Blurb Blitz: Film Blue by Patricia Leavy

Posted on December 7, 2022 by heatherosborneauthor under Blurb Blitz, Goddess Fish Promotions, Women's Fiction

Title: Film Blue

Author: Patricia Leavy

Genre: Women’s Fiction

Blurb:

Reminiscent of Sex and the City meets The Perks of Being a Wallflower, Patricia Leavy’s Film Blue is a captivating and inspiring story about the pursuit of dreams and what it truly means to live a “big” life.

A couple of years after finishing college, Tash Daniels has put her love of filmmaking on the back burner. She’s working retail, club-hopping, and scraping by to pay the rent. Usually attracted to the wrong guy, she’s at a loss when she finally falls for the right one. Sexy deejay Aidan is living his life authentically as an artist and encourages her to do the same. Will she open her heart? Will she bet on herself and her dreams? Is a girl with a dream truly on her own in the world? Tash’s friends are along for the journey: Jason Woo, lighthearted model on the rise; Penelope Waters, earnest graduate student with a secret no one suspects; Lu K, fiercely independent hot-girl deejay; and Monroe Preston, the glamorous wife of a Hollywood studio head. Frequently bathed in the glow of the silver screen, the characters show us how the arts can reignite the light within, pushing us to confront our fears so we can choose how to live in the present. Film Blue is a novel about following our passions, the hidden side of our dreams, the power of art, what it means to truly live a “big” life, and finding the people to go with us on our journey. A tribute to 1980s pop culture set against the backdrop of contemporary New York and Los Angeles, Film Blue celebrates how the art we experience and make can shape our stories, frame by frame.

Excerpt:

After grabbing a hand basket and making a beeline to the freezer for some ice cream, she started searching for the items on Penelope’s list. As she fumbled for the note, mumbling, “Ah, where is that stupid thing?” she heard a voice say, “Maybe you’d have better luck if you shut your eyes and put your hand in.”

“Huh?” she queried, looking up at the six-foot-tall guy standing before her, dressed from head to toe in black. He had bleached blonde spiky hair, high cheekbones, a strong jawline, and a piercing through his right eyebrow that she thought was simultaneously cool and disgusting.

“You know, sometimes if you’re looking too hard, you can’t find anything.”

“Uh, yeah,” she said, staring into his evergreen eyes. Oh my God, he’s seriously hot.

“Here, tell me what you’re looking for and I’ll shut my eyes and stick my hand in for you.”

Raising her eyebrows, she said, “How stupid do you think I am? Maybe I should just go outside and scream, ‘Somebody rob me!’”

He laughed. “Fair enough, but you try it.”

Tash smirked and stuck her hand into her bag without looking. “Uh huh, here it is!” she exclaimed as she pulled out the small, crumpled paper. “That’s uncanny.”

“Sometimes you just have to concentrate less, you know? What’s so important, anyway?”

“Oh, it’s just my roommate’s grocery list. She’s pretty uptight so I can’t screw it up. You wouldn’t believe the things she writes, like ‘two organic red apples and flax seed powder,’ whatever the hell that is. Anyway, I should probably get back to shopping.”

He smiled and waved his arm, to indicate she could pass by. With only a few aisles in the small store, Tash bumped into him again in the produce section.

“Should I even ask what that’s about?” she remarked while giggling, looking at the twenty or more coconuts in his basket.

“Oh, these are for a party I’m deejaying for a couple of friends over at NYU.”

“They’re serving whole coconuts?” she asked, mystified.

He laughed. “People try to get them open. It’s like a drinking game kind of thing. It’s pretty funny.”

“Gotcha. Do you go to NYU?”

“No, I went to school in Chicago and moved to New York after I graduated. I’m a professional deejay. I’m just doing this party as a favor.”

“So, what kinds of clubs do you spin at?” she asked.

“Uh, well, tomorrow I’ll be spinning at the Forever 21 store in Times Square.”

She smiled. “Well, do you get a discount at least?”

He laughed. “Didn’t think to ask for that. So, what’s your name?”

“Natashya, but my friends call me Tash.”

“I’m Aidan. Do you live around here?”

“Just a block away. I share a place with two roommates.”

