Reel Love by Elizabeth Hartey - Review Tour and Giveaway

Reel Love

by Elizabeth Hartey

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GENRE:   romance/women's fiction/fantasy

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BLURB:

Annie Caslo is a successful, young doctor, but when she begins rethinking the career choices she’s made, she makes a decision to find a way to stay focused and achieve her true ambitions – that is until fate steps in and she is thunderstruck by Colt Ballard. He’s six foot three inches of heart-stopping hotness, an adept, roguish soccer star and also one of her interns. But he’s a player – on and off the field – and Annie has better things to do. Still, the combustible chemistry between them is impossible to resist – Colt brings out feelings she never knew existed and Annie’s swept off her reluctant feet.

When she continues to second-guess her life choices, opportunities and obstacles begin piling up higher than the greasy Mexican food stacks she hates to admit loving. While in a state of emotional turmoil, she gets a celestial visit from a hunky, Hollywood heartthrob, lookalike, who claims to be her guardian angel. He takes her on a magical road trip to self-discovery with the help of several, dearly departed film icons.

Drawn into the excitement of a life she’s always dreamed of, this new life threatens to shatter the LIFE and love she already has—unless her quirky angel can help her find a way to have it all.

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EXCERPT

Annie heaved another huge sigh. Her knuckles blanched to white as she clenched the top of the podium. Confused thoughts were doing a Cortés flamenco dance through her head. This prestigious position—although quite an honor—felt wrong. It wasn’t the life she wanted. It wasn’t the life for a girl who loved to be creative and write until the wee hours of the morning—a girl who loved to express every emotion and feeling both with the click of her keyboard and her performances on stage. It wasn’t the life she’d planned for. It was just the life her parents had wanted for her. Their daughter—the doctor.

“It’s fine. This is what I do. I calculate. I figure things out. That’s what I’ve been doing my whole life.” Hell, that’s why they offered her this job. She could do this, take a few months, a year at the most, get things running efficiently. Then someone else could take over. It was all good. At least she wouldn’t have to move back to her parents’ home. She grimaced. It was way better having her own apartment, and Philly was awesome. It would be a great experience. In a few months—a year at the most—she’d move to L.A. She pursed her lips and blew out a puff of air to sweep the stubborn strand of hair off her face again. “Okay, right now … first things first.” She pulled her shoulders back again and tried to stand taller than her petite five-foot-four-inch frame would allow.

Turning toward the door in anticipation of the first student, she saw him leaning against the wall outside her classroom. Annie forgot all her self-instruction to breathe, and instead gasped. Actually gasped!

Ho-ly mother of God! Please don’t let him be one of my students.

REVIEW:

This story started out in a way that seemed backward.  Here was a very young woman who was already a doctor and she dreamed about being an actress.  Of course there is a love interest and a search for what was right for her.  This is a romance with some interesting scenes.  I kept wondering how someone so young could have come so far and still be unhappy with her choices.  As the story progresses I found out.  This has a plot that is very well developed, interesting characters and a fun setting.  All in all a fun read.

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AUTHOR Bio and Links:

As a lover of the northeast US, Elizabeth moved with her husband to the Poconos several years ago to open a Chiropractic Clinic. Four children and a menagerie of animals later, she has finally found time to fulfill her lifelong dream of writing novels. A dreamer at heart, romance is the genre she spends most of her time writing and reading into the wee hours of the morning. When not juggling work responsibilities and writing, she enjoys hiking the beautiful hills and woods around her home, swimming, knitting, travelling, and spending time with her family.

Website: https://www.elizabethhartey.com

FB              www.facebook.com/EHarteyauthor

Twitter       @drliz5

Newsletter http://eepurl.com/cZCEuL

Goodreads http://bit.ly/ReelLoveGR

Amazon   https://www.amazon.com/Reel-Love-Elizabeth-Hartey-ebook/dp/B074HTD645/

Barnes and Noble http://bit.ly/2vnjPJt

Kobo                        http://bit.ly/2vncc5C

Smashwords:         http://bit.ly/2wqY5ZU

Crimson Cloak Publishing  http://bit.ly/2w7HtqG

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GIVEAWAY INFORMATION
  

Elizabeth Hartey will be awarding $25 Amazon or Barnes and Noble GC to a randomly drawn winner via rafflecopter during the tour.

a Rafflecopter giveaway

Be sure to visit and comment at the other blogs on the tour for additional chances to win.

