The best part of this socially connected world of ours is that we get to meet neat people without ever getting out of our pajamas — and there’s no innuendo or impropriety about it.

Okay, maybe it’s lazy.

There’s nothing lazy about Marat M’saev Daan, who is a repeat spotlight holder — not a hog. Never! Just a driven, accomplished writer who spends more time writing than I currently do (it’ll all be worth it as West of Mars grows. You’ll see!).

So here’s Marat with the song that inspired his new book, Carnival Rust.

Although this book was given name by same named song by Poets of the Fall, song that reminds me most of this book will be “Diggin’ in the dirt” by Stefanie Heinzmenn. A lot of bad emotions have moved me to write this book and in the end after every dark night, there is a new dawn with sun rising that promises us a new smile on our faces that will make us even more beautiful that we were the day before.

Ready for what it’s about? I sure am. With a title like Carnival Rust, you know it’s going to be good.

Pain, sorrow, anger, passion are emotions that moved writer to start writing this book. Sometimes, when we are cornered and don’t know what to do we have those emotions and want to burn the whole world. A moment later like rain is falling all over us and we feel like unprotected robots exposed to ones nemesis creating of us “Carnival of rust”.

After long thinking, I have sorted this book under poetry cause no matter how short stories are, their form belongs the most under this category.

Nice, huh?

Need some buy links? I sure do.
For now, book is available on CreateSpace and Amazon (both US and Europe), but I am working on it to publish this book on few other places. Buying links are:
CreateSpace
Amazon US
Amazon Europe

Connect with my bud Marat, why don’t you?
Website
Facebook page
Twitter
Blogger –
GoodReads

It looks like word of the Featured New Book spotlight is spreading. I’ve got a bunch of posts to bring you guys — keep it up! I love the deluge.

Today’s author is Frederick Brooke, who I’d never met before he dropped into my inbox. Good to know you, sir! After reading this post, I hope you’ll all join me in hoping Frederick isn’t a stranger in West of Mars-ville.

His new book is called Collateral Damage, and here’s Frederick himself to tell you more:

The whole time I was writing COLLATERAL DAMAGE, I had Eminem’s song “I’m Not Afraid” going through my head. I finally realized why when I was working on a scene with Michael Garcia. Michael has had some of the same troubles with drugs and anger and abandonment that Eminem riffs about.

I guess I had to
Go to that place to get to this one
Now some of you
Might still be in that place
Just lettin you know that you’re not alone
If you’re tryin to get out
Holla if you feel like you’ve been down the same road
Just follow me, I’ll get you there

If he could, Michael would follow. Eminem captures the desperation and helplessness of an addict, and the rage and complete lack of self-esteem that so often go with it. Michael would follow if he had someone to follow – but isn’t that how it is with anthems like “I’m Not Afraid”? They inspire us. The singer can also be the leader we follow, if only virtually.

The language of the song is beautiful, arresting, a vision:

Okay, quit playing with the scissors and shit and cut the crap
I shouldn’t have to rhyme these words in a rhythm for you to know it’s a rap
You said you was the king, you lied through your teeth
For that fuck your fillings, instead of getting crowned you’re getting capped

Lord Byron himself would have admired Eminem’s wordplay, weaving a jumble of images involving the creative dentistry of rappers, their visions of royalty, and the rituals of kings and crowns. Through his own art, Eminem finds his own way out of the deadly maze of drug addiction.

My character, Michael Garcia, is also a poet. I don’t want to spoil the story by quoting the whole poem here. But the question of whether Michael will find his way out of the maze through art or any other means is one essential element in the book COLLATERAL DAMAGE.

Michael and his friend Husker put on a big reunion of Iraq War veterans in the book, and they call the party “Collateral Damage.” When Annie, his old lover, asks him how they came up with that name, Michael doesn’t have to think long about the answer. “It’s who we are. What we are. They had their war, they got what they were after. Think about how we’re damaged.” To which Annie Ogden says: “I’m not damaged. Speak for yourself.”

Ooh, love it — and I’m not much of an Eminem fan, as catchy as his music is.

Ready for the blurb?

Annie Ogden is back. Like it or not, she’s about to learn about Collateral Damage.

A love story.

When Annie Ogden’s ex-boyfriend Michael Garcia reappears, she has to confront a lie dating back to her time in Iraq. Will she go back to hot, passionate Michael, who has developed a disturbing interest in meth, or stick with her pudgy PI partner and fiancé, Salvatore?

A murder.

The calculus changes when Michael is arrested for murder. When Salvatore refuses to help investigate, Annie is forced to try to find the killer herself. Meanwhile her sister’s creepy husband, Todd, is making more of an ass of himself than usual.

An obsession.

Annie’s problems with three obsessive men suddenly pale in significance when she realizes the killer has set his sights on her. Having changed his mind about helping her, Salvatore finds himself in a desperate race against time, the only man capable of finding the killer before it’s too late.

And some links for you, too!

First off, the all-important buy link. It’s a Kindle-only book, so us without Kindles are out of luck (bummer).

Now, on to the social fun!
email
Twitter
Amazon page
Goodreads
Facebook:
my blog
Google +

Sometimes, you guys find me and I never find out how. I see this all the time on the editing side, but I’m even more thrilled when you guys spread the Featured New Book word and new authors find me. Today’s author, MaryAnn Kempher, falls into that category.

So let’s get busy.

What song makes you think of your book?

It’s an older song, called Friends and Lovers by Gloria Loring. It’s perfect for my book. It’s about two best friends fighting the romantic love that’s growing between them, and finally realizing they can be both–friends and lovers.

Why do I think I remember this song? Wow. Making me feel my age here!

