#BookBlast for Confessions of a Self-Help Writer by @Ben_DeHaven

A Graduate of Columbia College in Chicago, Benjamin DeHaven keeps his heart in Chicago and his soul in New Orleans. He holds a MBA from Tulane and a film degree from Columbia. Once ejected from a community college for arguing Frost cried out for acceptance in Birches, he has since written screenplays, traded futures in Madrid, and was Editor in Chief of the Nola Shopper Newspaper, a free art newspaper and the 2nd largest monthly paper in the New Orleans, MSA. . He also has a "shout out" in a Jay "Z" Song.

DeHaven, who currently resides in Las Vegas began his writing career with Stone United, a Chicago based Film Company, which works primarily in independent film. As an unknown fiction writer, he feels the best description of himself, is a sarcastic one and is as follows:

Benjamin W. DeHaven was born on a pool table after a Waylon Jennings' concert in 1977. His personal success is outweighed only by his stunning good looks and adherence to unwritten moral guidelines. He has been described as a thinking man's Tucker Max as well as an idiot's Hunter S. Thompson. His goal is to die from an unwavering commitment to be more like Hemingway.

He and Michael Enzo were friends.

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Blurb:

A ghost, a philanthropist, a con man, a devout Catholic, a gigolo, a savior, an heir, a common man, and an addict are just some of the words used to describe Michael Enzo, who some sources credit with ghost-writing more than 108 self-help books on behalf of celebrities, politicians and business leaders. After failing to make what he considered to be a positive impact on society he began to destroy those closest to him including Benjamin DeHaven, the author of this book, and former collaborator. Defrauding an industry for almost 20 years by exploiting people's insecurities and profiting from them, more than likely these friends contributed more to the field of self-help, while profiting from it, than they will ever know. 

Believing they could only understand people's problems by suffering along with them, they lived on the razor's edge. If you've ever picked up a tell-all biography of a celebrity or a title from the self-help section at the bookstore, certainly you would question the source.This is an inside look at the mind of Michael Enzo and it is the author's hope that people will start helping themselves again after reading it. Discover what turns someone from preaching salvation towards seeking its destruction. You won't believe this could be true.

  One randomly chosen winner via rafflecopter will win a $50 Amazon/BN.com gift card.

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#BookBlast: Heart of Christmas by Brenda Novak

New York Times & USA Today Bestselling Author Brenda Novak is the author of more than fifty books. A four-time Rita nominee, she has won many awards, including the National Reader’s Choice, the Bookseller’s Best, the Book Buyer’s Best, the Daphne, and the Holt Medallion. She also runs an annual on-line auction for diabetes research every May at www.brendanovak.com (her youngest son has this disease). To date, she’s raised over $2 million. For more about Brenda, please visit www.brendanovak.com. Or her Facebook page.

Blurb:

Just call her Christmas Eve…

Eve Harmon has always enjoyed Christmas, but this year it reminds her of everything she doesn’t have. Almost all her friends are married now, and that’s what Eve wants, too. Love. A husband and kids of her own. But the B-and-B she manages and even Whiskey Creek, the small Gold Country town where she was born and raised, suddenly seem…confining.

As Eve turns thirty-five, she’s worried that her future will simply be a reflection of her past. She’s dated all the eligible men in the area. There’s no one she could even imagine as a husband—until a handsome stranger comes to town. Eve’s definitely attracted to him, and he seems to have the same reaction to her. But his darkly mysterious past could ruin Eve’s happily ever after—just when it finally seems within reach. Just when she’s counting on the best Christmas of her life!

 

The 12 Days of Christmas Contest 

Where to Buy:

Amazon

Barnes and Noble

iTunes

Excerpt:

Moving slowly to compensate for her hangover, she managed to prop herself against the headboard and, once there, frowned at her bedmate.

Who the heck was he?

She had no idea, but she was relieved to see that he was no bum off the street. He wasn’t even one of those “he looked a lot more attractive last night” kind of pickups everyone joked about. This guy was so far above average that she began to wonder why he wasn’t already taken. Heaven forbid that was the case! She didn’t see a ring on his left hand, which rested on the pillow above his head. But he had to have some story. If he looked this good sleep-tousled, she could only imagine what he’d be like once he had a chance to clean up.

It was his bone structure, she decided. Those pronounced cheekbones. The narrow bridge across his nicely shaped nose. The distinct ridge of his upper eye sockets. He also had a strong chin and a manly jaw, which certainly didn’t detract.

So maybe she couldn’t point to just one or two features. With his long, sandy-colored hair spread across his pillow, he resembled a fallen angel—and his body further enhanced that image. Although bedding covered his lower half—thank goodness—she could see his torso. He was built like a greyhound or panther, lean and sinewy and ideally proportioned with very little body hair. What body hair he did have was golden and downy, as appealing as his tanned skin.

