Monday, April 13, 2020

Book Review - A Man's Late Night Thoughts by J. Richman




We're thrilled to kick off the virtual book tour for A MAN'S LATE NIGHT THOUGHTS by J. Richman. Scroll down and you can find out how to pick up a copy of his book!



A MAN'S LATE NIGHT THOUGHTS

By J. Richman

Memoir/Narrative

A MAN’S LATE NIGHT THOUGHTS by J. Richman is a creative and life-affirming collection of ponderings that expose the deep thoughts and feelings of a man who has lived a life full of diverse experiences and challenges. This uniquely constructed compilation of more than 300 reflections focuses on several areas of living, including intimate relationships and acceptance of human frailty, as well as the author’s internal conflicts.

A MAN’S LATE NIGHT THOUGHTS homes in on the complications inherent in intimate relationships from the opening pages of the book: “Problems accrue when we confuse how a woman looks with who she is.” Richman brings the perspective of a mature man to the lessons on love presented in the book, including, “Exploitation of another depreciates both parties,” and “The reason we fall in love with flawed people is that that’s the only kind of people there are.”

In addition to offering a brief study of intimate relationships, A MAN’S LATE NIGHT THOUGHTS
probes human frailty and offers readers guidance in accepting this fact. “We must learn to be strong enough to be gentle,” brings into focus the need to deliberately work at treating people well. The author also encourages readers to show self-compassion when dealing with their own baggage: “Sometimes it’s difficult to see beyond the wreckage of our lives, but we must! Take heart! We are more than our mistakes.”

In A MAN’S LATE NIGHT THOUGHTS, Richman further challenges readers to take the reins of their lives when he says, “Name those things that you would do if you had no fear then do something about it.” He offers words of caution regarding political rhetoric: “Beware of politicians who whip up emotions to make us suspicious of others unlike us.” And rounds the book out by sharing his internal conflicts: “The world has bent me more than I have bent it”; “too often my logical mind and my emotional mind are hostile enemies”; “every time I look in the mirror, I expect to see a younger man.”

A MAN’S LATE NIGHT THOUGHTS began as a series of notes that Richman wrote to himself. “I found that if I do not write out my true, and often painful, thoughts and feelings, I do not deal with them.” Richman wishes a book like this one had been available when he was a boy because the knowledge enclosed could have assisted him in navigating his teenage and young adult years. He hopes A MAN’S LATE NIGHT THOUGHTS will assure men that they are not alone in their quiet musings. For women, Richman believes the book will provide a window into men’s unexpressed emotions.
  


Amazon → https://amzn.to/2RVEoqX

 Barnes & Noble → https://bit.ly/3b7HaRo














“introspection requires us to be an interested spectator of our own life.” …can this me be a better me…what happens when unimportant me wants to be important me...can anyone understand us and love us anyway…why must we clutch desperately to or fantasy…what happens when we need for from life than is available...do you frolic  and run with the deer in deer hunting season?...not to worry it’s all in the grand plan that you can change anytime.”










Richman is the author of A MAN’S LATE NIGHT THOUGHTS, a collection of thoughts about life, relationships, and humanity.

Richman’s work history includes his service
as an undercover intelligence officer in the US Air Force; later, he
established a thriving business in real estate investment. For 16 years,
Richman owned and operated Modify My Mortgage, a company that worked
with homeowners to prevent foreclosures. His business success allowed
Richman the time to pursue his passions, which included serving as the
president of Nova, a workshop that provided work and life skills
training for clients with disabilities; cofounding A Way Across, a
drop-in center for teenagers with emotional and substance abuse
problems; and fundraising for several more public service groups.

Richman enjoys writing and editing at night
after allowing his ideas to blossom and expand during the day. The
author is married with three sons and five grandsons.


http://www.pumpupyourbook.com



Friday, April 10, 2020

Book Tour/Giveaway - Merlin Raj by D.G. Priya




Merlin Raj and the Santa Algorithm
by D. G. Priya

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GENRE: Early Reader

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BLURB:

My name is Merlin Raj. Usually, I only have to worry about being the best service dog. I help my boy, Matthew, walk at school. But when my human Mom has to go away for winter break, getting ready for the holiday becomes a mess. I might be a super-smart golden retriever who wears glasses, but could I help my best friend with more than a disability?

Gulp.

Will a class on algorithms get me barking up the right Christmas tree?


