Book Blast and Giveaway: Only in September by Cynthia Flowers

 

When Jacqueline follows her trusty Labrador Bailey down a hidden path to the beach, she's unaware that her vacation plans on a small island off the New England coast has already taken her life in a new direction. Running into an unassuming local beach comber stirs new thoughts, desires, and a self-determination she never knew she possessed. Jacqueline will need to trust her instincts and make the most of what fate has in store if she wants the future that, until now, she has only dared to dream of. 

Read an Excerpt: 

During their return trip on the trail, they happened upon a series of small cottages. One of them was having exterior repairs done. The sudden screech of a buzz saw gave them a startle. Bailey was off leash and ran over to investigate. Stephen called after her.

The buzz saw suddenly stopped. Then someone from behind the cottage exclaimed, “Hey, I know you.”

The person behind the voice rushed out from behind the cottage and came into view. It was Michael. He looked at Jacqueline. Their eyes locked. She was happy to see him, and he seemed equally pleased to see her. Bailey jumped up on Michael like she had when they first met earlier in the week at the beach.

“Hey, there.” Michael motioned to Jacqueline. His smile was unavoidable.

Jacqueline slowly walked toward him. She didn’t want to seem too eager in front of Stephen.

“Do you two know each other?” Stephen inquired.

“Well, sort of,” Michael said with a chuckle. “We met at the beach the other day. Or, I should say, our dogs met at the beach. We just happened to be tagging along.”

Jacqueline broke her silence and elaborated further about how the pooches got along famously. “I meant to make it to the beach again before setting sail, but the week got away from us.”

“Don’t need to apologize to me. It’s Serendipity you need to square with. But unfortunately, she’s not with me today. Maybe another time,” Michael suggested.

“Considering we’re on the early afternoon ferry tomorrow, I don’t think that’s possible,” Stephen said deliberately and looked at Jacqueline to finish what he started. Instead, she looked down at Bailey to avoid Stephen’s gaze.

“Oh, well, I suspect you’ll be back," Michael shot back. “It’s seldom that someone visits this island only once.”

As they started off, she lingered behind Stephen for a moment to clip Bailey’s collar to the leash and took the opportunity to mouth at Michael, “See you in the morning.”

He acknowledged her invitation with a wink.

PURCHASE FROM AMAZON!

Cynthia Flowers, a recently retired advertising professional, now grant writer, resides with her husband and four-year old Labrador named Eddie, at their “sanctuary” in Upstate New York, Although previously published, this is Cynthia's first book of fiction. Early on in grade school, Cynthia looked forward to creative writing class and enjoyed reading her stories aloud to her eager classmates. 

Cynthia Flowers will be awarding a 

$10 Amazon/BN gift card to a randomly drawn winner. 

Wednesday Weekly Blogging Challenge: Three Things I Wish More Books Talked About

 

The Wednesday Weekly Blogging Challenge is hosted by Long and Short Reviews. They offer this blog hop as a weekly prompt to help you gain new friends and visitors. You don't have to participate every week, but if you decide to post and join the blog hop for a week, Long and Short Reviews asks that you share your link on their weekly post on their website (it will be the top post on the home page each Wednesday morning). The link list remains open for new links for 48 hours. Visit the other bloggers participating to see what they are talking about that week. Comments are appreciated. 

What a great topic! I'm sure we all have opinions on this. Here are the...

Three Things I Wish More Books 

Talked About

1. The impact of grief on the family unit. This is a topic that, in my opinion, can't be discussed often enough. Whether it is in nonfiction or fiction, when a loved one dies, it impacts everyone. Grief is a personal experience. Everyone's journey looks different. The Santa Letters by Stacy Gooch-Anderson is one of my favorite novels that centers around a woman's grief after she loses her husband. Bear with me, since I haven't read it since 2008, but I'm fairly certain it focused mainly on the widow. However, the arrival of the Santa Letters had a positive impact on the family as a whole. This was a novel that allowed the reader to witness the family's healing. 
2. Women transitioning from parenting to becoming empty-nesters. This is a very personal topic for me, considering I am almost there. Amazingly, there is only one page of books on Amazon about becoming an empty nester (using my search criteria). There are 45 choices--fiction and nonfiction--on Goodreads. Gosh, that really doesn't sound like a lot when women have been going from being parents to being empty nesters for generations.
3.  Starting a new relationship later in life. Again, this could be tackled from a nonfiction or fiction perspective. I know hen lit exists, but I don't think romance always has to be part of it. Starting new relationships--whether they are friendships or romances--is tough. Alongside this topic runs romances filled with real people who look like real people instead of models. 