Book blurb:

Instead of feeding her late-night appetite, a midnight food run nearly gets 28-
year-old Katherine O’Brian killed. She’s the only person to see the man who
brutally murdered a local woman, and the killer is hell-bent on making sure she
doesn’t talk.

Scott Mitchell left a broken engagement behind when he moved to Reno, and the
last thing he needs is more melodrama. But when he and Katherine are paired
for a college project, that’s what he gets. It can be very distracting when
someone is out to kill your lab partner. Together, they try to figure out what the
police haven’t been able to—the identity of the murderer. Passion flares, but with
Katherine’s life in danger, romance seems like more than a bad idea.

Scott and Katherine will face jealousy, misunderstandings, lust, and rivals, not to
mention attempted murder—and all before their first real date.

This book can be purchased at Amazon.

Connect with MaryAnn:
Twitter
Facebook
Goodreads
Pinterest

And we’re back! (Did we actually take a week off? Feels like we did.)

As always, I’m trying to spread my net wide and far, and so I reach out to authors when I can. Today’s author is one person I reached out to a few months back. Welcome PJ Adams, everyone!

What song makes you think of your book?
Something, by the Beatles – not actually the Beatles version, but a lovely live version by George Harrison and Eric Clapton

My new novel, The Object of His Desire, is the story of a young American woman living in London and her encounters with a wealthy and powerful member of the English aristocracy. He’s a man who’s used to getting what he wants, but also a man with dark secrets buried away in his past. She’s drawn to him, even though she knows she shouldn’t be; he’s drawn to her, even though he never allows people to get too close to him. There *is* something in the way she moves that attracts him like no other lover, something in the way he woos her…

The song is about that indefinable something – you know it’s there, even though you might struggle to put it into words. It just is. And that’s exactly what there is between Trudy and Will in my novel: despite all the objective understanding that any relationship would be a bad thing, there’s something drawing them relentlessly together.

And apart from it being a truly beautiful love song, it was one of those moments when George Harrison was given the spotlight in the Beatles, and even though I’m a child of the 1970s and I probably shouldn’t have a Beatle of my own, if ever I did it would be George.

Cool! The era of lusting for a Beatle isn’t over. I thought I was too young for it. Glad to see I’m not.

BLURB:

The Object of His Desire by PJ Adams

When Trudy goes to her estranged brother’s wedding, the last thing she expects is one of those moments: a handsome stranger, their eyes meeting across a crowded room… a tempting, but dangerous stranger. Determined to find out more, she discovers that dark secrets bind him to her brother; she also learns that he’s the kind of man who gets what he wants, and what he wants right now is Trudy.

Introducing her to the world of the super-wealthy, he showers her with designer clothes, shoes, and diamonds, whisking her off to dinner dates by private jet… what more could a girl want?

But as she finds out more about him, Trudy begins to wonder if she can ever love a man she can never fully trust. A man involved in murder and blackmail, who may just be using her as an alibi. Should she run or let herself fall for him? And will he give her a choice?

A passionate erotic romance, where scandals buried away in the past lead to murderous intrigue in the present, in the intensely steamy world of the super-wealthy and powerful.

BUY LINKS:
Amazon US
Amazon UK

and in paperback…
CreateSpace
Amazon US
Amazon UK

Other links:
Web/blog
Facebook
Twitter

I know cool people.

It really IS that simple. I know cool people. Lots of them. And M. E. Sutton is one of them. Best of all, I know her in real life, too. She’s one of my more favorite real-life people, and we simply don’t get to spend enough time together.

It ought to go without saying that when her new book came out, I was all too glad to have her swing by and tell us what song makes her think of her book.

What song makes me think of this book? I’d have to say “Breakaway” by Kelly Clarkson. It is from the Princess Diaries 2 soundtrack. They play it during the parade, where Mia goes up to a little girl at the children’s home who is being bullied by some older kids. Mia asks if the girl wants to be a princess, and she’s says, “I’m too little.” And Mia says they are all princesses and leads them in the parade. For me that kind of encapsulates the whole series message of Hero’s Sword, that even when the world is trying to put you down and keep you in the place others have decided you should be, you have to “break away,” spread your wings, and fly – be true to yourself.

“I’ll spread my wings and I’ll learn how to fly
I’ll do what it takes til’ I touch the sky
I’ll make a wish
Take a chance
Make a change
And breakaway”

Your favorite metal head here has to admit a soft spot for Kelly Clarkson…

But… M E, what’s the book about?

Eighth-grader Jaycee Hiller is beginning to fear she only imagined her trip to Mallory. But when a rainy afternoon leaves her with hours of playing Hero’s Sword, her favorite video game, she finds herself drawn back into the game – literally.

STORM CLOUDS is the exciting second volume of the HERO’S SWORD saga – chronicling Jaycee Hiller’s trials in eighth grade, and her exciting adventures in Mallory, the setting of her favorite video game. Jaycee enters the video game realm via a special controller and is caught up in the action of this fantasy realm.
In STORM CLOUDS, a valuable jewel belonging to the neighboring estate of Devin, the Sapphire Star, is missing, stolen at the Fall Consortium. Lady Starla stands accused of the theft. Devin’s demands are clear: return the Star or they will take it back by force.

Now it’s up to Lyla Stormbringer to find the Star and the thief. before Mallory finds itself at war.

You know you need a copy…
Amazon:

Kobo

iBooks

B&N

Goodreads

Website

Rock fiction alert! Rock Fiction alert!!!

Why Anne-Marie and I haven’t hooked up sooner is beyond me. I think we’ve tried and it’s been me who’s dropped the ball. It’s not for lack of intent, but for lack of time, I promise!

