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Contemporary Romance – Dance with Me by Nan Dixon

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Big Sky Dreamers, Book 3

Contemporary Romance, Contemporary Women’s Fiction

Release Date: June 29, 2021

A journey of healing, hope and love.

SEAN

He loves running his family pub and the expansion into brewing is his contribution to the family legacy. But he hates seeing sad women in his pub, so he flirts, charms smiles out of the unhappy ones, and his Irish accent might be a little stronger as he teaches them a jig. Sad women remind of the terrible mistake he made. When Nicole walks in, pain radiates off her. He tries to coax a smile and even gets her to dance.

NICOLE

Eight months ago her world went up in flames. Once she was a dancer and a mother. Then her husband and daughter died in a fiery crash. Now she’s a mother without a child and a ballerina who cannot dance. Grief and guilt crush her. She retraces her daughter’s and philandering husband’s last day. Her final stop—O’Dair’s Pub. Her husband had been drinking with another woman before Nicole called and begged him to pick up their daughter.

Sean makes her smile. Makes her feel alive again. Maybe there is hope…

Other books in the Big Sky Dreamers series:

Invest In Me

Big Sky Dreamers, Book One

Sienna D’Amico took the biggest risk of her life and slept with Tanner, a guy she barely knew. Then he ghosts her. No last name. No phone number.

An enemies to lovers tale that will keep you turning the pages!

Stained Glass Hearts

Big Sky Dreamers, Book Two

Both homes and hearts can be restored.

This story is an emotional rollercoaster ride to healing and love.

Amazon

About the Author

Award winning author of the BIG SKY DREAMERS and FITZGERALD HOUSE series, Nan Dixon spent her formative years as an actress, singer, dancer and competitive golfer. But the need to eat had her studying accounting in college. Unfortunately, being a successful financial executive didn’t feed her passion to perform. When the pharmaceutical company she worked for was purchased, Nan got the chance of a lifetime—the opportunity to pursue a writing career. She’s a five-time Golden Heart® finalist and lives in the Midwest. She has five children, three sons-in-law, three granddaughters, two grandsons and one neurotic cat.

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Literary Fiction – Harry Harambee’s Kenyan Sundowner by Gerald Everett Jones

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A Novel

Literary Fiction

Date Published: 6/29/2021

Publisher: La Puerta Productions

Intrigue on the white sands of the Indian Ocean. From the award-winning author of Clifford’s Spiral.

A lonely widower from Los Angeles buys a tour package to East Africa on the promise of hookups and parties. What he finds instead are new reasons to live.

Aldo Barbieri, a slick Italian tour operator, convinces Harry to join a group of adventuresome “voluntourists.” In a resort town on the Indian Ocean, Harry doesn’t find the promised excitement with local ladies. But in the supermarket he meets Esther Mwemba, a demure widow who works as a bookkeeper. The attraction is strong and mutual, but Harry gets worried when he finds out that Esther and Aldo have a history. They introduce him to Victor Skebelsky, rumored to be the meanest man in town. Skebelsky has a plan to convert his grand colonial home and residential compound into a rehab center – as a tax dodge. The scheme calls for Harry to head up the charity. He could live like a wealthy diplomat and it won’t cost him a shilling!

Harry has to come to terms with questions at the heart of his character: Is corruption a fact of life everywhere? Is all love transactional?

Harry Harambee’s Kenyan Sundowner is an emotional story of expat intrigue in Africa, reminiscent of The Heart of the Matter by Graham Greene and The Constant Gardener by John le Carré.

