Monday, July 30, 2018

The Haunting of Hattie Hastings P3 by Audrey Davis




The Haunting of Hattie Hastings Part Three

Nothing lasts forever … Gary’s time on earth seems to be coming to an end. His visits are less frequent and his visibility is fading fast. But he still has a mission to accomplish, which involves Hattie and her ability to pass on a heart-rending message.

Best friend Cat’s ex-husband is determined to prove that he deserves another chance, but do leopards really change their spots?

Times are tough for Hattie’s mother Rachel, but where there’s life, there’s hope …
Meanwhile, is there someone already in Hattie’s life who can help her move on when it’s finally time to say goodbye?

Get your tissues at the ready – both for laughter and tears – with the final instalment of a trilogy that has been hailed ‘brilliant’, ‘hilarious’, and ‘a great feel-good read’.




About Audrey Davis
Audrey Davis survived secondary school on the West coast of Scotland. Rubbish at science but not too bad at English, she originally wanted to be an actress but was persuaded that journalism was a safer option. Probably wise. She studied at Napier College in Edinburgh, the only place in Scotland at that time to offer a journalism course.

Her first foray into the hard-nosed newspaper world was as a junior reporter in Dumfriesshire. Duties included interviewing farmers about the prize-winning heifers to reporting on family tragedies. She persuaded her editor to let her launch an entertainment column which meant meeting the odd celebrity – or just the downright odd. From there, she moved to the loftier rank of senior reporter back in her home patch. Slightly more money, fewer farm animals but a higher crime rate. As Taggart would say: 'There's been a murrrrder!'

After a stint in London on a video magazine – yes, she is that old – Audrey moved to Singapore with her fiancĂ©. She tried valiantly to embrace the stinking heat, humidity and lack of jobs, although she did work briefly on a magazine which was banned by the government for 'artistic' use of naked men's bottoms.

Next on her adventures was a land Down Under where her main focus was raising Cost Centre One (aka firstborn) and coming to terms with the imminent arrival of Number Two. Still, she loved the Aussie way of life – BBQs, beaches and bring your own booze to restaurants – so it came as a blow when OH announced a move back to the UK. Not a job between them, the climate a possible deal breaker and an Exorcist-style vomiting infant on the flight home didn't bode well …

Always a survivor, Audrey sought out similar-minded friends (i.e. slightly bonkers), got the children into a good school and thought about taking up writing again. Sadly, thinking about it was as far as she got, unless you count shopping lists. Then, hubby drops another bombshell. Switzerland. As in – it's packing time again. Off to the land of cheese, chocolate, scarily efficient trains and a couple of teeny, tiny issues. Like driving on the 'wrong' side of the road and speaking a foreign language (French). The former was conquered fairly quickly (we'll skip over the wall demolition in week two), the latter remains an ongoing battle of the hopeful against the hopeless. At least she provides amusement for the local workforce.
It wasn't until 2016 that Audrey rediscovered her writing mojo with an online Writing Fiction course. From there, her first novel – A Clean Sweep – was born, although it took a bit longer than nine months from conception. A short, darker prequel – A Clean Break – followed, and in November 2017 she published the first in a novella trilogy, The Haunting of Hattie Hastings Part One. Part Two is published on 21 March 2018, with the conclusion following in July. After which she might have a wee lie down …

Saturday, July 28, 2018

The Dating Trilogy by Alexandria Bishop



THE DATING TRILOGY is finally COMPLETE! Read the entire series from beginning to end now!



About DATING IN THE DARK


Call center girl by day and...this is the part where I say I do something super mysterious and exotic by night. Yeah not so much.
With the big 3-0 looming its ugly head around the corner my best friend and my married and very pregnant sister have decided that I need a life. One that includes the opposite sex. Or else continue on, and become the old spinster they say I am.
It was all in jest until they set me up with a blind date. Literally.
Speed dating. In the dark. With a stranger. What were they thinking?
Fifteen minutes, that’s all you get to find the man of your dreams. Oh yeah, that’ll go over about as well as a nun in a strip club.
Playing along might not be so bad. Besides, what's the worst that could happen? It's not like I’ll actually end up falling in love.