So Anne-Marie is here today to talk to us about the latest entry into her quadrilogy, Behind Blue Eyes. This volume is called Let My Love Open the Door and why do I feel the need to windmill my strumming arm and smash a guitar before handing things over to a deaf, dumb, and blind kid who plays a mean pinball?

On that note… Here’s Anne-Marie.

What a wonderfully easy question when your book series is based on a famous song. Or is it? The quadrilogy is called Behind Blue Eyes, and so one might be tempted to start humming along with Roger Daltrey or even delve deep into Pete Townshend’s more haunting solo version. But then, you start to think about the three books you have published so far, each with its own Who-related title, and choosing between Love Reign o’er Me, Love Ain’t for Keeping, and finally, Let My Love Open the Door seems impossible. They’re all great songs, and they each have a role to play in telling Ian Harrington’s story. Ian is the main character across the four-part rock and roll saga, a talented but troubled young rock musician who has fled his homeland to start a new life, burdened by a terrible secret and wanting a career in music. He is at once a bad man and sad man, a creation of my imagination from when I first heard the song Behind Blue Eyes in the late 1970s. I threw him into the Toronto of that time, added a great cast of characters to complicate his new life, and weaved a rock and roll story with drama, romance, and to quote a reader review, “euphoric highs and startling crashes”. And so we come full circle back to the original song, which was the catalyst and inspiration for the entire tale. I present you the Pete Townshend version, if only to give full credit to the man who started me on this writing journey.

Ooh, yeah… this is my sorta stuff!! Check OUT this blurb:

It’s 1986. Ian Harrington is living the good life in Toronto: he is the lead singer of Something Else and is raising his six-year-old daughter, Victoria. His life is busy and creatively satisfying, but he has not been able to hold a romantic relationship since Sarah. A chance encounter with a former flame offers the possibility of lasting love, but the liaison is fraught with conflicts and challenges both new and echoed. By following his heart, Ian risks having his world turned upside down. Standing skill threatens far more…

Links!
Behind Blue Eyes: Part Three: Let MyLove Open the Door (paperback)

Lulu author spotlight for Behind Blue Eyes series

General Amazon page

Book 3 (Let My Love Open the Door) Amazon link

Author link for Kobo

Book 3 Kobo link

Personal links:
Author website

Facebook page

Twitter @BadManSadMan

Goodreads:

I first came across Lily Harlem’s name because she’s written a Rock Fiction trilogy (Mattress Music, Mirror Music, Menage a Music). I haven’t read them yet, but hope to.

However, SHE came across ME while looking for some promo for her new book, Breathe You In. And the Featured New Book is here for exactly that: Promo for your new book.

(If this isn’t showing right, yell at Tim at Tech No Riot. He’s supposed to fix this stuff for me.)

So… Lily, tell me what song makes you think of Breathe You In?

With Or Without You by U2

Breathe You In is a story that has been lurking in my mind for years. Before I became an author of erotic romance I worked in London as a nurse. As part of a post graduation course I got to spend time observing cardiac surgery which looking back was when this story was born. Because it wasn’t just the surgeries that fascinated me but also caring for these patients after life saving and life changing operations.

Seeing a chest wide open, a heart beating, being repaired or even transplanted held something magical for me, so much more so than a hip replacement or a bowel operation. I remember chatting to a woman in the post-op ward about her operation and she was completely fascinated that I’d observed her surgery and actually seen her heart. In fact she made me come and speak to her husband about it when he visited that evening. He looked at me as though I’d told him I’d seen a fairy at the bottom of the garden. I’ll never forget that look on his face.

Why? Because the heart is the foundation for our lives, not just the chemical, electrical and engineering qualities it possesses, but also the way we refer to it when we love someone. It’s more than that even, we say it breaks when someone leaves us, pines for a lover we are separated or beats more quickly when we’re held, kissed, made love to.

The heart is an organ referred to more than any other in our body in our day-to-day lives. When I started outlining the plot of Breathe You In it was these thoughts that kept playing with the threads of the storyline. I became fascinated by the thought of a girl obsessing over the recipient of her dead husband’s heart. She wanted to see him, to know where the heart that loved her so much was when she went to sleep at night. It’s the one piece of him that she cannot stop thinking about. I guess that’s where that haunting U2 song, With Or Without You comes into play. The words, not being able to live with someone or without them worked for the situation my heroine found herself in. She’s torn up with grief but also fascinated to find the one part of her husband that is still alive, still breathing, beating. I even managed to give the songs references to thorns into her thoughts at the end of the first chapter.

In the UK donor families and recipients can communicate and even meet but it has to be mutually agreed and coordinated through a liaison officer. In my story, Katie, can’t wait, she has to see the donor, but that’s it, just see him from a distance, and she hires a private detective to seek him out. But when Ruben Strong turns out to be not only fit and healthy but gorgeous and charming things start to get complicated, not least because she doesn’t tell him what he has inside of his chest that she’d come looking for.

It was this complex tangle of emotions that for me, as a writer, were so much fun to play with, and satisfying too, because I didn’t want this to be a sad story, I wanted it to be about overcoming tragedy, trauma, getting out of the lowest point of your life and finding love and happiness, passion and laughter once more. It’s an emotional tale that is fun and sexy too, my very favorite sort to read and write, and I even managed to get the song With Or Without You into the novel because U2 (like me) were her husband’s favourite band and that leant itself to a mention.

One other song features in the book, The Police, Every Breath You take. That worked so well for my hero and heroine’s first dance, in fact my beta reader wrote a comment when checking through the manuscript that she was crying with joy at that point and had to walk away and compose herself before she could carry on reading – which I took as a compliment!

