luck were going to make the crime rate sky rocket. Taking a deep breath, I gathered my courage, and tried to get up. One of the men pushed me back down. I saw an object in his hand, the silver color bounced off of the light. It was a knife. I had to find a way out of this. Heat pulsed through my body as I glared into his eyes. And fear consumed me with the black depths of them, dark as midnight. The other man held me down, and I fought to get out of his grasp. The one with the blade leaned closer to me. He didn’t have on a mask, but I still couldn’t make out his features. He was faceless. He thrust the blade against my neck. The pain was sharp, and tears sprang into my eyes.

“Please stop! Why are you doing this?”

He snorted. “Because the greater good has preordained it.”

Before I could contemplate his strange explanation he slit the knife against my throat.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~

MY REVIEW

Melanie's Evanescent Journey (The Sonar Trilogy, #1.5)Melanie's Evanescent Journey by B. Truly
My rating: 4 of 5 stars

Melanie's Evanescent Journey is a YA paranormal type of book, I haven't read any other book of this series, so I was clueless with what was the main paranormal factor in the story. Vampires? Werewolves? Aliens? shifter? None of that?
Well, our main character is Melanie a teenager, acting like a girl, she follows her heart and makes mistakes, sometimes acts like a little girl, but I found that credible, because that's what you can expect of a 17 yr old. The male character, Jason, at first is like any typical boy, until he became something more...
The plot it has a recurrent thing all through the pages, mystery. The story is full of twists and turns, heartbreak, a lot of pain and the journey of self discovery.
I must say that I enjoyed reading this book.
*I received a Free copy in exchange for an Honest review*



View all my reviews

AUTHOR Bio and Links:

I have wanted to be an author since I was fifteen years old and grateful to have accomplished this dream. I have three wonderful children and a husband who defines the person I am today. I work full-time as an Ultrasound technologist in Sugarland, Texas.

I have very vivid dreams and a wild imagination. I like to read, watch tons of TV shows, and movies. I’m addicted to romance and get a thrill out of action and suspense. I write New Adult Fantasy, Sci-fi, and Paranormal-Romance.

In the Sonar series it was fun to explore different elements of Sci-fi romance and create various realms of powers for my characters. I want to show my readers that Sci-fi can be fun, but also traumatic. I hope you guys enjoy the Sonar Series. 

Contact Information: BrandyTruly25@gmail.com


GIVEAWAY 

B. Truly will be awarding $15 Amazon/BN GC to a randomly drawn winner via rafflecopter during the tour and would also like to offer one winner 1 Sonar The Crashing photo magnet, 1 Sonar The Crashing pen, 2 Melanie's Evanescent Journey book marks, and 1 e-book copy of Melanie's Evanescent Journey in PDF, e-pub, or mobi formats. B.


Monday, June 8, 2015

SECRET BLEND BY JENNIFER BRAMSETH - VIRTUAL TOUR + GIVEAWAY


SECRET BLEND
by Jennifer Bramseth

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BLURB


When longtime courtroom rivals Rachel Richards and Brady Craft get appointed to the bench in Bourbon Springs, Kentucky, tempers flare as they are forced to share chambers.

Working closely with the obstinate-yet-sexy Brady is not an attractive idea to Rachel—although she has to admit that Brady himself is pretty damned attractive.

Rachel doesn't have to run for office to keep her judgeship, but Brady does. He draws a formidable opponent, Hannah Davenport, a wealthy co-owner of Old Garnet Distillery, where some of the finest Kentucky bourbon is crafted north of town along Old Crow Creek and near the historic springs which gave the town its unique name.

And Hannah just happens to be Rachel’s best friend.

As the judicial race heats up, so does the relationship between the judges—so they decide to keep it a secret.

But can any secret be kept in little Bourbon Springs, Kentucky?

SECRET BLEND is the first book in the Bourbon Springs Series, an upcoming nine-book series of smooth, sensual, sexy, slow-burn contemporary romances set amidst the lush and rolling Land of Bourbon and Bluegrass of central Kentucky.

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EXCERPT


Brady put the water jug on the porch and turned to go, but hesitated. Should he wait a little longer to say goodbye for the evening in case she was showering and hadn’t heard him at the door? He shuddered at the image of Rachel taking a shower, lathering her hair, her body…

He took a deep breath, trying to still his thoughts, knowing that he was only going to drive himself crazy if he kept thinking about her.

But he couldn’t.

And that meant he was crazy about her.

Brady groaned and ran a hand over his face and began to walk away from the house.

Then, as he reached the driveway, he heard a splash.

So that’s where she was. He should’ve figured she’d be in the pool that evening.

