Friday, September 20, 2013

#BookBlast Cross the Ocean by @hollybushbooks



Holly Bush was born in western Pennsylvania to two avid readers. There was not a room in her home that did not hold a full bookcase. She worked in the hospitality industry, owning a restaurant for twenty years and recently worked as the sales and marketing director in the hospitality/tourism industry and is credited with building traffic to capacity for a local farm tour, bringing guests from twenty-two states, booked two years out.  Holly has been a marketing consultant to start-up businesses and has done public speaking on the subject.



Holly has been writing all of her life and is a voracious reader of a wide variety of fiction and non-fiction, particularly political and historical works. She has written four romance novels, all set in the U.S. West in the mid 1800's. She frequently attends writing conferences, and has always been a member of a writer’s group.



Holly is a gardener, a news junkie, has been an active member of her local library board and loves to spend time near the ocean. She is the proud mother of two daughters and the wife of a man more than a few years her junior.


One randomly chosen commenter will win a $50 Amazon/BN.com gift card.


Blurb:
1871 . . . Worlds collide when American Suffragette, Gertrude Finch, and titled Brit Blake Sanders meet in an explosive encounter that may forever bind them together. Gertrude Finch escorts a young relative to London and encounters the stuffy Duke of Wexford at his worst. Cross the Ocean is the story of an undesired, yet undeniable attraction that takes Blake and Gertrude across an ocean and into each other’s arms.
  
Excerpt:

Blake went to the stables, had his horse saddled, and rode to Anthony’s estate. Maybe Elizabeth will ask me to stay for dinner, he thought. Then she’ll go to bed, and Anthony and I can drink a bottle of brandy and get stewed. He could stay there if he couldn’t ride home. A room was kept ready for him with a fresh change of clothes. Blake smiled and felt better than he had in days.  



As the butler escorted Blake down the hall of Anthony’s home to the drawing room, he heard a loud but feminine . . . snort and Elizabeth’s trill laughter in reply. Damn. He remembered now. A cousin of Elizabeth’s from America, sent as an escort to another cousin, was staying with them. Anthony had described and dreaded the arrival of Cousin Gertrude with horror. A spinster remotely connected to Elizabeth’s father’s side, she was big, bold and here for a month. Her arrival had curtailed Anthony’s visits.

 

Blake stopped and hissed at the butler. “Think I’ve changed my mind, Jenkins. I don’t want to disturb their company.”



“Quite the coward are we, Your Grace? Leave your life-long friend alone with this Amazon from America.” Jenkins stared as he spoke. “In any case they saw you ride up the drive.”



Jenkins spoke his mind to all including Anthony and Elizabeth. There’d be no expecting servile behavior for him. “I’m sure you did not miss the opportunity to point out my arrival,” Blake said.



 “Of course not, Your Grace.” The butler opened the drawing room doors with a flourish. “The Duke of Wexford.”



“Blake,” Anthony said and jumped to pump Blake’s hand. “I am so very happy you are here.”



Blake watched the woman sitting beside Elizabeth stand, and walk across the room to him. She was every inch as tall as he, and Anthony made the introductions. She held out her hand. Blake grasped it and bent to place a kiss there and was surprised when she began to shake it, hitting him squarely in the nose. Blake covered his face with his hand.


“Oh, dear,” Miss Gertrude Finch exclaimed. She threw a look at her cousin Elizabeth.


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Tuesday, September 17, 2013

#BookBlast Janice Lane Palko and her new release Cape Cursed



About the Author: In addition to Cape Cursed, Janice Lane Palko is the author of the romantic comedy St. Anne’s Day and the Christmas novel, A Shepherd’s Song.  She has been a professional writer for nearly 20 years.  During her career, she has written everything from greeting cards to web content and has taught several classes at the local community college including Building English Skills to Creative and Memoir writing.



She is currently on the staff of the website Popular Pittsburgh and has been the executive editor of Northern Connection and Pittsburgh 55+ magazines, where she also contributed to the editorial content, writing her own column and numerous features. Palko has also been a columnist with the North Hills News Record.