What are some things you wish more books talked about? 

Top Ten Tuesday: Top Ten Books that Surprised Me (in a good or bad way)

Top Ten Tuesday was created by The Broke and the Bookish in June of 2010 and was moved to That Artsy Reader Girl in January of 2018. It was born of a love of lists, a love of books, and a desire to bring bookish friends together.    

It's Tuesday again. It's expected to be a bit dreary today. That makes it a great day to work. At least if it rains, I don't have to water the garden. 

Today's Top Ten Tuesday topic is books that surprised me (in a good or bad way). At first blush, I'm not sure if there are ten of those. Of course, after close to two decades of blogging, there must be. I'm going to give it a whirl and see how it goes. 

Top Ten Books that Surprised Me

(in a good or bad way)

This book grabbed me from the first page, and I quickly read eight chapters. The author compiled stories from dozens of women that encourage you to embrace a sweeter life while traveling rocky roads. This Christian self-help book provides readers with a different perspective, allows them time to reflect, and shares the reward of quick and easy recipes. 

I added this to my Laura Ingalls Wilder collection in 2011, when the author contacted me for a review of her new release. I'm glad I read it, but I was surprised I couldn't love a book about a person who decides to go on a personal journey to many of the Laura Ingalls Wilder sites. Having gone on a scaled-down version of my own Laura Ingalls Wilder adventure, I thought I would connect better with the story. While having a strong beginning, as the author proceeded, she poked fun at Laura fans, which wasn't enjoyable either.

Have you ever come across a book that makes you laugh so hard your sides hurt? This is the one that did it to me. I picked this up at the Target in Wilmington while visiting our daughter. The title and cover are hilarious enough, but I couldn't get past the first couple of pages without tears streaming down my face. I have never had a book tickle my funny bone as much as this one. 

Because watching the mini-series is what persuaded me to read the novel, I was disappointed that Ralph's looks in the book were very different from Richard Chamberlain's Ralph. The Thorn Birds mini-series also put together a more compelling conclusion for Meggie and Ralph's storyline than the book did because it changed the sequence of a few events. 

I am always pleasantly surprised when I guess who the murderer is before it is revealed. With this book, I was fairly certain who that would be, but some of the details eluded me. 

The author told this romance from three points of view: the female lead, the male lead, and the daughter of the female lead. This was a neat surprise, and that decision added significant depth to the plot. 

After reading the final book in The Hunger Games series, it surprised me that it seemed like Haymitch was the only character who truly changed in the books. As a result of being with Peeta and Katniss, the reader watches him evolve and become more engaged in the fight against the Capitol. 

This book was not what I expected. As I wrote in my review, "...we end up with a bride, but it's many years in the making." These books were so well written, I really need to finish the series. 

When you get into a series and the author never finishes it, that can be an awful surprise. Such was the case with the Sam's Quest series by Ben Furman. I read both of these books and loved them. The third and final book of the trilogy never made it to print. 

Not being a huge lover of fantasy or science fiction, when I find a book in either of these genres that I enjoy, it's a bit of a surprise. This book was so funny, quirky, and unique that I couldn't help but love it. 

Looking forward to seeing which books made your list this week. 

Book Blast & Giveaway: The Last Door, Ajar by Michael Holly Barrett

 

It is 1945. The infamous Max Smartz, superspy; Eva Braun, wife of Adolf Hitler; Joseph Goebbels, propaganda minister; and Otto Klugg, intelligence officer, do not die at the end of World War II, but trick the guards in the Fuhrerbunker tunnels, allowing them to make their escape. Their escape plan is to reach war-neutral Southern Ireland, where Maxwell Smartz has an established base and is familiar with rural south Kerry and its people. They evade capture and eventually reach France. Here, they meet with a good friend and colleague, an undercover agent called Maurice Le Blanc, who asks them to assist him in retrieving some stolen gold bars.