About SINKING IN THE SHADOWS


The Dating Trilogy continues with Sinking in the Shadows...
She wasn’t looking for love.
She wasn’t looking for a happily ever after.
But Dating in the Dark gave her both.
Or so she thought.
Now with a broken heart and an unexpected surprise she doesn’t know if she’ll ever find her way back to both again.
Sinking in the Shadows is the second book in The Dating Trilogy and should be read after Dating in the Dark. Tinley and Marek’s story concludes in Loving in the Light.

About LOVING IN THE LIGHT


The Dating Trilogy concludes with Loving in the Light…
He came into her life when she least expected it. Stopping her from watching her life pass her by to loving every minute of it.
She got everything she didn’t know she wanted but now it’s all being threatened.
Now she’s left in a world of uncertainty with more questions than answers.
Loving in the Light is the third and final book in The Dating Trilogy. It should be read after Dating in the Dark and Sinking in the Shadows.

About Alexandria Bishop


Born on a small southeastern island in Alaska and raised in southern Oregon, Alexandria Bishop is a PNW girl at heart. By day, she goes to battle with a tiny dictator aka her toddler and by night, she can be found typing ALL the words of her contemporary romance novels accompanied by a glass of wine or two ;)
When she’s not in mommy or author mode, she can be found drinking copious amounts of cold brew coffee, bingeing her latest obsession on Netflix, or attending concerts of her favorite pop-punk bands.
She loves hearing from her readers and you can find her on social media here:

#Giveaway The Invisible Case by Isabella Muir



The Invisible Case
A shocking death turns a homecoming into a nightmare. 

It's Easter 1970 in the seaside town of Tamarisk Bay, and for one family the first Easter of a new decade brings a shocking tragedy. Amateur sleuth and professional librarian, Janie Juke, is settling into motherhood and looking forward to spending time with her family. When her Aunt Jessica is due back from Rome after nine years travelling around Europe, she arrives back in town with a new Italian friend, Luigi, and the whole family soon get embroiled in a tangle of mystery and suspicion, with death and passion at the heart of the story.

As time runs out on Luigi as prime suspect for murder, Janie has to use all of her powers of deduction in the footsteps of her hero, Hercule Poirot, to uncover the facts. Why did Luigi come to Tamarisk Bay? What is the truth about his family?
As Luigi's story unfolds, tragedy seems to haunt the past, present and unless Janie acts fast, possibly what is yet to come.

Amazon UK - https://www.amazon.co.uk/Invisible-Case-heartbreaking-tragedy-cold-blooded-ebook/dp/B07D5BLMG6/


Guest Post:

Delving into the past
When I first conjured up Janie Juke I knew that her story had to be set in the 1960s.  It’s an era I have always loved.  My older brother and sister both grew up during the sixties, so I’m lucky to have first-hand memories of all kinds of wild events.  My sister was at the Rolling Stones concert on Hastings Pier in 1964 when tickets probably cost a few shillings.  My brother was a real mod, with a scooter, and the ‘mod’ uniform of a Parka jacket, with fur-lined hood.  He didn’t take part in the crazy event in 1964, when 5,000 mods and rockers planned to storm Hastings sea front to create the ‘Second Battle of Hastings’ and the police had to fly in extra officers to control the crowds, but he may well have inevitably watched from the sidelines.
I remember sitting gazing at my sister when she put on her makeup before a night out.  She aimed for that ‘bare-faced’ sixties look with just a touch of face powder.  All the focus was on the eyes, with white or sometimes bright blue eyeshadow and thick black mascara and eye-liner, trying to emulate the sixties model Twiggy.  She would spend hours back-combing her hair into a bouffant style and then use oceans of hair spray to keep it just perfect. 
When we first meet Janie in The Tapestry Bag it’s 1969.  Twiggy is still very much on the scene, but hairstyles are starting to change from that manicured look, to Janie’s more casual style of long, loose hair, pulled back with a headband made from ribbons or scarves.  Mary Quant brought hot pants, mini skirts and plastic macs to the fashion scene, which would have soon travelled down from the King’s Road, Chelsea into boutiques in and around the imaginary Sussex seaside resort of Tamarisk Bay.
It wasn’t just fashion and music I researched for the Janie Juke novels.  In the second and third books in the series Janie looks back to the Second World War in an attempt to solve the mysteries.   
In Lost Property,  Hugh Furness, one of Janie’s library customers enlists her help.  Hugh was an RAF pilot in the Second World War.  He was stationed at ‘Longmere’ an RAF base modelled on RAF Tangmere, a place close to where I live.  Some of the pilots based at Tangmere were involved with the Special Operations Executive, flying brave souls into France to help the French resistance.  Tangmere is now a Military Aviation Museum and I was grateful for the advice and feedback from one of the museum’s Trustees to ensure all the details were accurate.  
Italy and Italians feature in the latest book in the series, The Invisible Case.  In particular Anzio, a favoured seaside resort for Italian holidaymakers, about an hour from Rome, a place I have visited many times.  Anzio is the present-day home town of Luigi, but also the location for a key part of the plot, when we return to the war-torn Anzio of 1944.  I am half Italian, so was able to enlist the help of my Italian cousins when researching day-to-day life in wartime Italy.  For me the wonderful aroma of Italian coffee is synonymous with all the marvellous family holidays I had in Rome, but during the wartime real coffee was rarely found.  I fleshed out these first-hand memories with plenty of online searching, as well as reading books about Italy during the war. 
In the opening chapters of The Invisible Case we meet Janie’s Aunt Jessica travelling from Rome to return to her home town of Tamarisk Bay, after nine years exploring Europe.  As I wrote the opening scenes I was there with Jessica on that long train journey from Rome, which was a trip I did many times with my family.  Again, first-hand memories helped me to picture the scene, with all the smells, sights and sounds of Roma Termini – Rome’s central train station.
It’s been great fun delving into the past and I’m looking forward to doing more of the same as I start to map out the next book in the Sussex Crime mystery series, when Libby Frobisher – Janie’s young journalist friend - takes the lead in the investigation.  Libby is chic, stylish and fun and ever keen for that exclusive that will make her name and give her a chance to head for the bright lights of Fleet Street!
Keep in touch with progress by visiting my website: www.isabellamuir.com or by following me on Twitter @SussexMysteries or visit my Facebook page at: https://www.facebook.com/IsabellaMuirAuthor/

Author Bio –
Isabella Muir is the author of Janie Juke series of crime mysteries - all set in Sussex.

'The Tapestry Bag' is the first in the series, followed by ‘Lost Property’. Now - 'The Invisible Case' - the latest in the series is available for pre-order from Amazon.

The 'Janie Juke mysteries' are set in Sussex in the sixties and seventies and feature a young librarian with a passion for Agatha Christie. All that Janie has learned from her hero, Hercule Poirot, she is able to put into action as she sets off to solve a series of crimes and mysteries.

Isabella has also published 'Ivory Vellum' - a collection of short stories.

She has been surrounded by books her whole life and – after working for twenty years as a technical editor and having successfully completed her MA in Professional Writing - she was inspired to focus on fiction writing.
Aside from books, Isabella has a love of all things caravan-like. She has spent many winters caravanning in Europe and now, together with her husband, she runs a small caravan site in Sussex. They are ably assisted by their much-loved Scottie, Hamish.

Social Media Links –
TWITTER  @SussexMysteries



Giveaway – Win a signed copy of The Invisible Case (Open Internationally)
*Terms and Conditions –Worldwide entries welcome.  Please enter using the Rafflecopter box below.  The winner will be selected at random via Rafflecopter from all valid entries and will be notified by Twitter and/or email. If no response is received within 7 days then I reserve the right to select an alternative winner. Open to all entrants aged 18 or over.  Any personal data given as part of the competition entry is used for this purpose only and will not be shared with third parties, with the exception of the winners’ information. This will passed to the giveaway organiser and used only for fulfilment of the prize, after which time I will delete the data.  I am not responsible for despatch or delivery of the prize.