December 13: Long and Short Reviews
December 20: Kimmi Love
January 3: Mixed Book Bag
January 10: Notes From a Romantic's Heart
January 10: Harlie's Books

Relatively Crazy by Ellen Dye - Blurb Blitz And Giveaway

Relatively Crazy

by Ellen Dye

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GENRE: Women's Fiction/Romance

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BLURB:

On her fortieth birthday housewife Wanda Jo Ashton is expecting her husband's standard gift of an E and E from T-that being Elegant and Expensive from Tiffany's. However, what she gets is the news that her formerly successful, dependable corporate attorney husband is leaving her to pursue the rich life of a kept man. Left with nothing she has no choice but to escape the San Francisco area, with her sixteen-year-old daughter in tow and head toward the mountains of West Virginia and the quirky family she left behind twenty years ago. Here Wanda Jo must carve out a future, complete with career and home in the midst of family feuds, computer phobias and the occasional homebrewing explosion before she finally figures out life can indeed being again at forty.

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EXCERPT

Okay, there is was. Looking no different than twenty-two years ago. A small opening in the woods marked by a gray, metal, utilitarian mailbox and a graveled trail that passed for a driveway in these parts.

I was home. Oh God help me. Please.

I depressed the brake pedal, leaving behind the paved surface and tried not to wince as what sounded like millions of tiny gravel bits pinged against the underside of my car.

The azaleas lining the drive still looked the same. The one at the very end caught my attention, I could have sworn it jiggled. Oh no, it couldn’t be. Surely it was impossible now.

Suddenly the bush jumped in front of the car.

I slammed on the brakes, pinning Olivia to the seat with my outstretched arm. In the fashion of mothers everywhere I was protecting my offspring from flying through the windshield by crushing her windpipe while invoking the Maternal Arm.

I looked toward the hood and the half-dozen bobbing azalea twigs in front. I sat resolved as they rose and wre followed by an old pith helmet and a face which looked a bit older than I’d remembered, although it was hard to tell precisely, given the layers of green and black greasepaint. A body followed, dressed in a set of ancient Army –issued fatigues.

“Gun,” Olivia croaked, pointing.

I simply nodded, there would be plenty of time later for my daughter to find out exactly what was swimming around in the waters of the gene pool from whence she’d sprung.

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AUTHOR Bio and Links:

At the age of nine Ellen Dye decided she was going to be a writer when she found her Aunt Nettie’s trunk of True Confessions magazines and spent untold hours reading the lot, a bag of Munchos potato chips and a frosty RC Cola at her side. Then, being nine, she promptly forgot all about it as she got lost in the pesky business of growing up, And then one very lucky day she spotted a confession magazine on the grocery store shelf and began to tap out her own stories which were a delight to see published. Now she spends her days tapping out her characters’ happily-ever-afters for The Wild Rose Press.

Visit anytime at www.ellendye.com

Ellen is always up for meeting new friends at Ellen Dye Author on Facebook

Amazon sale link

https://www.amazon.com/Relatively-Crazy-Ellen-Dye-ebook/dp/B076GNYR8X/

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GIVEAWAY INFORMATION 

Ellen Dye will be awarding a $25 Amazon/BN GC to a randomly drawn winner via rafflecopter during the tour.

a Rafflecopter giveaway

Be sure to visit and comment at the other blogs on the tour for additional chances to win.


December 11: Long and Short Reviews
December 12: Edgar's Books
December 13: Rogue's Angels 
December 14: Punya Reviews...
December 15: Buried Under Romance
December 18: Locks, Hooks and Books
December 19: Up 'Til Dawn Book Blog
December 20: Sharing Links and Wisdom
December 20: Sinfully Wicked Book Reviews
December 21: Author C.A.Milson
December 21: Beyond Romance
December 22: Laurie's Thoughts and Reviews
January 2: Casey M's Corner
January 2: Readeropolis
January 3: Mixed Book Bag
January 3: Linda Nightingale...Wordsmith
January 4: Hope. Dreams. Life... Love
January 5: Tina Donahue Books - Heat with Heart
January 5: Independent Authors
January 8: My Reading Journeys
January 9: Nickie's Views and Interviews
January 10: Jennifer Macaire, Tell me a Story
January 11: The Avid Reader
January 12: Sascha Darlington's Microcosm Explored

Revision is a Process by Catherine E. McLean - Blog Tour and Giveaway

Revision is a Process –

How to Take the Frustration Out of Self-Editing

by Catherine E. McLean

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GENRE: Self-Help, Self-Improvement, Non-Fiction

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BLURB:

A first draft holds the possibility of what will be a great story. Revision turns that rough diamond into a spectacular gem worth a reader's money and time.