Her work has appeared in publications such as The Reader’s Digest, Guideposts for Teens, Woman’s World, The Christian Science Monitor, The Pittsburgh Tribune-Review, and The Pittsburgh Post-Gazette, and her essays have been featured in the books A Cup of Comfort for Inspiration, A Cup of Comfort for Expectant Mothers, and Chicken Soup for the Single’s Soul.



A graduate of Union Institute & University with a B.A. in Writing & Literature, Palko has won several awards for her writing including the prestigious Amy Foundation Award of Merit. Her writings have also garnered accolades at the The Kent State Writer's Conference, and she has been selected as Writer of the Month by Oatmeal Studio greeting cards.



She is at work on her next novel, another romantic suspense entitled Most Highly Favored Daughter.



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Janice will be awarding a $25 gift certificate to the OBXstore to a randomly drawn commenter during the tour, and a paperback of her first novel, St. Anne's Day, to a randomly drawn host (US ONLY).

Blurb:
Bliss Sherman doesn’t believe in curses—that is until she arrives at Cape Destiny, North Carolina.  Bliss comes to the cape determined to make a name for herself and her new firm by accomplishing an incredible engineering feat—moving the Cape Destiny Lighthouse inland before it's swallowed by the Atlantic Ocean.



Bliss, who has struggled with dyslexia, discrimination, and betrayal by her ex-husband and former business partner, Jonathan, faces her greatest challenge when she falls in love with the handsome, mysterious descendant of the lighthouse keepers, Parker Swain, who is vehemently opposed to the lighthouse’s move.



When someone targets Bliss, she begins to wonder if the curse that is rumored to be attached to the lighthouse may be true.  Who is sabotaging her dream?  Who is trying to harm her?  Who wants to kill her?  When all clues point to Parker, she dismisses her suspicions, deciding to trust him and her heart.  But as the evidence mounts against Parker, she begins to doubt not only herself and her heart, but also Parker. 



Can she trust her judgment?  Can she trust Parker?   Most importantly, when she is trapped inside the lighthouse with him during a raging hurricane, can she trust Parker with her life? 



A romantic suspense with all the seaside moody romance of du Maurier’s Rebecca and the spine-tingling thrills that keep you turning the pages, Cape Cursed casts a spell of sensous deception and seductive danger.  A Category 5 of a romantic suspense novel,Cape Cursed, barrels in packing a surge of suspense that knocks you off your feet and a blistering romance that sweeps you up and carries you away. 





Excerpt:


“Destroyer of your lighthouse?” Bliss cried, shocked that Parker had shifted from Southern gentleman to bully so quickly.  “What are you talking about?”



“I’m talking about your jeopardizing a national treasure.”



Bliss was well aware that some of the residents were opposed to the move, but she didn’t expect to be blamed.  “Look, I came down here to save it,” Bliss said, trying not to further raise his ire.  She wanted this move to go smoothly.  Her career was riding on it, and she didn’t need any more enemies.  Jonathan Lavere was enough.



“What do you know about my lighthouse?” Parker asked, puffing out his chest.



“I know that if it’s not moved, it’ll soon be swallowed up by the sea.”



“I don’t believe that.”



She tossed her hair back.  “Have you checked the beach?  There’s only fifteen feet separating it from the Atlantic.”



He sniffed.  “Checked the beach?  I don’t need to check the beach.  I’ve lived here all my life, and I don’t believe it’s worth risking my lighthouse just because some pinhead in the capitol thinks it should be moved.”



“Well, I’ve seen the studies, and I’m telling you, Mr. Swain, one more hurricane and your beloved lighthouse could be washed out to sea.”



Parker swept his hand toward the direction of the beach.  “I know this place.  No one can predict that ocean.  With the next storm, it could very well add ten feet of new sand to the shoreline.”



Bliss sighed impatiently.  “That’s highly unlikely.”



Parker’s soft brown eyes hardened as he glared at Bliss.  “I believe in the unlikely.  I know the impossible happens.”
  
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