He’d make a nice subject for a painter, she mused, someone looking for refined masculine beauty—a man who could even be called elegant.

But not everything about him was elegant. When she looked closer, she could see that he had some very unusual scars….

What types of injuries could’ve caused those? she wondered. It seemed to her that he’d been shot, and more than once. Several round, bullet-size marks dotted his chest. Then there was a long, jagged scar on his side that must’ve come from something else….

Out of nowhere—he didn’t open his eyes first, so she had no warning—he grabbed her wrists in a crushing grip and slammed her onto her back.

Eve gasped as she stared up at him. Gone was the image of an angel, fallen or otherwise. Shocked at being so easily and unexpectedly overpowered, she couldn’t even scream. His fierce expression, as if he was intent on causing her bodily harm, made it worse.

Had she brought home a homicidal maniac? Was he about to kill her?

The terror that surged up must’ve shown on her face because he suddenly came to his senses. He gave his head a shake. His expression cleared and, letting go, he eased off her and slid back onto his side of the bed.

“Sorry about that. I thought…” His words trailed off, and he covered his eyes with one arm as if he needed a moment to pull himself together.

Her heart was now pounding in unison with her head. But once she could speak somewhat normally, she prompted him to finish his sentence. “Thought what?”

His lips turned down. “Never mind. I was dreaming.”

She pressed a hand to her chest as though she could slow her galloping pulse. “It couldn’t have been a pleasant dream.”

“They never are,” he muttered.

Brenda will be awarding a $100 Amazon gift card to a randomly drawn winner via rafflecopter during the tour.

 
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#BookBlast: Project Firebird by Nick Green

This post is part of a virtual book tour organized by Goddess Fish Promotions. Nick will be awarding a $20 Amazon GC to a randomly drawn winner via rafflecopter during the tour. Click on the tour banner to see the other stops on the tour.

Don’t ask Leo Lloyd-Jones. Ask him how to steal a car, or why he got excluded from every school in Salford, but don’t come to him for help. This whole thing must be a daft mistake – and if anyone finds out, he’s done for.

Earth is on a deadly collision course that nothing can prevent. The only real hope is Project Firebird, deep inside a blast-proof bunker that shelters the brightest and bravest young people. Leo has got mixed up with the likes of Rhys Carnarvon, the celebrated teenage polar explorer, and other child prodigies chosen to keep the flame of civilisation.

Among them is the streetwise Paige Harris, a girl Leo likes a lot (but not in that way). Paige is desperate to rescue her little sister from London before the catastrophe strikes. But no-one is crazy enough to try that. Almost no-one.

Buy the book at Amazon.


Enjoy an excerpt:

‘That which you have there, is a frog.’

Lenka stood in the doorway, smiling. Dressed in a casual blouse and vaguely military trousers, she looked wide awake and not surprised to see them. Leo managed to get his head to stop swimming. Puking on her boots would not be attractive.

‘What is going on here?’ she asked. ‘The midnight feast?’

Rhys wrung the hem of his t-shirt awkwardly. ‘I’m sorry, Doctor Mironov. We couldn’t sleep.’

‘A North American wood frog.’ Lenka nodded at the frozen thing. ‘Rana Sylvatica. A very special animal.’

‘Why –’ Leo coughed. ‘Why have you got dead frogs in your ice box? You’re not French.’

Lenka giggled like a schoolgirl. ‘No, Leo. I’m from St Petersburg.’ She took the lolly in her hand. ‘And this frog, he’s not dead. He’s sleeping.’

‘It’s frozen solid,’ Paige protested.

‘That’s how wood frogs hibernate,’ said Lenka. ‘They’ve evolved to stay alive inside a solid block of ice.’

Rhys made an odd strangled noise. Now he was the one who looked green in the face.

‘We keep these specimens for demonstration purposes,’ said Lenka.

‘Demonstration?’ Rhys spluttered. He seemed unable to take his eyes off the frog. ‘Demonstrating what?’

Lenka tapped her capped teeth with one perfect fingernail.

‘You weren’t supposed to be told this yet. But since you ask, let’s strike while the ironing’s hot. Come. I’ll show you.’

About the Author: Nick Green lives in the UK. He is the author of seven fiction books to date, including the middle-grade CAT KIN trilogy published by Strident. His other books include THE STORM BOTTLE, a fantasy adventure about the dolphins of Bermuda, and most recently the FIREBIRD trilogy, a YA science fiction epic.
www.nickgreenbooks.com
https://www.goodreads.com/nickgreen_catkin

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#Interview with @RobinMahle for Landslide

Robin Mahle lives with her husband and two children in Arizona. She found her passion for writing, which later became her second career, after spending 20 years in the construction industry.

Having always been a lover of books, Robin attributes her creativity to the wonderful overseas adventures she has shared with her husband of 15 years. Traveling throughout Europe and having lived in England, opened her mind and with that came a steady stream of story ideas inspired by her author-idols in the suspense/thriller genre.

