Hi, beautiful readers! Colleen's TankaTuesday poetry challenge for this week is all about the haiku. Haikus are traditionally about nature, the seasons, or change. There are several syllabic patterns it can use, but I chose the traditional 5-7-5 pattern. So, here is my contribution:
wild, raging river it tries to swallow me whole my raft protects me
When I first read her choice for this week, I immediately thought about last summer's road trip and my river rafting experience with my son. We went to Pigeon Forge, TN. I had taken him a few years ago for his first river rafting adventure. We started with a level 1/2. When it ended, he immediately asked for a level 3/4, which he handled very well. So, this time around, we went straight to the raging river, and it did not disappoint!
That's us in the front!
I hope you enjoyed my haiku. If you'd like to join me for these poetry challenges, you can follow them here.
Hi, beautiful readers! Happy new year! I've decided to dabble in syllabic poetry this year after reading some amazing poems from Colleen's weekly challenges. Yesterday's TankaTuesday challenge asked for a syllabic poem of the author's choice that focused on a color.
If you'd like to join me in this creativity, check out Colleen's post here.
I tend to write free verse poetry, so syllabic poetry is going to be a fun challenge for me. I decided to try a Kelly Lune, which consists of a 5-3-5 syllabic pattern. And since yellow is one of my favorite colors, it immediately came to mind. Here is my contribution.
It's a start. Lol! Hopefully, this is the first of many to come. :-)
Hello, beautiful readers! I have not had much time to read lately, but I spent most of yesterday finishing one book and reading multiple short stories and novellas. They were all such great reads that I wanted to share them with you all. As always, you can find my reviews here, but these needed a bit more attention. Enjoy! :-)
When a book makes me in cry (in public, no less!), you know it's an amazing story! Normally, you look at Christmas stories and immediately think of Hallmark love stories, but this story had no romance whatsoever, but there was plenty of love. Cole was a famous singer with the world at his feet, but he was miserable because of a string of regrets from his past. This story takes you through his journey to fix those mistakes.
I absolutely loved this story! The author does an incredible job of pulling you into the story from the get-go. I loved how an unwanted interview kept pushing the story along through memories. My heart ached for Cole and his losses. The scenes were described so perfectly and I felt that I was with Cole on every step of his journey. And then we meet his brother, and my heart just melted over and over again.
This story was flawlessly written and is full of so much love that you will feel it from your heart to the tears flowing from your eyes. (Be forewarned - you may just find yourself crying in a public place!). I will definitely recommend this book to everyone! :-)
I really enjoyed this novella (and can't wait to read the next one). We are introduced to Piper as a hotheaded, strong-willed journalist who loses her job and heads back home to regroup. And you know what happens when you go back to your childhood small town? The hot guy who Piper had a crush on (and still fantasizes about) just happens to come around. So, does the guy who has played the best friend role even though he's always wanted more.
I loved how the author took us through Piper's thoughts, even though I wanted to bop her upside the head for having blinders on. Everyone in the story BUT HER knew that Tommy wasn't the one for her, but her character stayed true to her stubbornness. Some people just have to experience things for themselves to learn their lessons.
The blurb says that Piper couldn't help but notice Jack in an unsisterly way, but I honestly didn't get that feel at all. She barely gave him any attention until the very end. That is probably my only critique. Well, I also felt the end was a bit rushed and she should have had to work a little harder for her happy ending. lol!
Still, the writing in this story was flawless, and I completely felt myself in every scene. I would definitely recommend this story to others. :-)
This was a cute, holiday story. The story opens with a powerful scene of Charlene being dismissed and humiliated as she hobbles to meet her surgeon for a hip replacement. Not only did she lose her husband in a car accident, she also lost one of her legs and her self-esteem. She gained weight from the lack of exercise/mobility, which was creating an issue for having the surgery. A thin, silver lining came with her physiotherapist, which just happened to be sexy and charming (at times). The author switches POVs so readers can see that both John and Charlene like each other and have no idea how to express themselves.