Brady froze.

Did he want to be tormented by the sight of Rachel in a bathing suit? He closed his eyes and took several deep breaths. He could feel himself getting hard just at the thought of her, at hearing her splashing in the pool.


Even though he knew he couldn’t have her, that he was torturing himself, and that he should just walk away, he couldn’t bring himself to do it. A little glimpse of her in that pool would have to be his consolation prize.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~

AUTHOR Bio and Links

Jennifer Bramseth is an attorney in the active practice of law in the Commonwealth of Kentucky. A Kentucky native and life-long resident, she lives within ten minutes of the state’s oldest bourbon distillery and works within five minutes of two others. A graduate of Centre College and the University of Kentucky, she loves a good Kentucky bourbon with water and ice.


@jennbramseth (Twitter)
jenniferbramseth (Instagram)

BUY Links

FREE on B&N
FREE on AMAZON

~~~~~~~~~~~~~

GIVEAWAY 
  $25 Amazon/BN gift card

A VIXEN IN VENICE BY KATE DEVEAUX - VIRTUAL TOUR + Q&A + GIVEAWAY


A VIXEN IN VENICE
by Kate Deveaux


~~~~~~~~~~~~~

BLURB


He’s an art thief on the run…with her heart 

Look closer, into Hotel Totally Five Star Venice, where art curator Monique Le Bres has just walked through the doors of the newly opened swanky luxury hotel to assist with their art collection.

Alessandro Bonnard, the world-renowned art connoisseur and collector has been sent incognito to supervise Monique and oversee her acquisitions for the hotel.

Concealing his true identity, Alessandro is intrigued by the art-loving vixen with an appetite for kinky sex. He pursues Monique, charming her at every turn — taking her to places she’s never been — both in and out of bedroom.

Monique falls hard for the man who has utterly captured her body and soul. Only to find out he isn’t who she thought he was after all…he’s an art thief on the run…with her heart.




~~~~~~~~~~~~~

EXCERPT

Smiling, the hotel clerk handed her the large gold room key.

“Signorina Le Bres, benvenuti a Venezia.” She welcomed Monique warmly. “Signor Amatus will be here un momento to escort you to your suite.” The mix of English and Italian words was enchanting to Monique, so far from the small dirt filled town back in Kansas that she’d dragged herself out so many years ago where the only foreign language spoken was pig Latin if you were lucky and grow up on the right side of the tracks. Monique hadn’t even been that lucky, the rusted out trailer she’d shared with her mother couldn’t have been further from the right side of anything.

“Grazie.” Monique took the gold key, noting how large and heavy it was in the palm of her hand. Almost ominous of what lay ahead. No slick electronic keys at this hotel. No, this was one hundred percent Italian luxury. The key began to heat in her grasp as she glanced around for the man who was supposed to greet her.

The elevator door dinged, catching her attention.

Monique’s mouth dropped open. A good looking twenty-something man dressed in employee issued suit exited. His robust laughter had caught her attention with his momentarily flirtation with a sexy young woman dressed in the hotel uniform that made Monique smirk as the man patted her ass when he passed. A first rate flirter for sure, she made a mental note to steer clear.

Monique’s smirk turned into a frown as the man kept walking straight towards Monique.

“There he is, Signor Amatus,” the clerk behind the counter called to Monique while she stood somewhat transfixed as the flirter approached. He really was young. Could he really be her supervisor? Not at all what she’d been expecting. Maybe mid twenties if she was generous. Barely legal age back in the states and good ten to fifteen years younger than her she was quite sure.

“Ah, Signorina Le Bres...”

“Yes, I am Monique Le Bres.” She extended her hand. He wasted no time sliding it into his and reaching it to his mouth. Pausing before kissing the back of her palm, his gaze stayed fixed on hers.

“Incantanto,” his words almost a whisper.

These Italian men were skilled at the art of flirtation; there was no denying that. But the sooner she made it clear to him that she was all work and no play the better it would be for both of them.

“I am Donovan Amatus, please allow me welcome to you to Hotel Totally Five Star Venezia. I am sure you will be molto comfortable here.”

The wicked glint in his eyes made her blush and fume at the same time. “I’m the new art curator,” Monique scrambled to say something, trying not blurt out what she was really thinking. That it was actually both flattering and maddening all at the same time to be flirted with by this young stud with the wandering eyes only moments after her arrival at the hotel.

“I know, si. Art Curator,” he said, releasing her hand but not before running it lightly over his lips. “I will be your liaison while you are here, answer any questions you have. Work with you side by side. Fianco a fianco,” he repeated the words in Italian, his tone so intimate that she was lost for a moment as she studied his nametag.

Donovan Amatus, Del controllo qualitĂ .

Quality Control Manager. A vague memory of her letter of employment and that name stuck in her head but she was damned if she could reconcile the young man in front of her with her supervisor. Surely there had been some mix up. This young man couldn’t possibly be supervising her and the forty million euro budget the CEO had entrusted her with.

“The key Signorina?” he prompted. 

Speechless she just stood there.

“La chiave, the key, per favore?” He repeated and then reached to take the key from her grip. “Follow me Signorina Le Bres.”

“Oh, please call me Monique.”

“You Americans are so friendly,” he said with a smile as he led her toward the elevator, placing his hand firmly around her waist.

Summoning her most professional demeanor she slipped from his hold and stepped into the elevator.

“I am sure you will be very happy working here at the hotel Totally Five Star Venezia.” He said as he punched the fifth floor button.

Monique tried to focus on what she was there for, her dream job and not the leering eyes of her so-called supervisor. “Yes, I’m sure I will. Mr. Conroy’s letter of employment said I could start to work tomorrow.”


“Assolutamente,” he confirmed. “Tomorrow. But first I show you your room, bene?”