Writers are individuals but to be a producing writer means creating a system to revise and polish a work so the reader thoroughly enjoys the story. REVISION IS A PROCESS is a guidebook for writers and authors that shows how a simple 12-step process can be tailored to eliminate the most common and chronic maladies of writing genre fiction. This valuable guidebook contains secrets, tips, practical advice, how-to's, and why-to's for taking the frustration out of self-editing.

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EXCERPT

From Section 1, An Overview of Revision is a Process

. . . revision is a process .  A logical, straightforward process where you don't try to find and fix everything at once. Instead, you break the monumental task into component parts and focus on only an item or two at a time.

Okay, so the reality is that creative people,  especially writers, hate logic and straightforwardness. And it's a fact that logic and creativity have always been at war with each other. After all, creativity gives a writer a high like no other. It's the fun part of writing and storytelling.

On the other hand, revising, rewriting, and self-editing are linear, logical, objective—and not fun.

But necessary.

Ever so necessary if one intends to be commercially successful in the writing business.

Here's something I've learned about writing and self-editing—a writer should find a middle ground. That means having the logical part of one's mind work with the subconscious imagination (the creative self).

It's about adopting a different view of self-editing—calling it a process—and diligently organizing that process into small steps that can easily be done. This gives a writer confidence that they have polished their story and increased its marketability.

I strongly believe, and have seen, that revision-as-a-process enables a writer to use both their left (logical) and right (creative) brain to become even more creative.

That's because the writer not only tailors a one-of-a-kind process but they also develop their own revision master cheat sheets. As a result, the creative subconscious (the imagination) becomes aware of the pitfalls and glitches that must be checked for, and subsequently, little by little, the creative self dishes up better first drafts with far fewer errors.

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A. Write smarter – not harder    498 words

I have a question for you— Would you enter the Boston Marathon without taking the time to figure out how to condition your body for it, make a plan for exercising, keep a calendar for workouts, gradually muscle up, or even test your abilities with a few short runs?

Sadly, too many writers think their stories can go from draft to publication without understanding the many aspects of what makes for a marketable story.

To become an effective storyteller–not just "a writer"—means starting with making the commitment to write and to complete a short story or novel. It starts with putting the writing first and making sure the family, spouse, kids, relatives, etc. know you mean business when you say "unless you're at death's door or bleeding to death, do not disturb me during my writing time!"

If writing is important to you, find a niche in your daily schedule that's free so you can write.

Next is personal— you have to know what kind of writer you are.  Well, that won't happen until you have written a million words.  You see, most writers initially fall into two groups: Pantsers or Plotters. The novice usually starts out as a Pantser, that is, they put their butt in a chair, start writing, and then discover how erratic the path is that their imagination takes. The story often starts out great guns with the elation of a creativity high, but that soon fizzles into the reality of a dead-end or characters going off on tangents, or the plot flip-flops, or there's no ending in sight.

As to the Plotters, they outline. Some a little, others a lot. However, by plotting they are assured of the plot and that their characters are likeable and worthy of the story. Trouble is, once they plot out the tale, they often lose interest in drafting the story.

Of course, it will be trial and error and certain stories will require a certain way to be written, so that's why there are eight other types a writer often evolves into or chooses to use because it works for them.

Over the years, I've met a great many writers who became multi-published and award-winning storytellers. They all developed a system to consistently generate quality stories with a minimal amount of frustration in rewriting and revising. What they also figured out is that all the spreadsheets, Project Bibles, computer programs, questionnaires, and "cheat sheets" in the world didn't work unless they were tailored for their personality and the way they create a story.

And that's the key—discovering what will work for you, your mind set, and the way you understand and create story people and plots.

Yet, there are more factors that benefit a writer on their journey to becoming a storyteller of worth, like joining a writer's group, forming writing partnerships, and getting quality feedback from beta-readers.