The miscommunication was both hilarious and frustrating. It's easy to feel for these two because they are their worst enemies because they allow their fears to prevent them from taking a chance. There was a moment or two where I felt John was out of character with his treatment of Charlene, but I also knew it was meant to move the story along with the miscommunication. Still, it felt harsh and made me wonder if Charlene should even want to be with him.
I don't like giving stories away, so I'll try to be vague about the ending. I am happy with the outcome, but I felt it was a bit too rushed with the depth of emotion and would have preferred perhaps a bit more subtlety or just the asking of a first date or something.
I was also a bit disappointed that Charlene lost all the weight and became the sexy lady at the end. The story started with her as an overweight amputee, and although I'm all for people losing weight and getting healthy, a part of me wanted her to learn to love herself as she was. After all, that is how John fell in love with her. Maybe that's silly of me, but I loved the fact that her character didn't fit the typical character you read about. Those are just my own thoughts; this paragraph didn't affect my rating because the author has every right to create her characters as she sees fit.
That being said, I enjoyed the story and would definitely recommend it to others. It is written well and is a great way to spend an afternoon. :-)
I first met Jacob and Petra in The Enigma Factor, so when I saw that this story was about them, I immediately grabbed it. I wasn't disappointed. In The Enigma Factor, we watched their romance begin. In this story, they are married with a son. I loved seeing them not only dote on their son but also on each another. They created a tradition that they would each give a surprise gift to the other on Christmas Day. Normally, they come up with the perfect gifts, but Petra struggled to find something special for Jacob this year. This story was full of the Christmas spirit and love and joy, and the ending was perfect! I recommend this book to everyone at any time during the year. :-)
I enjoyed this short story! It's crazy how easily a man could lock up a disobedient wife in the '40s. Thank goodness, times have changed since then! This story follows Edna as she's locked up in a mental institution. While there, she meets Anne, who becomes her best (and only) friend. They spend decades making the most of the situation.
The author does a fantastic job of leaving the reader wondering whether Edna is truly sane or isn't living fully in reality as she believes herself to be a famous poet. Does she remember her moment of being committed accurately? Does her doctor share the true situation of that day, or is he just trying to convince her to believe his reality? Or does she know the truth but continues to keep the façade of being a famous poet to stay locked up in the only home she has left?
I enjoyed the friendship between Anne and Edna and how it showed Edna's personality and emotions. Throughout the story, Edna longed for connection with someone through the touching of hands, even if only through a pane of glass. The ending was very touching (pun intended). I would definitely recommend this book!
I read this book during a busy time in my life, so I couldn't read it in one or two sittings, but I think that worked out perfectly because it allowed me to really savor each story. Every story has its own unique feel to it, showing the vast talents of this author. Each one pulled me in and made me feel as if I were part of the tale. I have a soft spot for fantasy, so those were some of my favorites, but I also loved how this author weaved surprises within the stories. Some of my favorites were "Yesteryear Treasures," "Yellow Bird," "Miss Lily Makes a Wish," "Father's Day," and "I've Got a Plan." The author's ability to tap into emotions, whether it be regret, sadness, or humor, created riveting tales. I highly recommend this collection of short stories to everyone. :-)
The RRBC Holiday Books & Budz Pop-Up Bookshop is finally here! I'm so excited to share this with you all! Are you a book lover? Do you know someone who loves reading? Then, you are NOT going to want to miss this event.
There is SO much happening. Check out the Reading Room, where authors read excerpts from their books for you to enjoy (check out my embarrassing reads...haha!). Play the Believable or Not game and possibly win a prize. Speaking of prizes, there are multiple opportunities throughout the site to win prizes and money, so make sure you check out all the links.
And most of all, check out the BOOKS! Don't have a lot of time? The bookshop is organized in different categories: authors, genres, and price ranges. So, you can go quickly to your interests and pick up some fabulous reads. Don't miss out!
I'll be in and out through all the pages. Leave comments everywhere. See you soon! :-)
Hello, beautiful readers! My 10-day HYPE blog tour has ended, and I can't be happier with how it turned out. (If you missed any days, you can see them here. I'll be choosing the winners of the free ebooks soon, so make sure you comment while you check them out.) As many of you know, I am not comfortable with having a lot of attention on me, but I forced myself to leave my comfort zone for this book. Its message is too important to hide in the shadows.