“Pretty awesome area, good for you.”

“Yeah, well we’re in like the only non-restored building in the neighborhood. Don’t get me wrong, I love living here and it’s pretty close to my work, but we’re not in one of the swanky buildings with a marble entrance. It’s more like splintery wood floors and a scary old-fashioned elevator that makes me want to take the stairs.”

He smiled. “What’s your work?”

“I work at a couple of stores in SoHo.”

“For the discount, right?” he joked.

She laughed. “Well, nice to meet you but I’ve gotta finish up and get going.”

“Sure, me too. Maybe I’ll see you around. If you’re not busy, stop by Forever 21 tomorrow.”

“I have to work.”

“Well, can I maybe get your number?” he asked.

“Why don’t you give me yours instead?”

“Sure, that’s cool.” He put his coconut-filled basket on the ground and held out his hand. “Give me your phone and I’ll put it in.”

“You don’t want me to have to search my bag again. Here,” she said, handing him the note with Penelope’s grocery list. “Do you have a pen?”

He smiled and pulled a red crayon out of his pocket. “Don’t ask,” he said as he wrote his number on the little paper. “Here,” he said handing it to her. “See ya.”

“See ya,” she replied.

When she casually glanced around the store a few minutes later, he was gone. She brought her basket to the checkout. The cashier asked, “Did you find everything you needed?”

“Yeah, yeah I did.”

About the Author:

Patricia Leavy, Ph.D., is a bestselling author. She was formerly Associate Professor of Sociology, Chair of Sociology and Criminology, and Founding Director of Gender Studies at Stonehill College in Massachusetts. She has published over forty books, earning commercial and critical success in both fiction and nonfiction, and her work has been translated into many languages. Patricia has received dozens of accolades for her books. Recently, her romance collection Celestial Bodies: The Tess Lee and Jack Miller Novels (https://www.amazon.com/Celestial-Bodies-Tess-Miller-Novels/dp/1737862417) was the 2022 Firebird Awards first-place winner for Romance. The book also received 2022 International Impact Book Awards for Women’s Fiction and Romance, a 2022 NYC Big Book Award for Distinguished Favorite Anthology, and a 2022 Literary Titan Gold Book Award for Fiction. Patricia has also received career awards from the New England Sociological Association, the American Creativity Association, the American Educational Research Association, the International Congress of Qualitative Inquiry, and the National Art Education Association. In 2016 Mogul, a global women’s empowerment network, named her an “Influencer.” In 2018, she was honored by the National Women’s Hall of Fame and SUNY-New Paltz established the “Patricia Leavy Award for Art and Social Justice.” She lives in Maine with her husband, daughter (when she’s not away at college), and her dog. Patricia loves writing, reading, watching films, and traveling.

https://patricialeavy.com/fiction/

https://www.amazon.com/Film-Blue-Novel-Patricia-Leavy/dp/1737862433

Giveaway:

Patricia Leavy will be awarding a $10 Amazon/BN GC to a randomly drawn winner via rafflecopter during the tour.

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Blurb Blitz: The Crossing by Ashby Jones

Posted on February 8, 2022 by heatherosborneauthor under Blurb Blitz, Goddess Fish Promotions, historical fiction

Title: The Crossing

Author: Ashby Jones

Genre: Historical fiction

Blurb:

The Crossing is a powerful and haunting love story of surprising discovery set in Manhattan’s Hell’s Kitchen during Prohibition. Its mission seeks to reconcile love and guilt, grief and promise. Set apart from other stories, it combines history, fact, surrealism, and reality into an ever-recycling boost of the human spirit.

Irish-born Johnny Flynn, a former British soldier, is banished from his homeland and sent to America on a ship so riddled with disease that he realizes the voyage was meant to murder him. When he survives the trip, the captain forces him to walk the plank into the Hudson River. Miraculously, Johnny is rescued by a rumrunning Irish gang, the Swamp Angels, and given a job running whisky in Hell’s Kitchen just as Prohibition makes liquor a hugely profitable, dangerous business.