Do you have a system for consistently generating completed stories or are you a die-hard Pantser or Plotter?

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AUTHOR Bio and Links:

Catherine E. McLean's lighthearted, short stories have appeared in hard cover and online anthologies and magazines. Her books include JEWELS OF THE SKY, KARMA & MAYHEM, HEARTS AKILTER, and ADRADA TO ZOOL (a short story anthology). She lives on a farm nestled in the foothills of the Allegheny Mountains of Western Pennsylvania. In the quiet of the countryside, she writes lighthearted tales of phantasy realms and stardust worlds (fantasy, futuristic, and paranormal) with romance and advenure. She is also a writing instructor and workshop speaker. Her nonfiction book for writers is REVISION IS A PROCESS - HOW TO TAKE THE FRUSTRATION OUT OF SELF-EDITING.

● Hub Website: http://www.CatherineEmclean.com

● Website for writers:  http://www.WritersCheatSheets.com

● Writers Cheat Sheets Blog: https://writerscheatsheets.blogspot.com

● Linked-In:

http://www.linkedin.com/pub/catherine-e-mclean/7/70b/372 

● Facebook:

https://www.facebook.com/catherine.e.mclean.5

● Twitter:  https://twitter.com/#!/CatherineMcLea7

● Pinterest: http://www.pinterest.com/catherinemclean

● Amazon Author Page:

http://www.amazon.com/Catherine-E.-McLean/e/B00A3BVG6I/

● Link to buy REVISION IS A PROCESS at Amazon: https://www.amazon.com/dp/0988587440

● Link to buy REVISION IS A PROCESS at Barnes & Noble: http://www.barnesandnoble.com/w/revision-is-a-process-catherine-e-mclean/1126295618

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GIVEAWAY INFORMATION 

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

a Rafflecopter giveaway

Be sure to visit the other blogs on the tour.


November 21: Sharing Links and Wisdom
November 28: Rogue's Angels 
November 30: This and That Book Blog
December 5: Books, Dreams,Life
December 7: Edgar's Books
December 12: Author C.A.Milson
December 14: Hope. Dreams. Life... Love
December 19: Fabulous and Brunette
December 21: Readeropolis
January 2: Mixed Book Bag
January 4: Wake Up Your Wild Side
January 9: Archaeolibrarian - I Dig Good Books! 
January 11: Musings From An Addicted Reader
January 16: Bookaholic 
January 18: Kit 'N Kabookle
January 23: Eclectic Evelyn
January 25: Locks, Hooks and Books
January 30: Independent Authors
February 1: The Reading Addict
February 6: Mello and June, It's a Book Thang!
February 8: Dina Rae's Write Stuff
February 13: Lily Iona MacKenzie's Blog for Writers and Readers
February 15: Ramblings of a Coffee Addicted Writer
February 20: BooksChatter
February 22: Books Direct
February 27: Queen of All She Reads
March 1: The Book Connection 
March 6: T's Stuff
March 8: Welcome to My World of Dreams
March 13: It's Raining Books

Short and Sweet Book Reviews # 174 - Black Star Renegades by Michael Moreci, A Soupçon of Poison by Jennifer Ashley

Black Star Renegades by Michael Moreci
My rating: 4 of 5 stars

Cade has always been a shadow behind his bother. Now he has to be something else. He has the ultimate weapon but after using it once he does not want to use it again. Cade and friends are in a fight to the death and the enemy seems to be winning. This has danger, betrayal, new friends, old friends and scenes full of tension. As a group they find a plan and go on the offensive. There is a conclusion to the story but while one thing has been accomplished there is much more that needs to be done. Book one in a new series Black Star Renegades has all the makings of a fun new space opera series.

I received a free copy of the book in return for an honest review.

A Soupçon of Poison by Jennifer Ashley
My rating: 5 of 5 stars

I read this after reading the first book in the Kat Holloway Mysteries. I wish I had read this first as there were hints about Kat and Daniel's relationship in Death Below Stairs, the first book in the series. I would have enjoyed that book more if I had had the background laid in this novella. I do love Kat and the mystery about Daniel's background begins in this novella. The mystery is interesting and has quite a few twists and turns. Kat is very strong and Daniel is interesting. A good introduction to the new series.

View all my reviews