Reviews so far are very positive, much to my delight, and out of my 30 novels and short novels that I’ve published, this one is certainly a story that tugged my heartstrings when writing it – pun intended. I hope you’ll check out Breathe You In. Thanks so much for reading about the special songs which inspired several scenes within this story and have a wonderful day.

Yowza! How can you resist after THAT??? I sure can’t.

Need a blurb? Sure, you do!

Soul-aching desire was just the beginning!

If the road to Heaven starts in Hell then I was ready to start climbing my way out and Ruben Strong was the man to accompany me. With his devastating good looks, seductively sexy charm and lust for adrenaline he was sure to make it a sensual and erotic experience as well as one to re-awake the passionate, throw-caution-to-the-wind woman I’d once been.

I’d given Ruben something, though, without him realizing, and that gift had come from the man I’d loved before. But I couldn’t tell Ruben. I had to keep that a tight secret even as our naked bodies wound together, sought out pleasure and hit the dizzy heights of ecstasy as one. Because Ruben had my husband’s heart, literally, and that heart was still in love with me, so it seemed, and now I was in love with Ruben.

Emotions tangled with bliss, and fears were locked away as I surrendered to the touch of Ruben’s hands, the taste of his skin and the sounds of his pleasure. I couldn’t deny that Ruben had brought me back to life the same way I had him and there was no way I was giving up that feeling, not for anyone.

How about some links?

Amazon US
Amazon UK

(Not available anywhere other than Amazon)

Lily Harlem Links
Website
Blog
Twitter
Facebook
Facebook author page
Pinterest
Goodreads
Google+

Ash Krafton and I met online — and THEN discovered we’re both part of one of the best writing groups out there, Pennwriters. (You, too, can be a Penn. State residency is not required!)

We share many loves, me and Ash. And you bet your booties I’d love to edit her work — not because it needs it but so I get a first look at it!

She’s got a new book out as of May 7, so she’s here to tell you about it… at least, all about how it relates to music.

Ash? Take it away, girlfriend:

So, thanks for stopping by, rockers and readers. I hope you want to know the song behind my latest novel, BLOOD RUSH (Demimonde #2) because I really want to share my muses with you.

Susan already knows what kind of music I have playing in my head all the time. We share a lot of the same favorites. In fact, when she’s not around, I call her my “sister from another mister”. We are two of the same limited edition. 🙂

This book doesn’t have only one song, though. That’s because, at this point in the story, everyone has their own number.

I’ve been “living” inside the Books of the Demimonde for so long now that my characters are absolutely autonomous. See, there is Sophie, whose song is “Not Enough” by Lacuna Coil (Shallow Life, 2009) It’s her plea to her estranged Demivampire lover, Marek, who may be too far Fallen to come back to her. “I don’t want to be safe/ I want to go down with you/ Together, we will find a way to come back.”

Then there is Marek, whose song is darker and considerably more out of control–and one snap away from the jaws of insanity. The song that is Marek’s…”This Is How I Disappear” by My Chemical Romance (Black Parade, 2006) “And without you is how I disappear/ And live my life alone forever now” Gerard Way always has a way of sounding both maniacal and loveable, doesn’t he?

And Rodrian. Ah, adorable, luscious Rodrian who is too desirable to know what’s good for him. He’s trying to watch over his brother’s girl, but men will be men…and Sophie’s blood is too powerful for him to resist for very long.

Rodrian’s song is my special gift to Susan because I’d bet dollars to drumsticks that she’d never heard it before: “Beautiful” by Spyair (Rockin’ the World, 2011). They’re a J-Rock band (short for Japanese rock) that my teen daughter adores. They’ve struck the proverbial chord with me even though I have NO IDEA what they are saying.

Songs aren’t only about the lyrics, you see. It’s the music behind the words and the voice that sings the words. Spyair’s vocalist, Ike, has a delicious rocker’s voice, with the right balance of melody and strain that lets you see him in your head. He is putting every inch of his soul into that song and soul is absolutely instrumental to the survival of my Demivamps.

So, who knows–Ike might be singing about a 2011 Camaro or the Grand Canyon or the Doctor’s Tardis in the song “Beautiful”–and those are all truly beautiful things–but the soul with which he sings it can only be born of a desperate desire for an unattainable woman.

For the record? Ash is dead-on right. Never even HEARD of Spyair before now! Not terribly surprising, though: I don’t know a lot about Japanese rock.

Need to know more about the book and this world? I do. Here’s the blurb:

Sophie doesn’t believe in happily ever after. These days, she’d settle for alive after sunrise.

Advice columnist and newly-appointed oracle to the demivampire, Sophie Galen has more issues than a Cosmo collection: a new mentor with a mean streak, a werewolf stalker she can’t shake, and a relationship with her ex’s family that redefines the term complicated. And then there’s her ex himself, who is more interested in playing leader of the vampire pack than in his own salvation.

Becoming a better oracle is tough enough, but when Sophie encounters a deadly enemy – one she never dreamed of facing – it will take everything she’s ever learned in order to survive.

I’ve been friends with author Shelley Munro since… forever. Or since not long after I began blogging. Take your pick; sometimes, they feel the same.

So I’m more than glad to host her today to talk about her first-ever self-published book, One Night of Misbehavior. Let’s get right to it.

Although I love music I tune out during writing, which means special playlists for my characters or work in progress are wasted. A bomb going off might get a notice, but songs on the radio or iPod, not so much. Susan’s question about one song to fit my story One Night of Misbehavior, a modern retelling of Cinderella, put me in panic-mode. Did the woman know she was putting me under so much pressure?