After finding the fortune, the friends attempt to retrieve it in an old Dutch van but are continually thwarted and risk losing everything. To complicate matters, they learn that Max's brother, Victor, has been incarcerated in the notorious Spandau prison and is being tried for Nazi war crimes. They hatch a plot to save him, but is it worth the danger of going back to Berlin and being caught?

Read an Excerpt:

Joseph Goebbels was a German Nazi politician who joined the Nazi party in 1933. He rose to the ranks of Propaganda Minister and Minister of Culture. He was not very tall and had a clubbed foot, which never stopped him thinking big and walking tall. Culture was fine by Goebbels as long as it was German culture, pure Aryan. His henchmen, the Nazis, would gladly kick the shit out of anyone with the slightest notion of foreign culture other than the ‘Only true German culture’. He was responsible for all publicity, films, art, books and newsreels that only showed the best of all that was German. Magda, his wife, was four years younger than him and was an avid supporter of Nazism, and a good friend of both Hitler and his wife, Eva. Eva was quoted as saying, ‘She, Magda, had no compunction about killing her six children, she feared for their safety if they continued to live’. Joseph Goebbels was a brilliant orator; his speeches were full of passion and fire for the Germany he so loved. Hitler loved his friend, Joseph, and his great enthusiasm for rousing the people into action. Now things had changed dramatically — they were losing the war, everything that could go wrong, went wrong The Yanks, English and Russians were all racing towards Berlin looking for scalps, and Joseph, Magda, Hitler and Eva made an unwritten pact not to allow that to happen. They would deny the intruders the pleasure of rolling heads, they were intent on spoiling the party for the allied army.

Purchase Links:

AMAZON.COM: https://amazon.com/dp/177962574X 

AMAZON.CA: https://amazon.ca/dp/177962574X 

BOOKTOPIA: https://www.booktopia.com.au/search.ep?keywords=9781779625748 

ABEBOOKS: https://www.abebooks.com/products/isbn/9781779625748 

BETTERWORLD BOOKS: https://www.betterworldbooks.com/product/detail/9781779625748 

 

My humble beginnings in a terrace house with an outdoor toilet and indoor rats. The drinking water was got from a public pump in the street. We were all sailing in the Titanic,Third

Class, but we were not aware of anything better. We had so much fun, swimming in the river. As kids we had wonderful imaginations.The only luxuries we ever saw were in the Cinema, usually

 American films, people smoking and drinking alcohol. 

Everyone in the town of County Cork, Ireland seemed to be in the same boat; we made the best of it until the swinging sixties came along and changed everything. In spite of our poverty, I managed to get a College education. But opportunities were as scarce as rich Uncles. The Christian Brothers were brutal, and handy with the cane, in National School. I was lucky like many fellows my own age to get an apprenticeship as a diesel mechanic. Soon developed a taste for Alcohol, and got into trouble pretty soon, was lucky again to find A.A. and get my act together in 1978. 

My hero died in 1977, Elvis Presley, the music stopped, the sixties was over, the Beatles were broken up, CCR, too. So getting sober was the best thing to do, under the miserable

 circumstances. I got a job as a Pipe Welder with ASME 1X certificate and began working around Europe, finally settling in warm Spain, Barcelona and met a Catalunya woman. Started writing for the first time, mostly comedies, Peter Sellers style, another hero of mine. 

This is my second published book, I also self published earlier works Like ,'Gorilla Days in Ireland' by Michael Barrett, on Amazon. The Frankie Stein Enigma, and others, I paint oil and acrylic pictures, write mountains of poetry, sing and play the guitar. 

'I do just about everything, that doesn't make any money for me.' But love doing what I do, writing poetry is mind stimulating, energising . 