Merlin Raj, The Santa Algorithm is the first installment in the Merlin Raj, Computer Science Service Dog chapter-book series. With a Computer Science degree and a passion for preparing kids for the future, author D. G. Priya blends technology with animal stories to stimulate a desire to read. Each book in the series introduces a new programming skill, complete with study guides for educators. If you or your child like delightful dog tales, practical examples, and accessible learning tools, then you’ll love D. G. Priya’s tail-wagging adventure.

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Excerpt Two:

As Miss Babbage said, a task could be done using an algorithm.

Algorithm 1: I could nudge Matthew into distracting Peter and throw the jingle-bell Sugar-O’s into the cart. Then, Dad would notice and throw them right back out.

So, algorithm 1 = fail.

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AUTHOR Bio and Links:

D.G. Priya is the pen name of Bestselling Author Priya Ardis. She obtained her Bachelor’s of Science in Computer Science from the University of Texas at Austin, #6 in the world (Academic Ranking of World Universities, 2014) and #8 (US News, 2020) in Computer Science. Her advocacy of early education in computing and the challenges of childhood disabilities come from her experience as a parent and volunteer. Her love of dog stories comes from the antics of her own golden retriever.


Talk to me!

My website (http://www.dgpriya.com).

Find me on Amazon, Barnes and Noble, Apple Books, Kobo, and Google Play
Goodreads: http://www.goodreads.com/dgpriya
Facebook: http://www.facebook.com/dgpriya
Twitter: http://www.twitter.com/priyaardis
Instagram: http://www.Instagram.com/priya_ardis
YouTube: http://www.youtube.com/priyaardis

~~~~~~~~~~~~~


$25 Amazon/BN GC

a Rafflecopter giveaway

Thursday, April 9, 2020

Book Tour/Giveaway - All We Buried by Elena Taylor

All We Buried: A Sheriff Bet Rivers Mystery
by Elena Taylor

About All We Buried


All We Buried: A Sheriff Bet Rivers Mystery
Cozy Mystery
1st in Series
Publisher: Crooked Lane Books (April 7, 2020)
Hardcover: 304 pages
ISBN-10: 1643852914
ISBN-13: 978-1643852911
Digital ASIN: B07RQH353V

For fans of Julia Keller and Sheena Kamal, All We Buried disturbs the long-sleeping secrets of a small Washington State mountain town.

Interim sheriff Elizabeth "Bet" Rivers has always had one repeat nightmare: a shadowy figure throwing a suspicious object into her hometown lake in Collier, Washington. For the longest time, she chalked it up to an overactive imagination as a kid. Then the report arrives. In the woods of the Cascade mountain range, right in her jurisdiction, a body floats to the surface of Lake Collier. When the body is extricated and revealed, no one can identify Jane Doe. But someone must know the woman, so why aren't they coming forward?

Bet has been sitting as the interim sheriff of this tiny town in the ill-fitting shoes of her late father and predecessor. With the nightmare on her heels, Bet decided to build a life for herself in Los Angeles, but now it's time to confront the tragic history of Collier. The more she learns, the more Bet realizes she doesn't know the townspeople of Collier as well as she thought, and nothing can prepare her for what she is about to discover.
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Character Post: All We Buried by Elena Taylor

Alma: The Woman Behind the Sheriff of Collier


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Let me tell you about the town of Collier. We are small, but we are mighty. With a population of almost a thousand people, our tiny community is perched high in the Cascade Mountain Range of Washington State.

The single road up from highway 97 to Collier winds through the most beautiful forest you’ve ever seen. Our skies are a little bluer and our air is a little cleaner than anywhere else on earth.

Not that I’ve been many other places, but I was blessed enough to be born and raised in Collier, so I’ve never seen the need to go anywhere else.

I make it down to E’burg once in a while. That’s travel enough for me.

My name is Alma, and I’m the woman behind the sheriff who keeps Collier safe. I run the station, and have, through three different generations of Rivers. Three Sheriff Rivers have depended on me to help keep Collier the best little town in the state.

I thought about retiring when Earle Rivers died, but Elizabethwe call her Betneeds my help. I’ve known Bet her entire life. She ran around here, chasing in her father’s footsteps until she reached eighteen, then she went off to college and on out to Los Angeles.

Los Angeles! As if Southern California could have anything she’d want. Anything that she couldn’t get here. Nothing but air pollution and lost souls as far as I’m concerned. Not that I’ve ever been there, I’ve never seen the need, Collier is enough for me.