Asking for help has always been a bit scary for me, partly because I fear rejection and partly because I hate inconveniencing others. Luckily for me, when I reached out to authors and asked them if they would be willing to share their space with me to promote HYPE, they jumped at the chance. I hope this post will show them how much that act of kindness meant to me.
Please, join me in thanking these authors for not only hosting me but also visiting the other blog posts and promoting them to their followers. Take a moment to click on each of their names. Learn about their books. Follow their site and their social media. Show them the love they deserve for their kindness and generosity.
I'd also like to take a moment to thank all of you who tweeted and retweeted my blog posts. You are very much appreciated. I will continue to support you and share your works as well. I'd like to give a shoutout to three authors who were not part of the blog but took the time to share HYPE on their blog. Please, show them some love as well. :-)
Today is your lucky day! I am a proud member of the RAVE
REVIEWS BOOK CLUB and for the next 48 hours (11/15 through 11/17) there is
a $25 discount on any membership tier when you join
the club!
We aren’t just an organization where you add your name to
our roster and then disappear.We
are the club that supports our members in numerous ways! Here are just a few…
-We purchase, read, and review our fellow member
books that are listed in the catalog.
-We promote our fellow members and their books on social
media, just as hard as we promote ourselves.
-We promote our members with interviews via our RAVE
WAVES Talk Radio Shows for RRBC members only.Books are always being purchased during those
interviews!
-We keep our fellow members lifted and promoted even when
they can’t promote themselves (in the event of personal emergencies, illness,
etc.)
-We have a hard-working Tweet Support Team, promoting our
members and their books daily.
-At RRBC, we believe that “each one should teach
one.” Therefore, we don’t compete against each other.We lift as we climb.
There are so many more awesome ways that being a member of RRBC
has benefitted me and I would love to share them all with you.You have questions?Just ask me!
RRBC is such a fun place to belong!We’re not just about books, you know. We’re
also about making beneficial connections and lifelong friendships!
Today, Monday, 11/15, through
Wednesday, 11/17, are our Recruitment Days and when you join,
please list my name on your membership application as the person who referred
you, as I’ll get a special prize!You
can join here > RaveReviewsBookClub.wordpress.com/rrbc-join-renew
If you have specific questions regarding membership,
please reach out to Paula, our Club Personal Asst, at RRBCInfo@gmail.com.She’s a whole lot of awesome!
I hope to see you on the other side of membership soon and
your books in the catalog!
Thank you for sharing this page to your social media
platforms for me!
Hello, beautiful readers! Welcome to the 10-day blog tour for my newest release, HYPE! I am blessed to have many talented authors hosting my novel on their sites for this tour. Please click each day on the author's name and visit the various pages. Each day will give you new insight on the story. While you are there, take a look around at the hosting blog because each site is fabulous!
GIVEAWAY: Three (3) e-book copies of Hype. Comment on any (or all) pages for a chance to win!
Congratulations, winners!
(I'm in a giving mood, so I've chosen two extra winners. I will reach out to each of you through Twitter, your web site, or your email address.)
Elizabeth Gauffreau
Roberta Eaton Cheadle
Jill Weatherholt
Jacquie Biggar
Jacqui Murray
I look forward to interacting with each of you throughout the tour. Enjoy!
Hello, beautiful readers! It is with great excitement I share with you the cover for
my newest novel, Hype. Today is Release Day, so I thought I'd take a moment to discuss why I chose this cover.
It took many rough drafts before my book cover designer and I settled on
this one. It isn’t easy creating a book cover, especially when you are not a
graphic designer. Luckily, Tatiana was able to find images that truly portray
my characters. I was also blessed to have the help of Rene Pimentel, a professional
photographer, who helped edit the silhouette to make it perfect.
Meet Cici. She is the confident, sassy cheerleader on the
left. She’s a junior in high school and is loving every minute of it. She’s in complete
control of her life. So, when I thought of portraying her, I wanted to show her
personality along with the role she most identifies with in the story.