A few weeks ago I attended a birthday party with a 80s rock theme. We dressed in costumes—hello Cyndi Lauper—and had a ball revisiting our teens with classic rock blasting in the background. Ever since that party I’ve had a couple of earwigs—really bad earwigs that just won’t leave me alone. When I started thinking about my story and the earwig struck I thought maybe it was kismet.

We meet Charlotte Dixon, our modern day Cinderella, just as she’s starting to rebel against her future in household management. One of my earwigs is We’re Not Gonna Take It by Twisted Sister. They’re rebelling and so is Charlotte, which means this song works for her because she’s not gonna take it anymore.

Meantime I need to foist my other earwig off on someone because Def Leppard keep wanting to Pour Some Sugar on ME, and it’s slowly sending me mad!

Yeah, Joe Elliot and crew can do that… Both songs are classic, though. Good choices, Shelley!

Need more details about the book?

He wears his scars on the outside. She keeps hers safe inside.

Charlotte Dixon ignores her stepmother’s edict and, in an act of disobedience, attends one of the social events of the year—a masquerade costume ball. Charlotte’s naughtiness escalates when she dances and smooches with a sexy mystery man. The night of anonymous passion that follows makes her yearn for a different life, but the next day she’s back to her dull routine of household management.

Advertising tycoon, Ash Marlborough is about to set a private investigator on the trail of his nameless princess when she waltzes right into his place of work. Charlotte is shocked to meet her masked man in the flesh, and even more perturbed when he asks her out on a date. Despite craving another night of sexy loving, she doesn’t have time for a man, not when she wants to reinvent herself and grasp a new, improved life with both hands. But Ash knows what he wants, and he’s determined to win the heart of his princess. Let the dance of seduction commence.

Shelley’s a master, I’m telling you. Oh, but don’t forget the book’s disclaimer:

Warning: Contains a conniving stepmother, selfish stepsisters, a grandmother with fairy godmother tendencies and a sexy masked man who is willing to face them all for the love of a good woman.

Pick up your copy!
Smashwords (affiliate link)
Kindle
All Romance ebooks
Barnes & Noble
Kobo

Author Links:
WEBSITE
BLOG
AMAZON AUTHOR PAGE
FACEBOOK
GOODREADS
PINTEREST
TWITTER

I belong to a couple of writers’ organizations. Big ones, that have been around a long time. I belong to some newer ones, too, but right now, we’re focusing on Pennwriters, an awesome group of mostly (but not entirely) Pennsylvania writers.

I’m happy to host Alana Lorens today. Her new book, Second Chances, is set here in Da Burgh — that’s Pittsburgh for you not hip enough to know the name of the beloved major city I live near. Second Chances is the second in the Pittsburgh Lady Lawyers series. But I bet you can read this one before picking up the first.

So… Alana, what song makes you think of your book?

Recipe For Love— by Harry Connick, Jr. My 40-something heroine Inessa Regan finally allows herself to give in to her feelings for her much younger Iraq veteran honey Kurt Lowdon, while sitting in the office they share late one night, reviewing secretary resumes, drinking wine and listening to old Harry sing as only he can. She wakes up the next morning singing this song and blushing like a much younger woman, happy in love.

Harry Connick, Junior! Been awhile since I’ve heard his name!

On to the book blurb:

This women’s fiction story begins the day attorney Inessa Regan receives a pink slip after ten years of faithful service. She’s been a mid-level associate her whole career, partners telling her what to do, providing her with an office and everything she needs. Thrown out into the legal world on her own, she doesn’t know how she’ll survive.

Her neighbor brings her first client, Kurt Lowdon, a young Iraq veteran with cancer, who’s looking just to have a will made. Inessa struggles to give Kurt what he needs, and he helps make it easy for her.

Once his immediate needs are met, he takes her under his wing and brings her more clients as well as a place to open an office to see them. Things begin to fall together for her, including a very special friendship with Kurt that becomes something more.

But his past military service, and the friends he’s made there, begin to cause problems for them both, as well as issues his drug-addicted sister delivers to his doorstep. He still hasn’t kicked his cancer, either, and Inessa wonders if falling in love with him is a blessing or a curse.

Here’s the book trailer for SECOND CHANCES

Buy at Amazon
Barnes and Noble

4. Please provide any personal links you’d like to include: your website, your blog, Facebook, Twitter, GoodReads… and/or anything else I may have forgotten

website

Friend me at Facebook

It’s Monday, so you know what that means… Time for a Featured New Book spotlight!

Today it’s author JoAnne Tucker with her poetry book and her mystery, Murder Most Foul. Two books, but only one song. What’s with that?

The song that reminds me of my poetry book is “I want to know what love is.” This is a song about a man searching for true love, and that is what my poetry book is about. It is true love in various forms-love of family, of god, of nature, of personal triumphs and heartbreak. My poetry collection is about my life and all the stages I went through over the years, but it was wonderful even in times of sorrow. I had my future and my family beside me and that is what got me through the bad times. I hope you can use this.

Now, JoAnne didn’t tell me if she was referencing Mariah Carey’s version of Foreigner’s classic, or if she had the rockin’ version in mind, so I’m making the call (sort of!).

Blurb for Murder Most Foul

When two dismembered torsos wash up on the banks of the local river in the small industrial town of Pleasant Valley, residents are horrified. Between contradicting statements, police ineptitude, lust, lies, manipulation, incest, the motorcycle gang The Devil’s Disciples, crooked cops, and a botched crime scene, everyone becomes a suspect.
The young beautiful Jackie Reeves, a registered nurse, believes the killer is a man from her past. She contacts the dangerously handsome FBI Agent Walker Harmon. An arrest is made, but Harmon and Jackie believe an innocent man is being railroaded by local cops. Determined to find the truth, before anymore killings, Agent Harmon and Jackie are forced to run a gauntlet of deep trouble and turmoil, which marks them for death.