When Earle got sick, she came home. We all thought he’d get better, but that wasn’t in the cards and now Bet is the last in the line of Sheriff Rivers that stretches all the way back to the founding of the town.

Unless Bet has a child. I’m not sure she’s got it in her to do that, but she might surprise me. Sometimes people do.

I might be almost eighty, but I can still do everything that needs to be done around here. I man the phones and know more about internet searches than Bet ever will. I handle warrants and emergency calls. I’m also a better shot than Bet at the gun range, but she doesn’t let me carry in the station.

She says I should leave my firearms at home, since I’m not a deputy. Seems silly to me, she might need my crackerjack aim one of these days. I’ll keep working on that. Maybe she could make me an honorary deputy and make it legal.

I’m also Schweitzer’s second favorite person. He was Earle’s dog before Earle died. I think he mourned Earle’s death as much as the rest of us. He wasn’t so sure of Bet when she moved back home. She doesn’t do everything like Earle did. For example, I know she lets Schweitzer sleep on the bed, which Earle would never have allowed.

Plus, she feeds him a lot more cookies and talks to him in baby talk when she thinks no one else is listening.

But that’s not what won Schweitzer over. As much as I know he loves those things, it’s her consistency that he loves.

Schweitzer wants a person who is reliable. And she is consistent. Consistent in what she expects from him. Consistent in her praise. Consistent in her expectations.

It’s what makes her such a good sheriff. She’s the same way with her community. She’s tough, but fair, and she’s kind. Earle was kind too, but you didn’t feel it the same way. With Bet, you know she doesn’t just feel responsible for us. She feels . . . love.

Love for her community. Consistently.

Schweitzer knows that. He knows she’ll never leave him.

That’s what we all want, right? A place to call our own and people to make that place safe for us?

You should come visit us in Collier. It’s the most beautiful place in the world, with its high mountains all around. Our dark, mysterious lake at the mouth of our hanging valley. Elk and bear and deer and bobcat. Our valley is full of natural beauty.

And it’s the safest place you could be. Well . . . most of the time. It’s true, we have the occasional murder, but nothing’s perfect, right?

Collier is close enough for me. And I ought to know. It’s the town I love. It’s where I hang my hat and call home. One day they’ll bury me in the cemetery up on the hill.

But not today. Bet needs me just as much as Collier does.



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About the Author

 
Elena Taylor spent several years working in theater as a playwright, director, designer, and educator before turning her storytelling skills to fiction. Her first series, the Eddie Shoes Mysteries, written under the name Elena Hartwell, introduced a quirky mother/daughter crime-fighting duo. With All We Buried, Elena returns to her dramatic roots and brings readers a much more serious and atmospheric novel. Located in her beloved Washington State, Elena uses her connection to the environment to produce a forbidding story of small-town secrets and things that won’t stay buried. Elena is also a senior editor with Allegory Editing, a developmental editing house, where she works one-on-one with writers to shape and polish manuscripts, short stories, and plays. If you’d like to work with Elena, visit www.allegoryediting.com.When she’s not writing or coaching writing, her favorite place to be is at the farm with her horses, Jasper and Radar, or at her home, on the middle fork of the Snoqualmie River in North Bend, Washington, with her husband, their dog, Polar, and their cats, Coal Train and Cocoa. Elena holds a B.A. from the University of San Diego, a M.Ed. from the University of Washington, Tacoma, and a Ph.D. from the University of Georgia.
Author Links

Website: https://www.elenataylorauthor.com/ Blog: https://www.elenataylorauthor.com/blog Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/ElenaTaylorAuthor/ Twitter: https://twitter.com/Elena_TaylorAut
Goodreads: https://www.goodreads.com/author/show/19494739.Elena_Taylor Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/elenataylorauthor

Purchase Links:

Amazon: Barnes& Noble Books-A-Million IndieBound
a Rafflecopter giveaway


TOUR PARTICIPANTS

April 7 – I'm All About Books – SPOTLIGHT

April 7 – Ascroft, eh? – CHARACTER INTERVIEW

April 8 – The Pulp and Mystery Shelf – AUTHOR INTERVIEW

April 8 – Literary Gold – SPOTLIGHT

April 9 – The Power of Words – REVIEW

April 9 – Gimme The Scoop Reviews – CHARACTER GUEST POST