Meet Gabriella, Gaby for short. Everyone at school calls her
Grub. She’s a loner and prefers it that way. She’s considered the social
pariah, and everyone stays away from her. She only wears shades of black. When
we found this picture, I loved it. Everything about her says, “Stay away, or
deal with the consequences.”
The silhouette was the most difficult to choose because it
needed to evoke fear and helplessness. The duct tape over the mouth represents the
inability to speak the truth. Hopefully, it captures that essence for all of
you.
And finally, let’s talk about the title, Hype. The title
came to me almost immediately after I heard Cici’s voice. When she said, “I don’t get all the hype
about having sex before graduation,” the whole storyline laid itself out for
me. Hype means to stimulate or to enliven. It can also mean to put on or
deceive. Both of those definitions can apply to this story, so it’s perfect.
I wrote the first draft of this story ten years ago. It's been a work of heart, and I can't wait to hear your thoughts on it. In a few days, I will have a 10-day book tour in honor of the ten days Hype sat on the shelf waiting to be published. Stay tuned! :-)
Hello, beautiful readers! Today, I have the pleasure of sharing with you the work of an incredible author, Randy Overbeck as part of his Haunted Shores Mysteries blog tour. I have read Blood on the Chesapeake and can attest to its great storyline. :-)
GIVEAWAY: $25 Amazon Gift Card & 1 e-book or paperback copy of one book in the Haunted Shores series (Winner's choice). Simply leave a comment below for your chance to win!
What do most authors crave?
When a writer sits down at his
computer and types up a few hundred pages of his imagination, what is he hoping
for? When an author takes a risk and sends her “new baby” out into the harsh
light of the world, what are her expectations?
Well, he or she hopes to have
created the great American novel, become rich and famous like James Patterson
or Stephanie Evanovich and make gazillions of dollars.
But, when any serious writer
eschews such impossible fantasies and re-enters the real world, what is his actual
goal for any manuscript? If he’s lucky and perhaps possesses more than a
modicum of talent, what he longs for is for readers to savor his work and for his
novels to achieve recognition from knowledgeable reviewers in the profession.
But with the tsunami of books
cascading down upon readers and reviewers—three hundred thousand new titles a
year in the U. S. at last count—this aspiration is a high hill to scale. To
capture readers’ eyes and attain even a bit of notice from professionals is a
daunting task.
That’s why the remarkable success
of the books in my series, the Haunted Shores Mysteries, amazes and humbles me.
In the first entry, BLOOD ON THE CHESAPEAKE (2019), Darrell leaves his hometown
for the Eastern Shore where he lands a great teaching job, becomes a winning
coach and even falls in love. But he is also stalked by an angry ghost whose
murder thirty years earlier reveals an ugly side of the resort town. This first
book won over readers and even captured a national award. Then, last month
BLOOD became a #1 Amazon and B & N Best Seller! WOW!
“An absolutely
chilling ghost story wrapped around an even scarier piece of history - or
perhaps it’s the other way around.”★★★★★—Chanticleer
Reviews
That was followed by CRIMSON AT
CAPE MAY (2020) released right in the middle of the pandemic. The second book takes
Darrell to a beautiful Jersey shore town, which has been welcoming guests for
more than 150 years. He’s there to help coach a summer football camp and
introduces Erin to the lovely beach town with its scores of unique Victorians. Only,
he learns Cape May is also the most haunted town on the East Coast and Darrell
ends up with his own personal ghost this time—a bride killed on her wedding
night. CRIMSON surprised even me by collecting three national awards and stacks
of five star reviews as well as loads of new fans as well joining BLOOD in the
Amazon Bestseller category.