My favourite actors are William Holden, Warren Oates, Gregory Peck, and favourite detective the great Peter Falk in Columbo, a genius and Clouseau, Peter Sellers, and Peter Ustinov. 

CONNECT WITH Michael Holly Barrett 

Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/profile.php?id=100045861996652   

Linkedin: https://www.linkedin.com/in/michael-barrett-78b686103/

Michael Holly Barrett will be awarding

a $10 Amazon/BN gift card 

to a randomly drawn winner.

It's Monday! What Are You Reading? & Mailbox Monday - April 21

It's Monday! What Are You Reading? is a place to meet up and share what you have been, are, and about to be reading over the week. It's a great post to organize yourself. It's an opportunity to visit and comment, and er... add to that ever-growing TBR pile! So welcome in everyone. This meme started with J Kaye's Blog and was then taken up by Sheila from Book Journey. Sheila then passed it on to Kathryn at the Book Date.   

Happy Easter Monday! Hope you had a nice weekend. With barely any time to breathe last week, I didn't do much other than work and prepare to host Easter brunch. We had a lovely day, despite it being the fifth anniversary of my father-in-law's death. 

Halloween at the Soldier's Home

Here are some photos from last week.

Anyone know what might have happened to this tree?

Second wedding dress fitting for the Lil' Diva

Skillet taco pizza

Travis saying hi to his mommy in NC

In my reading world, I reviewed this book. You can find it here.

Read a bit of this one. Running out of time to finish it. 

Didn't touch this one this week. 

These are next. 

Mailbox Monday is a gathering place for readers to share the books they added to their shelves the previous week. This weekly meme is now hosted by Vicki at I'd Rather Be At The Beach. 

Grabbed this at the local gift shop by a local author sharing historical tales about the town where we live.

Upcoming Events

• Only in September by Cynthia Flowers - Apr 23 (Book Blast)
• Stone of Doubt by Margaret Izard - Apr 28 (Interview)
• Cowboy Watch by Petie McCarty - May 1 (Blurb Blitz)
• Love Letters to Me, Myself and Him by Rayan Khamis - May 5 (Book Blast)
• Between Today and  Sunday by Ann M. Trader - May 5 (First Chapter Review)
• Surviving the United Nations by Robert Bruce Adolph - May 9 (First Chapter Review)
• Cayman Conundrum by Stacy Wilder - June 11 (First Chapter Review)
• Freedom Drop & Calypso Blue by Brian Silverman - June 18 (Showcase)
• Freedom Drop by Brian Silverman - June 21 (First Chapter Review)
• Calypso Blue by Brian Silverman - June 22 (First Chapter Review)

At Christmas Year Round I shared more Christmas... in the News this week. Check it out here. 

At the Children's and Teens' Book Connection, I reviewed two books by the same author. You can check them out here and here. 

Working on my next post for Laura's Little Houses, I posted my review of Nonfiction, Memoir, or Fiction?: Dissecting the Works of Laura Ingalls Wilder by Robynne Elizabeth Miller. You can read it here. If I ever get the time, I know what my next post will be. 

That's it for me today. I have lunch with a client, so likely will be back to your blogs later today. 

Guest Post: Using Artificial Intelligence by Hanke Quense, Author of The Author's AI Toolkit

 

Hank Quense was born and raised in Jersey City NJ. He attended St Peters Prep High School and Newark College of Engineering where he received a BS in Mechanical Engineering.

After college, he went to work for Western Electric engineering telephone equipment into central offices. Later, Western Electric was absorbed into AT&T, and Hank was transferred to a new sales organization as an account rep serving New York Telephone Company. He was later promoted to Sales Manager.

In 1996, he took an early retirement offer to become a fiction writer. His efforts at short story writing led to sales of over 40 short stories. His first two novels were published by a small indie press. This experience was so distasteful, he looked into self-publishing, started his own imprint, Strange Worlds Publishing, and self-published more than 20 books, both fiction and non-fiction. Hank’s short stories and novels are humorous or satiric sci-fi and fantasy. His non-fiction covers fiction writing, self-publishing, book marketing and author business.

Hank’s newest project is to create a website filled with content based on his years of experience in fiction writing, self-publishing and book marketing.

