Wednesday, June 5, 2019

#Giveaway Great Summer Reads Countdown Blitz Virginia's Vocation by Zina Abbot























My name is Robyn Echols. Zina Abbott is the pen I use for my historical novels. I’m a member of Women Writing the West and Western Writers of America. I currently live with my husband in California’s central valley near the “Gateway to Yosemite.”

I love to read, quilt, work with digital images on my photo editing program, and work on my own family history.

I am a blogger. In addition to my own blog, I blog for several group blogs including the Sweet Americana Sweethearts blog, which I started and administer.






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Will Virginia’s chosen vocation
fill the empty spaces in her heart?





It is 1858. With both parents dead,
Virginia Atwell lives with her older brother, Jefferson, and his family in
Booneville, Missouri. Under the pseudonym, V. A. Wellington, she secretly has
been submitting articles to a well-respected investigative journal about
controversial topics. To her dismay, she learns her family plans to buy new
farmland in the wilds of central Kansas Territory, making it almost impossible
for her to continue her clandestine article submissions. More importantly,
Virginia is terrified of the prospect of living so close to hostile Indian
tribes and dying by their hands because they resent white Americans moving onto
their traditional buffalo hunting grounds.





Virginia persuades her brothers to
give her a share of their parents’ inheritance so she may attend one of the few
colleges in Ohio that accepts female students. There, she finds Avery Wilson,
one of her professors and fellow boarder at Bettina Calloway’s boarding house,
resentful of female students, conceited and annoying, especially after his
criticism and resentment directed towards the author, V. A. Wellington, whose
articles are published while his submissions are rejected.





Virginia’s publisher insists V. A.
Wellington meet with him in person in St. Louis to discuss a new assignment.
When her landlady insists she cannot travel alone, Avery, curious about
Virginia’s secretive meeting and unable to resist his growing attraction to the
irritating but brilliant student, offers to escort her.





Once the editor discovers his star
contributor is a woman, he refuses to send her to write about conditions on the
Kaw reservation and the proposed treaty the government intends to impose on the
natives. Hoping to favorably impress the editor, Avery offers to pose as
Virginia’s fiancĂ© in order to accompany and protect her on her assignment. Her
heart goes out to the Kaw, but what can fill the empty spaces of her heart?




Virginia’s
Vocation is also part of the author’s Atwell Kin series


















Snippet:





…He
then turned to face her while shaking his head in resignation. “All right. Go
try on a few pair to see which fit best. Just be aware, we will expect you to
put those gloves to good use.”





            Of
course.
Virginia could not help the
disgruntled directions of her thoughts. Anything
to further the achievement of your goals for the future. If you knew
mine, you would laugh them into the ground.









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Tuesday, June 4, 2019

#Giveaway Great Summer Reads Countdown Blitz Chronicles of the Stone by Fiona Ingram




















I am a children’s author, but up until a few years ago, I was a journalist and editor. Something rather unexpected sparked my new career as an author—a family trip to Egypt with my mother and two young nephews. We had a great time and I thought I’d write them a short story as a different kind of souvenir…. Well, one book and a planned book series later, I had changed careers. I have now published Book 3 (The Temple of the Crystal Timekeeper) in my MG adventure series Chronicles of the Stone, with many awards for the first book, The Secret of the Sacred Scarab, and a few for Book 2, The Search for the Stone of Excalibur, and one already for Book 3! I also teach online novel writing for aspiring authors and I find that very satisfying. Relaxation time finds me enjoying something creative or artistic, music, books, theatre or ballet. I love doing research for my book series. I love animals and have written two animal rescue stories. I have two adorable (naughty) little dogs called Chloe and Pumpkin, and a beautiful black cat called Bertie.








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 A
5000-year-old mystery comes to life when a scruffy peddler gives Adam and
Justin Sinclair an old Egyptian scarab on their very first day in Egypt. Only
when the evil Dr. Faisal Khalid shows a particular interest in the cousins and
their scarab, do the boys realise they are in terrible danger. 

Justin and Adam
embark upon the adventure of a lifetime, taking them down the Nile and across
the harsh desert in their search for the legendary tomb of the Scarab King, an
ancient Egyptian ruler. They are plunged into a whirlpool of hazardous and
mysterious events when Dr. Khalid kidnaps them.  With
just their wits, courage, and each other, the boys manage to survive … only to
find that the end of one journey is the beginning of another! 







 This is a must-read for Middle Graders keen on action, adventure, and
Arthurian stories! 





Cousins Adam and Justin Sinclair are
hot on the trail of the second Stone of Power, one of seven ancient stones lost
centuries ago. This stone might be embedded in the hilt of a newly discovered
sword that archeologists believe belonged to King Arthur: Excalibur. 





However,
their long-standing enemy, Dr. Khalid, is following them as they travel to
Scotland to investigate an old castle. Little do they know there is another
deadly force, the Eaters of Poison, who have their own mission to complete.
Time is running out as the confluence of the planets draws closer. Can Justin
and Adam find the second Stone of Power and survive? 