“I loved everything about this book. As a
ghost story combined with a mystery, a romance, a social injustice and stunning
historical details, CRIMSON AT CAPE MAY has something for everyone.”★★★★★—ReadersView
This fall the Wild Rose Press launched
#3 in the series, SCARLET AT CRYSTAL RIVER (2021). Darrell’s tale continues,
this time with his new wife, Erin. The couple heads to the Gulf Coast of
Florida for a romantic honeymoon. But when Darrell tries to share some
memorable experiences with Erin like swimming with the manatees and playing in
the warm ocean waves in December, their fun is derailed. The desperate ghosts
of two murdered children haunt Darrell, begging him to find justice for them
and their parents. SCARLET also includes some nice touches of the Christmas
season. Even before this book was released, SCARLET has garnered several five
star reviews and a national award—the Gold Award from Literary Titan.
“SCARLET AT CRYSTAL RIVER is
a suspenseful paranormal novel with compelling characters and an enigmatic
mystery that drives the story to a riveting conclusion.Overbeck
is a master.”★★★★★—Literary
Titan
If you haven’t had the chance to check
out one of the award-winning Haunted Shores Mysteries, there is no time like
the present.
Author/Book Info—SCARLET
Bio
Dr. Randy Overbeck
is an award-winning educator, author and speaker. As an educator, he served
children for four decades in a range of roles captured in his novels, from
teacher and coach to principal and superintendent. His thriller, Leave No
Child Behind (2012) and his recent mysteries, the Amazon No. 1 Best Seller,
Blood on the Chesapeake,Crimson at Cape May and Scarlet at
Crystal River have earned five star reviews and garnered national awards
including “Thriller of the Year--ReadersFavorite.com, “Gold Award”—Literary
Titan, “Mystery of the Year”—ReadersView.com and “Crowned Heart of
Excellence”—InD’Tale Magazine. As a member of the Mystery Writers of America,
Dr. Overbeck is an active member of the literary community, contributing to a
writers’ critique group, serving as a mentor to emerging writers and
participating in writing conferences such as Sleuthfest, Killer Nashville and
the Midwest Writers Workshop. When he’s not writing or researching his next
exciting novel or sharing his presentation, “Things Still Go Bump in the
Night,” he’s spending time with his incredible family of wife, three children
(and their spouses) and seven wonderful grandchildren.
All
Darrell Henshaw wanted was to enjoy his honeymoon with his beautiful wife,
Erin, in the charming town of Crystal River on the sunny Gulf Coast of Florida.
Only a pair of ghosts decide to intrude on their celebration. And not just any
ghosts, the spirits of two young Latino children. Unwilling at first to derail
the honeymoon for yet another ghost hunt, Darrell finally concedes when
a painting of the kids comes alive, weeping and pleading for his help.
When he and Erin track down the
artist, they discover the children’s family were migrant workers the next
county over. But when they travel there, their questions about the kids gets
their car shot up and Erin hospitalized. Torn between fear and rage, Darrell
must decide how far he will go to get justice for two young children he never
even knew.
Tagline
Darrell and Erin thought they were
heading to Florida for a carefree honeymoon, but the ghosts of two immigrants
children haunt them, pleading for help.
Trailer
Review Blurbs
“Scarlet at Crystal River is an eerie paranormal
mystery I couldn't stop reading. Randy Overbeck is a masterful writer of the
paranormal, drawing the reader in before instilling shivers down the spine. 5+
stars." –N. N. Light's Book Heaven
“A rollercoaster of a mystery, hurtling up and down hills
and sharp corners until the very end, when the reader is left slightly
breathless, waiting for their hearts to beat back to a normal rhythm.★★★★★—ReadersView
“Scarlet at Crystal River is a suspenseful paranormal novel with compelling characters and
an enigmatic mystery that drives the story to a riveting conclusion.Overbeck is a master at building tension–-this is easily a one-sitting
read.”★★★★★—Literary
Titan
“This is another masterpiece from Randy
Overbeck. His excellent writing style has left me speechless for one more time.
He writes in a way that makes you feel what the characters feel and you have no
choice but to partake in the journey with them.” ★★★★★—Ioanna’s
Reviews, Greece
To follow along with the rest of the tour, please visit the authors' tour page on the 4WillsPublishing site. If you'd like to book your own blog tour and have your book promoted in similar grand fashion, please click HERE. Thanks for supporting this author and his work!