~~~~~~~~~~~~~

FIVE RANDOM QUESTIONS TO KATE DEVEAUX

"Thank you so much for having me as your guest. I’m delighted to stop by and chat."

In 5 words, please describe your ‘Romance Writing Style’

Sensual, scintillating, vivid, evocative and sassy.

When you walk into a book store, where do you head first?

I go straight to romance, then fiction, and then cookbooks to indulge my inner cooking diva.

If you could live in the world of One Novel, which one would You choose?

Oh, that’s a hard one. I think I’d pick Maeve Binchy’s “Evening Class.” All things I love: Dublin, a sense of community and friends, and the Italian language and a trip to Italy.

If you could have personally witnessed one event in history, what would you want to have seen? 

I would have loved to witness Michelangelo painting the Sistine Chapel. It took over 4 years for the initial section, so I would have been there a while. But wow, what an experience.

If you could be any age again for one week, what age would you be?

I think I’d like to be 8 and at the beach for summer vacation.
  
Those were simply wonderful questions, very thought provoking. It was challenging to narrow down each answer to just ‘one.’ My mind is still reeling with all the marvelous events in history to have witnessed as well as what novel I’d most like to live in.
 All the best,
Kate
xx


AUTHOR Bio and Links

  
Kate Deveaux is a contemporary erotic romance writer and die-hard romantic. A former wedding planner, she has always been “in love” with love! Kate is currently working on several fictional stories – each filled with sexy romance, heroines who are no shrinking violets and heroes who make your heart skip a beat. She currently resides with her husband in the U.S. When Kate is not busy writing, she can be found on the tennis court –yes, there’s even ‘love’ in that game too.


SOCIAL MEDIA

Join Kate’s Kitten’s, the official STREET TEAM of Kate Deveaux:

GIVEAWAY
$20 Amazon or B/N GC

Friday, June 5, 2015

LEI CRIME SERIES: NEVER AGAIN BY JULIE C. GILBERT & FIREWEED TRAIL BY CRAIG HANSEN + GIVEAWAY





Lei Crime Series
by Eden Baylee, Craig Hansen, Corinne O'Flynn, M.L. Doyle, Julie C. Gilbert, J.L. Oakley, Christine Nolfi and Emily Kimelman

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BLURB:


The Lei Crime Series is: Hawaii is palm trees, black sand and blue water—but for policewoman Lei Texeira, there’s a dark side to paradise. Lei has overcome a scarred past to make a life for herself as a cop, but often the cases she works activate wounds and complications from her tangled family history. Lei is affected deeply by her cases even as she solves them with persistence, obsession, and intuition. She falls in love with Michael Stevens, the charismatic detective she works with, and they make a life solving crime in contemporary Hawaii with all its beauty and deadliness.




~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Both books are YA/Suspense

Never Again by Julie C. Gilbert


 The breakup was just the beginning …

When college junior Alana Adams catches her boyfriend passionately kissing another woman, she promptly dumps Nathan and turns to her best friend, Michael, for advice and emotional support.

At first, Nathan apologizes and showers Alana with gifts in an effort to win her back. He tries to get her to see they belong together, but when his efforts fail, he concludes the real problem in their relationship must be her best friend.

As Alana’s rejection further sinks in, Nathan realizes there’s only one solution to their problem: kill Michael Stevens.




Fireweed Trail by Craig Hansen


Before she was a detective...