Using Artificial Intelligence

Writing often bogs down in unexciting chores that have to be done.  Editing and revision are two examples.  Then there are the times when the writer is stymied as to what to write next.  Another painful experience is to get stuck in the middle of a scene.  Your hero is in big trouble and you can’t figure a way to drag her out the mess.

I’ve faced all of these issues in the past, but now I use an Artificial Intelligence app to help me speed through the roadblocks.  In short AI allows me to spend more time on creative activities and less on mundane chores.

I use Perplexity.AI as my writing buddy.  The trick with using an AI app is how you write the query that gives the AI app its instructions. If you write a generic query, the AI will respond with a generic reply.  To get a useful response you have to write a detailed query.

That last paragraph may be a bit puzzling to those who aren’t familiar with using AI so I’ll provide a list of AI queries that have been tested (by me) to provide useful output. These queries can be used in a variety of AI apps such as Perplexity, ChatGPT, Notebook LM or even the AI feature built into apps like Craft or Fabric or Notion.

Research and brainstorming queries:

Research query: Show me a list of websites that have information on {topic}

Outline query: Provide an outline for the {book/research paper/website} {insert description}

Brainstorming query: Brainstorm the following  {insert topic} and give me a list of six ideas for an {article/story/project}

Editing and revision queries:

Editing query: Edit the following piece and highlight your changes: {paste text here}

Editing and Show-Don’t-Tell query: Edit the following piece, highlight your changes and point out examples where show-don’t-tell can be used {paste text here}

Rewrite query: Rewrite this {insert text} two different ways: one in a light-hearted tone, one in a pompous tone.  (yes, you can tell the AI what tone to use!)

Stuck Query: My character is {describe situation}. Tell me {number} of ways he {describe solution}

I don’t restrict my AI usage to writing and research.  I also use it for marketing activities.  Here are a few typical queries.  In these cases, I use a storyline or short synopsis as part of the detailed query.  This gives the AI the background information it needs to respond properly.

One important comment about these responses.  I consider them to be first drafts and revise them, sometimes quite extensively.  Still, having a first draft to work on saves a lot of time, effort and creativity.

Marketing queries:

Targeting query: My novel is a {insert genre} story. How can I reach {enter genre} readers rather than the general population

Social media posts: {Insert storyline} write 5 social media posts for {insert social media platform} Use keywords where appropriate.

Blog posts: {insert storyline} write {insert length} blog post. Use keywords where appropriate

Hashtags query: {insert storyline} Generate list of appropriate hashtags

 

These queries are taken from my book, The Author’s AI Toolkit.

 

——————————

Website: hankquenseauthor.com

Wednesday Weekly Blogging Challenge: Books I Discovered on Social Media

 

The Wednesday Weekly Blogging Challenge is hosted by Long and Short Reviews. They offer this blog hop as a weekly prompt to help you gain new friends and visitors. You don't have to participate every week, but if you decide to post and join the blog hop for a week, Long and Short Reviews asks that you share your link on their weekly post on their website (it will be the top post on the home page each Wednesday morning). The link list remains open for new links for 48 hours. Visit the other bloggers participating to see what they are talking about that week. Comments are appreciated. 

When I first saw this topic, I thought I would have nothing to share. Then I realized, I have found books on social media--usually on Facebook or Instagram--and even read them. 

Saw this book by Melissa Francis on Instagram, so I ordered it in 2012. Still haven't read it yet. Her other book, Lessons from the Prairie, was amazing. I'm sure this one will be as well. 

This author's social media campaign had to be one of the most aggressive I had seen at the time. I saw ads on Instagram, Facebook, and Twitter/X. Ended up joining his virtual book tour to read it.

Wendi and I were already Facebook friends when she asked for people to join her book launch team. This was a fabulous experience. We had Zoom meetings to discuss chapters, and I got a chance to meet her mother in person when I attended the Connecticut Little House on the Prairie 50th Cast Reunion last August. Wendi and I had already met in Walnut Grove, Minnesota in 2014. 

What are some books you discovered thanks to social media?