Buy link for Murder Most Foul–
Murder Most Foul is a four story anthology. And we know how much Susan likes anthologies!

Buy link for Poems About Life, Love, and Everything in Between

Blurb for Poems About Life, Love, and Everything in Between

Poems About Live, Love, and Everything in Between, is a collection that provides a glimpse into the heart, mind, and soul, of its author. It is a heartwarming read, written with love and respect for others. It was inspired by the authors love of nature, inspiration, spiritualism, personal triumphs and heartbreak, and life in general. Some poems were written in times of sorrow, others in joyous celebration. Life is like that.

My website is Books and Paintings by JoAnne

I can also be found at
Email
Facebook

I love meeting other authors of Rock Fiction. You guys know this: Rather than being threatened or worrying that you’re going to steal my audience, I’m glad there are more and more of us spreading the rocking goodness. If we keep it up — and keep up the excellence — we’ll make Rock Fiction a contender of a genre yet.

That brings me to today’s author: Toni Kenyon, whose bio sounds an awful lot like mine, at least when it comes to rock and roll and kitties. (No, the two are NOT oxymorons. Sheesh.)

Her new book is called Private Love in a Public Place, and here’s the song that makes her think of it:

Better Man by Robbie Williams … “Once you’ve found that lover you’re homeward bound, love is all around, love is all around…”

Robbie’s performance of this song (live at Knebworth) epitomizes the struggle Julian has with Jules the man and Julian the performer. I love this clip and I can’t watch it now without thinking about Jules.

Robbie Williams… not someone I’d have expected from a rocking chick! Just goes to prove that musical tastes, like reading tastes, can’t be defined by genre.

I’m curious about this Jules dude. Are you? Here’s the blurb. That ought to satisfy us both.

Mags O’Brien lives on the alcohol-soaked, drug-enhanced concert circuit, managing out-of-control rocker Julian MacAvoy. She helps him spread his musical gospel to his adoring followers, despite the fast-spinning turnstile on his bedroom door, and the broken hearts he leaves in his wake.

Mags believes she’s immune to Julian’s magnetic personality but when controversy hits the tour, she finds herself in danger of falling at his feet, slave to his appetites and her own desire and need.

Julian refuses to be tamed, but the pressure of the ravenous crowds clamps tighter and tighter around him. His chaotic world starts to crumble when he realizes his motivation to continue touring comes from an unobtainable woman. Can he force her to make the agonizing choice between himself and her estranged husband?

An erotic and candid look at life on the road.

A woman managing an out-of-control, alcohol-soaked rocker… shades of Sharon Osbourne, perhaps? Let’s read it and see!

Buy it here:
Smashwords (Affiliate link. Use it. I need a new roof.)
iBookstore
Amazon

Visit with Toni:
Web
Blog
Facebook
Twitter
Goodreads

I’ve known Jaime McDougall almost since I began blogging. I know she was one of the first folk to ask me to write a guest blog post for her, and I’ve written HOW many since then? (over 50 is the answer, and no, that original blog post isn’t linked to. If you find it, holler, and I’ll link to it.)

So… It’s my pleasure to host Jaime today with her new book, Fading Echoes.

I’ll admit it; I thought way too much about what song reflects my recent release Fading Echoes. I tried to think about what reflects the themes of secrets and lies, what song reflects being haunted by your past… But when I cleared my mind and thought of my main character, Charlotte, the song came to me instantly.

Vindicated by Dashboard Confessional

Why Vindicated? Why would I pick a song attached to one of the Spiderman movies? Well, not because of Spiderman. Rather, the lyrics…

Vindicated, I am selfish, I am wrong, I am right
I swear I’m right, swear I knew it all along
And I am flawed but I am cleaning up so well
I am seeing in me now the things you swore, you saw yourself

When Fading Echoes begins, Charlotte has been trying so hard for so long to be what people want her to be. But as the book progresses, she discovers that being flawed is okay. She struggles to take control of her own life – and to discover what being a pure bred werewolf is all about.

The lines ‘I am right, I swear I’m right, swear I knew it all along’ are especially relevant because Charlotte faces another predicament: she is a werewolf crying wolf. Intensely focused on her past, Charlotte knows that the pack is under threat. But, knowing her obsession, no one is willing to listen. Even her best friend, Tom, is beginning to think she should just let it go.

She still has hope that she will find a way to prove that they are in danger, but is she putting her hope – and trust – into the right people?

Slight hope dangles on a string
Like slow spinning redemption

Ooh, yum, right??? Damn, I like this song. I’m putting it on my iTunes wishlist as I type. (am I really out of it that I’m still iTunes and not Spotify?)

Ready for the blurb?

In a town full of werewolves and legends, Charlotte Peterson is unique. As the first ‘pure-bred’ werewolf in Echo Falls, she struggles to fit in even amongst her pack.

When Dr. Adam Baker arrives in town, Charlotte is forced to balance their growing friendship with her need to keep the pack’s secrets – and her own. But she is not the only one keeping secrets and Adam’s past could threaten them all.

That is not the only danger. Compass, the genetic research company intent on isolating the ‘werewolf gene’, will do whatever it takes to gain the final advantage over all werewolves. Compass CEO Calvin Stephens has a very special plan in mind for Charlotte…

Time is running out for Charlotte and the pack as Calvin’s plans near completion. In a town where secrecy is the key to survival, can Charlotte trust Adam to help her? Or has she revealed the deadliest secret of them all?