Troubled teen Leilani Texeira is on the edge of self-destruction. As a last-ditch effort to reach her, Auntie sends her to the Fireweed Trail program, a wilderness therapy hike down the Oregon Coast Trail. Things go well until a fellow hiker turns up dead.

Now she's a murder suspect.

Damaged and fragile, Lei is pushed from inaction to one of the most harrowing adventures in her young life. Miles from civilization and help, she only has her own strength and determination to save herself from of a killer's wrath.

And instead of hiking, she's running for her life.



~~~~~~~~~~~~~

AUTHOR Bio and Links:

Julie C. Gilbert


Julie is a writer as well as a high school chemistry teacher. She has a YA science fiction series called Devya’s Children, and a Christian mystery series called Heartfelt Cases. She enjoys warm weather, hot tea and coffee, reading, writing, teaching, building Legos, reviewing products, and listening to books on CD or audible.

You can connect with her on Facebook (https://www.facebook.com/JulieCGilbert2013) or Twitter (@authorgilbert).




You can also sign up for her newsletter (  http://eepurl.com/beYcY9 )   which may lead to free books and other giveaways.



Craig Hansen


 Craig Hansen wrote his first SF published short story, "The S.S. Nova," when he was fourteen. It was published in the Minnesota Writers in the Schools COMPAS program's 1981 anthology of student writing, When It Grows Up, You Say Goodbye To It. That was when he decided to dedicate himself to writing.

Hansen earned two degrees at Minnesota State University at Mankato under the mentorship of young adult novelist Terry Davis. In the years that followed, Hansen worked a variety of jobs, including five years in journalism in northwestern Wisconsin, where he earned several state awards for his writing and editing.

His work has appeared in the Meadowbrook Press anthology, Girls to the Rescue, Book 1, as well as the true crime journal, Ripper Notes, in volume 28.

His first novel, Most Likely, was released in May 2011. Shada, the first installment of the Ember Cole series of young adult paranormal suspense books, was published in September 2011. Under Contract followed in the spring of 2012. The Devohrah Initiative appeared in August 2013. Nice Girl Like You appeared in June 2014, and Spoiled is September 2014. Rotten and The Woodsman were both released in October 2014. Ripe was released in February 2015, and the KindleWorld tale, Fireweed Trail, set in the Lei Crime KW created by Toby Neal, is his most recent release.

Hansen remains hard at work on several projects that will be announced when they are close to release, on his author website.

Hansen lives in Oregon with his wife, a dog, two cats, and his 92-year-old father, a World War II veteran.

Craig's interests include the music of Johnny Cash, reading the novels of other independent authors, blogging, and the study of Messianic theology.

On his website  (http://www.craig-hansen.com/  ), you can sign up to receive a periodic email newsletter that will notify you when he releases new books.



Twitter: @craigahansen https://twitter.com/craigahansen




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GIVEAWAY
$30 Amazon GC

Thursday, June 4, 2015

RIBBONS OF DEATH BY EDITA A. PETRICK - VIRTUAL TOUR + Q&A + GIVEAWAY


Ribbons of Death
by Edita A. Petrick

~~~~~~~~~~~~~

BLURB

When a horribly scarred man knocks on the door of Stella Hunter’s ramshackle cottage in upstate Montana, she lets him in. What’s there to lose? The book critics killed her chances to warn the world about myths and legends behind the myths and legends.

But once the man pushes a book smudged with bloody fingerprints across the table, Stella sees a glimmer of hope. She may yet repair her academic reputation. She may re-establish her credibility within the scientific community and she may vindicate her ‘peace-taker’ theory. She may also be murdered by anyone standing next to her if her theory is correct.


~~~~~~~~~~~~~

EXCERPT


He kept his head tucked between his shoulders, watching one ‘on-the-scene’ reporter after another give commentaries to the police and medical work that went on in the background. Suddenly he felt Stella’s hand settle on his and turned his head. She was saying something. He pulled down the earphones because he wasn’t in a lip-reading mood.

“He struck at a local fair,” she said quietly.

He remembered her saying something like that earlier, though at the time it could have been just sarcasm.

“Your prediction was right,” he said.

“Yes but it’s something else. Let me have the laptop.”

He watched her call up a map of Dayton, Ohio, then zoom in and start pointing with the mouse arrow at the names of communities mentioned by the news reporters: Oakwood, Kettering, Whites Corners.

“Here,” she said, pointing the mouse at the red line of Interstate 675. “This is where the southbound effect stopped or played out. I didn’t hear any reports of an outbreak of madness in Belmont or Shakertown. None west of Interstate 75 either. It affected a long strip about half a mile wide at best; in geographical terms certainly a ribbon of madness that ended at I-657.”


“Another atypical strike,” he murmured. They didn’t need more puzzles. They were still trying to make sense of what they had.