Praise for Clifford’s Spiral (Independent Press Awards 2020 Distinguished Favorite in Literary Fiction)

We’ve seen and noted the comparison of this author by other reviewers to literary giants like Roth and Vonnegut. And we can’t disagree. Yet we feel there may be yet another strata for Gerald Everett Jones, who arguably is doing the best work of his career. We predict that he lacks only a mention in the The New York Review of Books or, better yet, Oprah, to become a nationwide best-selling author. Five-plus stars to Clifford’s Spiral, a true literary novel if ever there was one. We say in all seriousness that if you only read one novel this year, this should be it. – Don Sloan, Publishers Daily Reviews

Preacher Finds a Corpse (NYC Big Book Awards 2020 Winner in Mystery, IPA 2020 Distinguished Favorite in Mystery, Eric Hoffer 2020 Finalist in Mystery)

This is literature masquerading as a mystery. Carefully yet powerfully, Gerald Jones creates a small, stunning world in a tiny midwestern town, infusing each character with not just life but wit, charm, and occasionally menace. This is the kind of writing one expects from John Irving or Jane Smiley.

– Marvin J. Wolf, author of the Rabbi Ben Mysteries, including A Scribe Dies in Brooklyn.

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Crime Thriller – The Trophy Room by Barry Litherland

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Crime Thriller, Psychological Thriller

Published: March 2021

Publisher: Bleaknorth Publishing

What terrible secrets lie inside those doors?

It was to be an ordinary holiday by the sea for the Miller family, a chance to bond after difficult times; but when they meet a local family, the Trevelyans, they become embroiled in a dangerous and disturbing conflict with the unstable owner of Leybury Hall, and must face the terrifying truth of The Trophy Room.

Written in a mixture of second and third person, this novel about the evil doings of the disturbed and psychotic inhabitant of Leybury Hall. The novel flirts with gothic horror but is, at heart, the story of families brought together to face terrible truths. Children from both families play a central and disturbing role.

Excerpt

A young boy approaches the watchtower along the cliff path. He is alone and intent on some game which absorbs all his attention. He swerves and circles, arms outstretched, and accompanies each move with excited chatter. He is about ten and has a mop of untidy red hair, and a rash of freckles.

So intent is he on his game that he doesn’t see the low, wooden door of the watchtower open, and a man step out, at least not until it is too late. When the boy does notice, he pauses, and his hands drop to his side. His shoulders hunch, and he stands there, waiting for the man to approach. The look of fear on the boy’s face seems to entertain the newcomer, because he offers an unpleasant smile—close to a sneer—and takes up a position blocking the path. The man is gaunt, with a sickly complexion, and his clothes hang loose, like they were intended for a stockier man. He’s in his mid-twenties but has a pinched, shifty look, and a hollow face which makes him look ten years older. There’s something cold about him, too, and a glint of malice lingers around his mouth and eyes. He has the air of someone who would pull the wings off a butterfly, just for fun.

The boy senses the danger and looks around for other walkers, but it’s early and it’s October, and there is nobody else out. They are alone on the cliff.

‘Are you following me, Sammy?’ The man’s voice curls around him like a snake, then it darts a poisoned tongue. ‘Because if you are—’

About the Author

Barry Litherland is a writer of character-driven crime / mystery thrillers, sometimes tinged with the paranormal. His books have received excellent reviews and are commended for the quality and depth of the characters, the reality of the settings, the strength of the narrative and the quality of writing. He lives in the far north of Scotland with his wife and two springer spaniels.

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Southern Gothic – The Girls of Cemetery Road by Twyla Ellis

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Ghosts of the Big Thicket, Book Two

Southern Gothic, Mystery, Paranormal Women’s Fiction

Publisher: Zimbell House Publishing

There was something very dark about Kitrina Katim’s part of the Big Thicket. It had taken Libby, one of Kit’s best friends, in the dark of night when Kit was just a girl. Kit couldn’t imagine leaving her life and he best friends, the Sisterhood of Cemetery Road. But leave them, she did. And she did not return until ten years later when she was forced back to sell her parent’s house.

Nothing had changed, including Mad Maddie McPhearson, who lived down the road, always sitting on her front porch, always trying to make Kit’s life miserable. Miss Maddie, an angry elderly woman, owned Bellewood, an old Plantation house that was crumbling around her. Kit’s attemps at kindsness only fed the old woman’s hatred. But Kit didn’t understand why. Not then anyway.

It was that hatred that awakened dark voices in the thicket and threatening figures that terrified Kit. Was it Libby? Had she come back to them? Or was it something else, something horrifyingly familiar?