Go pick up a copy or three!
Amazon
Smashwords

Find me at:

Inkyblots
Facebook

Remember back a few weeks, when I mentioned I’d be hosting Phyllis Zimbler Miller for a second turn in the spotlight? Well, here we go!

The song “All the Right Moves” by One Republic makes me think of my cozy mystery CAST THE FIRST STONE: A REBECCA STONE MYSTERY because of the theme of competition that runs throughout the book. These lyrics from the song capture this:

“All the right friends in all the right places
“So yeah, we’re going down
“They’ve got
“All the right moves in all the right faces
“So yeah, we’re going down.”

In the story Los Angeles business reporter Rebecca Stone must finally face the fellow Wharton student who broke off their engagement in order for him to focus on making it big on Wall Street. The following words from the song are similar to the thoughts that have plagued Rebecca since then:

“Do you think I’m special?
“Do you think I’m nice?
“Am I bright enough to shine in your spaces?”

Now Rebecca may finally get the answer to these questions.

Ready for the blurb? Here you go…

Cozy mystery CAST THE FIRST STONE introduces shomer Shabbat Los Angeles business reporter Rebecca Stone:

While investigating the murder of a Wharton professor spending the summer term at UCLA, Rebecca Stone must grapple with telling her former fiancé that she has now become an observant Jew.

Kosher recipes from the Jewish holiday book SEASONS FOR CELEBRATION by Rabbi Karen L. Fox and Phyllis Zimbler Miller (available on Amazon) are included in this cozy mystery.
See the followup outing for amateur sleuth Rebecca Stone in TWO BIRDS WITH ONE STONE: REBECCA STONE MYSTERY SHORT STORIES.

You know, I may need to present this to my book club… Hmm….

Pick up your own copy!
Kindle

Main links:
Amazon Author Central
Website
Blog
Twitter
Pinterest
Facebook

The best part of the Internet is that we get to meet and know people from all over the world. This isn’t news to anyone, I know. But I’m old enough that I haven’t stopped being tickled by how easy it is to connect with people in cool parts of the world.

Like Marat M’saev Daan. He’s in Serbia, and while he’s not the first Serb I’ve met (and I count a couple of Croats among my real-life friends, as well), he’s the latest.

His book, Moment of Truth, is a collection of short work that came out a few months ago. That’s still new in my book! (Yeah, that pun was a groaner. I know.)

So… Marat, what song makes you think of your book?

Song that reminds me most of my book is “Where do we draw the line” by Poets Of The Fall. Metaphors in the song and how they are connected to our lives and surroundings reminds me a lot of words I have written and of my way of thinking.

Pretty cool, huh? I’ve heard of Poets of the Fall, but I haven’t heard Poets of the Fall before now. I’m overdue. What a lovely, delicate, yet lush song. Maybe even a bit haunting.

That brings us to the next question. Marat, what’s your book’s blurb?

There’s always been some thinking. Self-knowledge or knowledge of the environment? It often doesn’t matter. Time periods are different, the question is do we recognize them. Our desires, our needs, our truths, it takes courage to admit to ourselves that after a long night, a new sun is born. One story after another, our lives go with hope for a better future. That’s our moment of truth.

“Moment of truth” is a collection of short stories I have written in different times, each one connected to a particular event, my feelings and emotions and/or point of view at that very moment. It has been written in my own symbols and style that I have found most suitable to describe written above.

Go pick up a copy! It’s exclusive on Amazon (I hate exclusives, if I may take a wise woman’s quote out of context).

My personal links are:

Website

Facebook page

Twitter

Blogger

GoodReads

And once you’ve picked it up and read it, how about leaving a few words of review over at GoodReads? Recommend it to your friends, if you’re so inclined. I know Marat will appreciate it!

After I put out my plea last month for folk to step into the Featured New Book spotlight, Shewanda Pugh was one of the brave souls willing to take the plunge.

I appreciate and admire that bravery!

So… Shewanda, what song makes you think of your book?

Without a doubt, it’s One More Night by Maroon 5. Crimson Footprints II: New Beginnings, like the Maroon 5 hit, is a wonderful contradiction, bursting at the seams with the euphoric pull of forbidden love while simultaneously wrangling with reality. Everyone can relate to wanting what we ought not have. And while Adam Levine, mid-delusion, begs for but a single night, the love found in Crimson Footprints II: New Beginnings is far too irresistible for that.

Ooh, irresistible love… I’m all for that!

Ready for the blurb?

An eleven-year-old boy hitchhikes 1500 miles from Bismarck to Miami; a prostitute yearns for escape from a prison of her own making, and the horrible secrets of a long-ago murder are unraveled in the shadows of one woman’s dreams. Lizzie Hammond is an ill-fated whore that believes in little, save her own ultimate demise. Kenji Tanaka is a pseudo-architect, content to hide in the shadows of his family’s overwhelming success. Neither can stand the other. But the appearance of a boy only rumored to be true helps them discover that two unlikely halves can fit together as the perfect whole. For Lizzie Hammond and Kenji Tanaka, redemption is found in the most unlikely of places: each other, even as the world around them disintegrates.

Niiiiccccceeee…. pick up a copy!

Kindle
Amazon
Barnes & Noble
Smashwords (affiliate link)

4. Personal Links:
Twitter: https://twitter.com/ShewandaP
Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/Author.ShewandaPugh
Goodreads: https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/17322100-crimson-footprints-ii
www.ShewandaPugh.com

Whenever I finish editing something, I offer a day in the Featured New Book spotlight to my clients. And I love it when they take me up on it; it gets to show off how nicely they shine after I’m done with them.