~~~~~~~~~~~~~

STUPID QUESTIONS WITH AWESOME ANSWERS!

Q. As a famous athlete, you are offered $100,000 to endorse a product you wouldn't use. Do you endorse it?

 

A. Yes. Because then, to satisfy my own sense of integrity, I would sample the product, put down its good or positive points, and make it a condition (I would have a crack-agent to represent me, right?) of my promotion that the copy-ad people writing the promo could only make those claims that were true.

 

Believe me, advertising people have a way of coming up with a positive spin on anything – even the Devil himself.  eg. …his dominion is a warm, cozy place where the dry heat will be beneficial for your aching bones…etc. etc.

 

 

Q. A friend ask you to write a reference for a job you feel he's poorly qualified for. Do you refuse?

 

A. No. Same principle as above. Regardless of what I felt about his qualifications for the job, he/she is my friend, therefore I would know all his/her good points and those would be the ones I’d put into the letter of recommendation. I would put down all the things I like about him/her and why he/she is my friend and why I value our friendship.


Q. You find an expensive pen in a public lounge. Do you keep it?

 

A. Yes – unless it bore some kind of inscription, for example pens (even expensive ones) often have advertisement written on them, together with a phone number or website url. But if it was simply an expensive pen, I would keep it, especially if I found it in a widely-used, crowded public place. There’s no sense to make a spectacle of yourself in a crowded public place, running up to strangers and asking them if the pen was theirs. I would have no way of knowing if the person who stepped up to claim it was really the pen’s owner. Besides, such action these days is not very safe.

 

Q. When cleaning up, you find your teenager's diary. Do you read it?

 

A. Oh, yes. I’m a mother—a single mother at that. I wouldn’t wish upon anyone what I went through with my kids when they reached teenagehood. I didn’t buckle and I didn’t give up, but truth be told, many times I came crack-close to it. So, yes, I would read the diary to make sure that nothing was brewing in the kid’s head that needed serious intervention. And even if the diary had just normal angst-content, I would tell my teenager what happened, that I found the diary and glanced through it to make sure he/she was making the right lifestyle choices. I would speak to the kid plainly and without being apologetic about it, because I am his/her parent, and do not want to become friends with their parole officers.


Q. A friend’s fiancĂ© is coming on to you. Do you tell your friend?

 

A. No. I would tell the fiancĂ©, in no uncertain way, to fix his attitude and work on his relationship instead of shopping for partners for his extracurricular activities.

Then, as time and opportunity permitted, I would try to get my friend to start asking herself (I’m assuming here it’s my girlfriend) why she is with this guy; what she sees in him; what does she see as reciprocal benefits of their relationship. I would get her to start defining what she wants out of the relationship and why she took up with the guy in the first place. I would tell her that ‘examining’ relationships from time to time is necessary in order to make that relationship grow – in the right direction.

 

 

NOTE FROM THE AUTHOR: Thank you for the opportunity to let me answer these interesting questions and I enjoyed very much indulging in a bit of introspection – again. It gave me an opportunity to ‘glance back,’ so to speak, and reflect on a long stretch of very difficult times where the only people I could talk to were very expensive marriage counselors and even more expensive therapists and psychologists, and grief counselors and social workers and so on. I sailed through the turbulent seas but I did not emerge unscathed. And all I learned from the experience was that while it’s true that hardships make you stronger, I would have been just as strong if not stronger without them.



~~~~~~~~~~~~~
AUTHOR Bio and Links:
By profession, I’m an engineer and ten years ago, I left a corporate job to concentrate on writing. It was perhaps the scariest thing I’ve done. Of course, there were other considerations at the time, life, kids, economy and my mother who was battling cancer. I wrote as means of staying grounded because I had to hold it together. There was no one else to pitch in. There wasn’t a single moment that I didn’t have doubts about whether what I was doing was the right thing or not, but doubts come and go, while the need to write goes on forever. Since 2005 I’ve published 5 books and this year alone I have 6 new ones coming out. I live in Toronto with my family and our two pets – wheaten terriers. And whenever I’m tempted to look back, and start second-guessing my past decisions, I sit behind the computer and start another book. At least for me, that’s a cure-all.


Buy Link:


Solstice: http://solsticepublishing.com/ribbons-of-death/

GIVEAWAY
Edita will be awarding a Kindle copy of “Ribbons of Death” gifted from Amazon to 4 randomly drawn winners