April 10 – Christy's Cozy Corners – REVIEW

April 10 – A Blue Million Books – AUTHOR INTERVIEW

April 11 – Elizabeth McKenna - Author – AUTHOR INTERVIEW

April 11 – FUONLYKNEW - SPOTLIGHT

April 12 – TBR Book Blog – REVIEW

April 13 – Baroness' Book Trove – REVIEW

April 13 – A Wytch's Book Review Blog – CHARACTER GUEST POST

April 14 – eBook addicts – REVIEW

April 14 – Mysteries with Character – AUTHOR INTERVIEW

April 15 – My Reading Journeys – REVIEW

April 15 – Reading Is My SuperPower – REVIEW

April 16 – The Book Diva's Reads – GUEST POST

April 16 – fundinmental – SPOTLIGHT

April 17 – Diane Reviews Books - REVIEW, CHARACTER INTERVIEW

April 18 – StoreyBook Reviews – GUEST POST

April 18 – Escape With Dollycas Into A Good Book – GUEST POST

April 19 – That's What She's Reading – REVIEW

April 19 – Brooke Blogs – CHARACTER GUEST POST

April 20 – Here's How It Happened – SPOTLIGHT

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Tuesday, April 7, 2020

Book Review - Ordinary by Starr Z Davies

Ordinary (Ordinary, #1)Ordinary by Starr Z. Davies

My rating: 4 of 5 stars

My Thoughts: This book interested me because it kinda takes what one would assume the normal is and totally flips it to the other side! The author expresses how she was obsessed with superheroes from a young age and I gather that is why in this instance/story you're only deemed "normal" if you actually have some sort of super power which Ugene, our main character does not but he goes to work for a sketchy business in the hopes of obtaining one and soon discovers everything is not on the up and up and has to weight the pros and cons and see if it's really worth it.

A really fun and fast paced ride for anybody with likable and "super" realistic characters.

I was given a free copy in exchange for an honest review.

Hurry and grab your copy on sale now for only 99 cents on Amazon HERE


View all my reviews

Book Tour/Giveaway - Dog Town by Debbie L Richardson




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



Harry loves to race around the streets of Dog Town. When he stumbles upon the lost city of cats, he finds himself in a race against Dog Town’s fastest canine, Grizzly.

The winner of this race will have the power to save Cat World, or destroy it.

Harry wants to win, but there is one small problem. The race is in the ocean, and Harry is terribly afraid of water.

Can Harry overcome his fear of the water and save Cat Town?




Read an Excerpt


Harry spied the bell of the clock tower over the treetops. He heard the bell strike the first of twelve chimes.

“First place, here I come,” he whooped with delight.

“First to the finish line has to take a bath,” Fleabag shouted, right on his tail.

“Stop changing the rules, Fleabag,” he barked.

“At least we can tolerate a bath,” Junior cried out, though from further away.

Junior was talking about Harry’s phobia – called ablutophobia, a fear of water. Harry suffered terribly from it. He was even afraid to get too close to his water bowl in case it tipped over. And he never bathed. His brown coat could very well have been white underneath the dirt for all anyone knew.

He could see no point in bathing anyway, because he often rolled in something filthy afterwards.

Even now, the thought of water made Harry look up at the sky. Above was a wide expanse of blue without a cloud in sight. Just the way he liked it.

Sneaking a look behind him, he saw Junior trailing behind in third place. Junior’s attention was more on the traffic than on the race. But Fleabag, who was in second place, was gaining on him. She was competitive, probably more competitive than Harry, yet something other than competitiveness propelled Harry forward. Harry was the champion racer, and he’d been the champion racer for two years. He wasn’t about to quit and give up the title.


About the Author:

 
Debbie L. Richardson has published fiction novels as D L Richardson. She has published three young adults supernatural fiction novels, and science fiction and supernatural thrillers for adults. This is her first children’s book.

She was born in Dublin, Ireland and grew up in Australia. It was always crowded and noisy in the family home. At one stage there were also three dogs, a cat, a budgie, and three mice living with seven people the same house.

Debbie learned to find a quiet space within books.

She now lives in the south coast of New South Wales with her husband and a small dog named Teeka.



Facebook page: https://www.facebook.com/DogTownKidsbook


Website: http://www.dlrichardson.com



Amazon: https://www.amazon.com/Dog-Town-Debbie-L-Richardson-ebook/dp/B085466GS7/ref=sr_1_1

Barnes and Noble: https://www.barnesandnoble.com/w/dog-town-debbie-richardson/1136477371

Smashwords: https://www.smashwords.com/books/view/1005300




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