A plane
crash! Lost in the Mexican jungle! Will Adam, Justin, and Kim survive long
enough to find the Third Stone of Power?


With
only a young boy, Tukum, as their guide, the kids make their way through the
dense and dangerous jungle to find the lost city of stone gods, where the Stone
of Power might be located. River rafting on a crocodile-infested river and
evading predators are just part of this hazardous task.





Of
course, their old adversary Dr. Khalid is close behind as the kids press on.
But he is not the worst of their problems. This time Adam will clash with a terrible
enemy who adopts the persona of an evil Aztec god, Tezcatlipoca, and is keen to
revive the ancient tradition of human sacrifice.  Will they emerge
alive from the jungle? Will Dr. Khalid find the third Stone of Power before
they do?











   













Snippet From Book 1:





The snake jerked at the sound of his
voice. It glided closer to the stone sarcophagus. Adam lay back on the pile of
smelly bones and closed his eyes to half-slits. He looked up at the ceiling
where the painted cobra shimmered.


I can’t believe this is happening. I
know it’s after me.





The slithering, scraping sound grew
louder. Then directly in front of him, just at the edge of the stone
sarcophagus, the forked tongue whipping back and forth came into view followed
by the loathsome head, which reared up, its hood spread wide. Then the snake
opened its monstrous jaws, revealing wicked fangs. A clear drop of deadly
poison, glistening like a pearl, trembled on the end of each fang. The reptile
made a hideous hissing as it stared into the stone coffin, hunting for its
prey, waiting for the tiniest movement that would betray his presence. Adam
closed his eyes so he wouldn’t have to look into the snake’s gleaming black
orbs.





I’m finished, he thought, sliding his hand into his
pocket and feeling the scarab. Somehow, just holding it made him feel calmer.




Then Justin called softly, “I know
how I can distract it.









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Monday, June 3, 2019

Great Summer Reads Countdown Blitz Mrs. Murray's Hidden Treasure by Emily-Jane Hills Orford
















An avid gardener, artist, musician and writer, Emily-Jane Hills Orford has fond memories and lots of stories that evolved from a childhood growing up in a haunted Victorian mansion. Told she had a ‘vivid imagination’, the author used this talent to create stories in her head to pass tedious hours while sick, waiting in a doctor’s office, listening to a teacher drone on about something she already knew, or enduring the long, stuffy family car rides. The author lived her stories in her head, allowing her imagination to lead her into a different world, one of her own making. 

As the author grew up, these stories, imaginings and fantasies took to the written form and, over the years, she developed a reputation for telling a good story. Emily-Jane can now boast that she is an award-winning author of several books, including Mrs. Murray’s Ghost (Telltale Publishing 2018), Queen Mary’s Daughter (Clean Reads 2018), Gerlinda (CFA 2016) which received an Honorable Mention in the 2016 Readers’ Favorite Book Awards, To Be a Duke (CFA 2014) which was named Finalist and Silver Medalist in the 2015 Next Generation Indie Book Awards and received an Honorable Mention in the 2015 Readers’ Favorite Book Awards and several other books. A retired teacher of music and creative writing, she writes about the extra-ordinary in life and the fantasies of dreams combined with memories. 





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There is a hidden treasure in the
grand old mansion on Piccadilly Street, in a place called London, but not the
real London of English fame. There’s also a lot of mystery and a murder that’s
been unsolved for decades. But it’s the treasure that captures Mary’s interest.





Mary lives in this house along with her family, her Brownie friends and a
ghost. When the ghost reveals her secret about the hidden treasure, there’s no
stopping Mary, her Brownie friends, or her enemies to searching for this
treasure. 





Why the intrigue? Apparently there’s a little bit of magic connected
with this treasure. And so the adventure begins. 





Who will find the treasure
first?














  













Snippet:





Once the house
settled down for the night, Mrs. Murray, the resident ghost, was out on her
nocturnal prowl. Satisfied that the house was safe and secure for the night,
after all the musical vibrations that shook the rafters earlier, she took her
place at the end of Mary’s bed and waited patiently for the girl to stir from
her sleep and take note of her presence.


            “What?”
Mary groaned, pulling her eyes open as she emerged from a deep sleep. “What
now?”


            “We
need to talk.” The wispy figure of what was once a very distinguished looking
lady, sat down at the end of Mary’s bed and looked the girl firmly in the eye.


            “Now?”
Mary groaned. “It’s the middle of the night. What time is it?”


            “What
difference does it make? Sit up and let’s talk.” The ghost was not going to
take ‘no’ for an answer. And, it would appear, feigning sleep would not send
her away either. So, Mary pushed herself into a sitting position and rubbed her
eyes again, hoping to eradicate the sleep that threatened to make them close.


            “Where
are the others? Where’s Brunny?” she asked.



            “Asleep
in their little space. And it’s not a natural sleep either. They’re all in the
deepest of sleeps, all except Elizabeth, who slipped out of the house a few
hours ago, just after the lights went out and your family snuggled in for the
night.” Mrs. Murray slid a little closer to Mary. “She’s still not right, that
Elizabeth. She’s good and well shackled by that witch.”









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