Carol Brill is one of those cool folk. And here she is today to tell us about Peace by Piece, a book that’s achingly beautiful, and not just because I had a small hand in shaping it.

I am excited to visit Susan’s Author Interview and look forward to your comments and a chance to chat.

Susan’s question “What song makes me think of your book?” is simple—“Seeing you Again,” by Dan Fogelberg.

Peace by Piece is about love in all its many forms—unshakable first love, friendship, family, and the tender love between Maggie, a reserved woman, and Izzie, a motherless little girl. Although there’s no magic or thrill of romance with Izzie’s father, Maggie fools herself into believing loving Izzie and becoming her mother will be enough to finally lock her first love, Thomas, out of her heart.

Fast forward. Maggie has been married for eight years when she and Thomas see each other again at a teacher’s conference a handful of miles from the college town where her heart first came alive, and where it was irrevocably broken.

I’ll turn it over to Maggie for an excerpt from Peace by Piece to help you see why “Seeing You Again, is her song.”

The familiar titles jump out at me, Lonely in Love and A Love Like This and Seeing You Again. There’s no mystery to what Thomas is saying. I know the words to all of these songs by heart.

I close my eyes and rest my head on the steering wheel, full of memories of the Fogelberg concert Thomas took me to as a birthday surprise. My heart aches remembering that night and a love so tender it’s clear to me now nothing else can fill the void losing it left in my heart.

Memories of my first time with Thomas engulf me, how he surprised me on my birthday with tickets to the Dan Fogelberg concert, how after the drive back from Philly, we walked barefoot, hand-in-hand on the moonlit beach, snuggling in the moist sand beside the jetty, the way his thumb traced my bottom lip. Every place our bodies touched was on high volume, his hands on the sides of my face and neck, the muscles in his legs against mine, the boney part of his elbow pressed against my ribs. We seemed to fit together the way no two people ever fit together before.

After seeing Thomas again, can Maggie return to her secure but loveless marriage to Donald? Will she jeopardize her treasured life as Izzie’s mother, the child who has become her own?
What do you think? This time around, should she trust Thomas and follow her heart?

Having read the book, I can attest: this is THE perfect song for this book. Pick up a copy and see why.

Here’s the blurb, if you really need it. You don’t. You want to read this.

PEACE BY PIECE traces the push and pull of a young woman’s life from her coming of age in her college years and through her early thirties. Dealing with unshakable first love, family, relationships, and the difficulties of being a stepparent—all shadowed by the curse of anorexia/bulimia—PEACE BY PIECE is ultimately about complicated second chances and hope.

How about some links?
Carol Fragale Brill’s novel, Peace by Piece is available at:
Createspace
Amazon

Visit Carol at:
Blog/Website
Facebook
Goodreads author profile
the book at Goodreads
Other
Email

I’ve known Phyllis Zimbler Miller online for awhile now. So it’s my honor to host her for not one, but two Featured New Book spotlights. Two separate spotlights, in case any of you are groaning about how long this post will be.

Her new book is called CIA Fall Guy, and here’s what she had to say about the song that makes her think of her book:

The song “The Riddle” from the musical “The Scarlet Pimpernel” (which I saw performed on Broadway many years ago) makes me think of my romantic suspense spy thriller CIA FALL GUY because of these lines in the song:

“Just see how virtue repays you
“Your turn and someone betrays you
“Betray him first
“And the game’s reversed!
“For we all are caught in the middle
“Of one long treacherous riddle
“Can I trust you? Should you trust me too?
“We shamble on through this hell
“Taking on more secrets to sell
“Till there comes a day when we sell our souls away!”

While I won’t say who in the book these lines best represent (that would be giving away too much), I will say that this is a good description of the intrigues in CIA FALL GUY.

How COOl to have some Broadway on my blog! I love it. (As an aside, the original vision for the Trevolution books was to have ShapeShifter bringing a musical to Broadway. That should tell you something about me!)

Here’s the blurb:

When Beth Parsons is summoned to CIA headquarters for the bogus purpose of identifying someone from her past, she realizes she must find out what is really going on. Forced to partner with the man who may have been responsible for her husband’s death, she has to unmask the real traitors or end up as the fall guy.

After the CIA driver who brought her to D.C. is shot and killed, Beth escapes her CIA “babysitter” and sets off to discover why she is suddenly once again in the world of spies and double agents.

Her quest takes her to Europe and then back to the U.S., and pairs her with a mysterious man who may or may not be on her side.

If you like espionage stories and tales of intrigue — especially ones with a dash of romantic suspense, CIA FALL GUY is for you!

Links!
Amazon

website

blog

Twitter

Pinterest

Facebook

I hadn’t expected the spotlight on the Featured New Book to be dark today. Last week’s post prompted four replies… from four great authors whose book (or books) I’d love to feature, only… they didn’t follow the rules. Each of the four sent me an e-mail asking how to do it.

I sent them the same link that was in the post.

This link.

(I have yet to hear from any of the four, which is why you’re not meeting them and their books today. Weird, huh?)

It really is okay if the first contact you have with me is to send me the information I need for the Featured New Book. I know: others might consider it rude, but the information’s right there on the site for a reason. Use it.

I hope many of my author friends will take me up on this — and spread the word.

Really. It’s super if you send me an e-mail that starts, “Hi, Susan. Saw the Featured New Release and here’s my answer to the Famed One Question Interview…”

I can’t feature your new book if you don’t send me any information about it…

Spread the word. The definition of new doesn’t have to be exact… I’ve featured books that have been out a few months.

In the meantime, remember that a few words about any book you read at B&N, GoodReads, Smashwords, or wherever you can are always a great help to an author, big or small!

Here’s the link for the Featured New Book rules.