Robin published her debut mystery/suspense novel, Redwood Violet in March of 2013. And in September 2013, the much-anticipated sequel, All the Shiny Things (Redwood Violet II), was released. Both have become Amazon Bestsellers! Now, Beyond the Clearing has also joined the list!  Her latest novel, Landslide, was released in July, 2014. This exciting corporate thriller reveals Robin’s unique voice yet again.

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1. At any given time do you work on only one story at a time and maybe plot out the next one or are there many ideas racing around your head?

A:            I generally only have the story I’m working on running through my mind, working out plot issues or things of that nature. That being said, usually around the end of the first draft, I start to think of the next story. The idea is often fairly abstract, but starts to form to a greater extent as I wrap up editing the current book. When I first started writing, I had tons of ideas, but now I rely on mind’s ability to structure thoughts in a manner so that they come to me when I need them. Sounds odd, I know. I can’t really explain how it works, I’m just grateful the ideas keep coming!

2. Is there a genre you haven't written in but would like to? Or wish you could write in?

A:         Absolutely! I am a huge fan of the Lord of the Rings trilogy, Game of Thrones and well, Harry Potter of course. I love those stories. I really wish I had the mindset to create such amazing worlds and throngs of unique and interesting characters. My stories usually consist of a handful of characters that I explore in great detail, but developing monsters and dwarves and other villains really takes something that I just don’t possess. I admire those writers for their work, but that’s not to say that I don’t think other authors in my genre, including myself, don’t work hard to create meaningful and interesting worlds. Ours are just based on reality and not fantasy.

3. Do you add an element of romantic suspense in your stories?

A;         Yes. Most definitely. Although no one would consider the books I write to be in the romance genre, I believe an important element present in all of my stories is romantic suspense, at least to an extent. I suppose this latest book, Landslide, probably explores that idea more so than my others. The main character, Claire McKenna, is faced with desire that threatens to turn deadly. It’s an exciting element I enjoy writing about.

4. Say you have unlimited funds: What kind of writing office/cottage would you create for yourself?

A:         Oh my, what a wonderful question. I can picture it now. A seaside home, my office looking out onto the Pacific Ocean, sitting at my whitewashed antique writing desk. My windows opened and the cool sea breeze floating in along with the sound of the waves lapping against the shore.  Yeah.  Something like that!

5. If you could turn your novel into a TV show, which novel or series would you do? Where would it be set? Network TV (ABC, NBC, CBS), Cable (AMC, BBC, Lifetime) or Premium Cable (HBO, Showtime, Starz)?

A:         Definitely my Redwood Violet series. It’s a great crime drama that would lend itself well to a mini-series. It would have to be on a cable channel, due to the content and I would think HBO would do well. I’ve imagined this happening probably a little too often. Maybe someday.

6. Finally, tell us about your latest release!

A:         Ah yes. Landslide. Well, this is a story about a woman who has worked very hard, plugging away at her job, hoping for recognition. And when that recognition finally comes, it seems to come with a price. One that might just be too high. Her family is her top priority and when it appears that they might be in danger, watch out! Claire McKenna isn’t about to let anyone hurt them. Not only has she taken on the task of clearing her friend’s name, who, by the way, has just been accused of embezzlement at the firm where they both work, she uncovers a conspiracy that could threaten everyone she loves. It’s really very exciting and I hope the readers enjoy it!

Where to Buy:

Amazon

Barnes &Noble print

 Excerpt:

Claire booted up the desktop and logged into her work email. As she waited for the files to download, a flash of lightning appeared through the window, followed by a startling clap of thunder. Sleep would be elusive for her tonight if this storm continued. A light sleeper anyway, Claire would be hard pressed to block out the noise.

The desk drawer below contained her reading glasses that were a necessary evil, although she was only thirty-seven. Most likely the result of spending much of her time staring at computer screens. Sliding them onto her face, she clicked on the email attachments and began reviewing the reports Beth had sent over.

Claire began to see a pattern that had not presented itself prior to this month’s figures as she scrolled through the file. Comparing her hours with that of her junior colleague’s, it wasn’t adding up.

It was her responsibility to review the timesheets and expense reports for Sea-Tech each month before handing them over to Beth, which she had already done a few days ago as per usual. So why were these reports showing additional hours posted against her client? Was it possible she’d missed something in Lucas’ submittal? Anything was possible, but this error would have been a serious one had Beth not brought it to her attention. Sea-Tech wouldn’t have been happy about an additional several thousand dollars in consulting fees.

A final attempt to make sense out of the numbers came when she accessed the main server and retrieved the original account files, comparing her notes and timesheets against Beth’s report.

What the hell?

  

Robin will be awarding a $25 Amazon gift card to a randomly drawn winner via rafflecopter during the tour

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