Fighting for his life and livelihood amid the denizens of the Manhattan piers, Johnny is plagued by the memory of his lost lover, Nora, whose father, the famed Irish revolutionary, James Connolly, met his death through a firing squad that included a reluctant gunman named Johnny Flynn. Nora’s last words to him, when she learned of his betrayal and left him, “I love you, Johnny Flynn”, echo in his heart, leaving him pulsing with guilt, yearning, and the hope that she might yet forgive him.

Johnny drinks hard. One night, drunk on the floor of Hailey’s speakeasy, he encounters a seeming apparition on stage, the ghostly Esme, an Irish singer who suffered unspeakable horrors at the hands of the British Black and Tans. Johnny is dazzled by her. She is not only a singer but a healer, teaching poor and afflicted children to sing and gather hope at an old theater called The Woebegone. From Esme Johnny learns how to overcome the desire for revenge, only to discover that she, too, clings to her own dark dream of retribution.

Hell’s Kitchen, Johnny discovers, is thronged with people whose damaged hearts ache for revenge, repentance and love. As he grapples with taking responsibility to help others resolve this overwhelming dilemma, he learns that Nora is coming to New York to advocate for Irish independence. As he confronts her and soon thereafter receives a piercing love letter from Esme, the story comes to a turbulent climax.

Excerpt:

Roughly a mile from the Statue of Liberty, Johnny Flynn stood trembling on the bridge of the ship called The Pestilence. His hands were rope-bound at the wrists and a rucksack filled with heavy stones was strapped to his back. His executioner, seaman Bile, named for the Celtic god of Hell by Johnny’s long-gone friend and fellow prisoner, Seamus, had tried in vain to kill Johnny every day on this voyage from Ireland, and now he would have his way. The vessel from which Bile would send Johnny to his death was the recently recovered, ancient famine ship found in the Bay of Kinsale. The ship still contained the skeletons of the three hundred dead who’d tried to escape the Great Famine by taking passage to America but whose journey had been ended by typhus, cholera and tuberculosis. In hopes of hiding their humiliation, the Irish had returned The Pestilence to its parting pier unannounced and mothballed it in what soon became a drying, wooded alcove south of Kinsale, leaving the three hundred bodies to rot in the hold.

The ship was discovered by a group of young Irish campers shortly after the Treaty with the victorious Brits was signed, ending the War of Independence. Soon thereafter, in the fall of 1921, the Rebels filled the arid tributary with fresh water, freeing the ship and setting it on a crossing to America to test its sea-worthiness. The next step in purging their embarrassment for the deaths was to cleanse the ship’s hold of the bones and restore its ability to make money for the Emerald Isle.

About the Author:

Ashby Jones has been writing historical novels for 50 years. With degrees in Literature and Clinical Psychology; Creative Writing at UCLA under the guidance of Leonardo Bercovici. Jones previously published: The Angel’s Lamp in 2017 which was well received and reviewed by the Irish Times. Jones’s passion is writing literary fiction that attempts to understand mankind’s never-ending battles with irony, tragedy, blatant contradiction, and the anomalies of love. Such is the focus of ‘The Crossing’, a stand-alone sequel to ‘The Angel’s Lamp’, his first novel. He studied under such notables as William Hoffman, a best-selling author, and years later at U.C.L.A. under Leonardo Bercovici, a highly regarded screenwriter.

Twitter: https://twitter.com/ashby_jones

Amazon Author Page: https://www.amazon.com/Ashby-Jones/e/B01N2YR769/ref=dp_byline_cont_pop_ebooks_1

Goodreads: https://www.goodreads.com/author/show/14394032.Ashby_Jones

Buy Link: https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/1592110894/ref=dbs_a_def_rwt_bibl_vppi_i1

Giveaway!

Ashby Jones will be awarding a $10 Amazon or B/N GC to a randomly drawn winner via rafflecopter during the tour.

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Blurb Blitz: The Lady and the Texan by Bobbi Smith

Posted on September 22, 2021 by heatherosborneauthor under Blurb Blitz, Goddess Fish Promotions, historical romance, Uncategorized

Title: The Lady and the Texan

Author: Bobbi Smith

Genre: Historical Romance (Sequel to Lady Deception)

Blurb:

The Lady and the Texan

The Lady

A firebrand since the day she was born, Amanda Taylor always stood up for what she believed in. Growing up in Texas, she could ride and shoot with the best of the boys before being sent back East for a more refined education. A firm believer in women’s rights, she was not going to let any man control her—especially a man like the rough-and-ready gunslinger Jack Logan, who had been sent by her father to escort her safely back to Texas.

The Texan

After a deadly run-in with the infamous El Diablo, Jack Logan left the Texas Rangers, no longer able to trust his instincts—or any woman. He knew Dan Taylor’s daughter was trouble, and yet her defiant spirit only spurred his hunger for her. Jack discovered that keeping the dark-haired tigress at bay was a lot harder than outsmarting the outlaws who were after him—and surrendering to the sweet fury in her arms was a heck of a lot riskier.

Excerpt:

Jack Logan was not in the best mood as he stared out the window of his hired carriage. He’d thought it would be simple, traveling to Philadelphia to escort Amanda Taylor back to Texas to her father. He’d made it to the Randall home, but had been informed that Amanda was spending the night at a friend’s home. He’d headed there, only to discover she wasn’t there either. The servant had given him an address where the young women had gone and now as the carriage drew to a stop in front of a bar, Jack shook his head in disbelief. He had no idea what Amanda Taylor would be doing here.

There was a crowd gathered, and he could hear shouts coming the bar. He hurried inside. The sight that greeted him left him stunned. Six axe-wielding women were smashing every table, glass and bottle of liquor in the saloon.

“Down with demon liquor!” one woman shouted.

“What the hell is going on?” the bartender bellowed.

“We are here to save souls!” the women of the temperance movement responded.

Jack pulled out the tintype Dan had given him of Amanda. If one of these battleaxes was Amanda Taylor, he had to get her out of there fast.

The bartender snatched up a bottle of whiskey from the counter when a raven-haired woman confronted him.

“Put that bottle down!” she ordered. “We’re here to destroy this blight upon our land!”

“You swing that axe and I’m sending for the law!”

She did and he did.

“You men! Get the constable!”

Several men bolted out the door to get help.

Jack recognized the woman as Amanda, and he knew he had to make his move now. The last thing he wanted to do was bail her out of jail. True, she was armed and might prove dangerous, but he’d dealt with worse than her before and survived.

“I’ll handle her.” Jack’s tone was so deadly and serious, the bartender stopped his advance.

Amanda lifted her axe again to shatter another bottle, and Jack made his move. He snared her around the waist and jerked her back against him, twisting the weapon out of her grip.

“Unhand me, you fiend!” Amanda cried out in alarm as she found herself pinned against a hard male body in an unyielding grip.

“Shut up!” he ground out, tossing her axe aside.

Amanda fought him with all her might, but his strength was overpowering.

Time was of the essence, so Jack gave up the effort to treat her like a lady. He picked her up and tossed her over his shoulder. She went still, and he smiled grimly as he disappeared out the door with her. He had to get her back to Texas to her father.

About the Author:

After working as a department manager for Famous-Barr, and briefly as a clerk at a bookstore, Bobbi gave up on career security and began writing. She sold her first book to Zebra in 1982. Since then, Bobbi has written over 40 books and 6 novellas. To date, there are more than five million copies of her novels in print. She has been awarded the prestigious Romantic Times Storyteller Award and two Career Achievement Awards. Her books have appeared on the New York Times Best Seller List, the USA Today Best Seller List and the Wal-Mart Best Seller List. The rights to Ms. Smith’s books have been sold to China, France, Germany, India, Israel, Russia and Sweden. Bobbi has also written two faith-based contemporary novels – Haven and Miracles – using the pseudonym Julie Marshall.

http://www.Bobbismithauthor.com

https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B074B4J9ZY/ref=dbs_a_def_rwt_bibl_vppi_i27

Buy link:

https://www.amazon.com/Lady-Texan-Bobbi-Smith-ebook/dp/B074B4J9ZY

Giveaway!

Bobbi Smith will be awarding a $10 Amazon or B/N GC to a randomly drawn winner!

a Rafflecopter giveaway https://widget-prime.rafflecopter.com/launch.js