Would it be the Sisterhood, or handsome Colton or his brother Jackson, who would come to Kit’s aid when the time came to do battle with the dark forces that were slowly overtaking the Big Thicket?

Other Books in the Ghosts of the Big Thicket series:

The House on Camp Ruby Road

Ghosts of the Big Thicket, Book One

Publisher: Zimbell House Publishing

The House on Camp Ruby Road is the story of three generations of women living in the Big thicket of deep East Texas. It is a mystical place where Eden Devereaux, a college student in the early 1060s, is drawn into a haunting world full of damaged and grotesques people, reminiscent of Southern Gothic literature. After inheriting a crumbling southern homeplace in the Big Thicket upon the death of her mother, Eden must find out why she is entitled to it. But more importantly, who wants to make sure she doesn’t inherit it, and why.

The story weaves around three women; our heroine, who is searching for answers to a childhood dream; an elderly black woman who is living in the house and who holds the key to the mystery of the dream; and a young girl from the river bottom people, fleeing an unbearable life. They form an unlikely bond through adversity. Eden is aided in her search by handsome Jeff Callahan, who better understands the strange world in which she finds herself.

Will she be driven away by blood feuds, dark secrets, and ghosts? Or will she take a stand and claim what is hers? Through her true Texas grit and determination, she will find out the truth about who she really is, and who it is she truly loves.

The Voices at the End of the Road

Ghosts of the Big Thicket, Book Two

Coming July 2021!

About the Author

Twyla Ellis is a descendent of pioneers who came to Texas in the 1840s, while Texas was still a Republic. She grew up roaming the dense pine forest in the Big Thicket around Livingston, Texas, at the home of her grandmother, great-aunts and uncles, and cousins. Her family was one of the founding families of Livingston, and her great-great-great grandfather was the first city treasurer in the 1840s. She fell in love with the haunting feel of the Thicket; its sounds and sights and smells. Her goal is to make people aware of the mystique and uniqueness of this novel part of Texas, one of only four rainforests in the U.S.

She holds a degree from Howard Payne University and has taught English and Music, and has been a member of NEA, TSTA, and TETA. She was a statewide officer and conference speaker with TETA (Texas English Teachers Association).

She has run her own children’s party and event planning business as well as Remembrances Antiques and Gifts in the Houston area. She is certified in computer graphic design and free-lances in her spare time.

Nothing makes her happier than road trips with her family to interesting old Texas towns. She loves church, antiquing, fossil hunting with her husband and sons (they hunt, she writes), Big Bend, the Alamo (Don’t all Texans?), exploring deserted buildings with a camera, and especially, the Big Thicket of deep East Texas.

If she had to give you a one-sentence bio of herself, she would probably say, “That obnoxiously joyful, hug driven, southern relative that you’d like to hide in the attic, just might be me.”

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LGBT Historical Fiction – Do You Know Dorothy? by Vanda Writer

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The Juliana Series, Book 5

LGBT Historical Fiction

Published: May 2021

Publisher: Sans Merci Press

Can a group of elderly drag queens save a 1950s nightclub from being taken over by the mob?

It’s 1956 and television is stealing Alice’s nightclub audience. Known as Al to everyone in the club scene, she has to try to prevent the mob from taking over her crippled club and turning it into a strip joint.

Her one solace: Juliana, the woman who haunts her memories and fuels her dreams of a brighter future. But the last time Al saw her was the day Juliana’s husband caught them in bed together.

On the brink of losing her love and her livelihood, Al makes a bold decision. She arranges an extravagant production starring aging female impersonators, even though funding the show means going into debt.

Will the show succeed in saving her club and helping her find her way back to Juliana? Or will Al’s big risk result in losing everything? Although the book is the fifth in the series it can read as a standalone.

DO YOU KNOW DOROTHY? is the fifth book in the Juliana series of historical LGBT fiction, but you can also enjoy it as a standalone novel.

Other Books in the The Juliana Series:

Juliana

The Juliana Series, Book One

She went looking for fame, and found her true self, instead.

Olympus Nights on the Square

The Juliana Series, Book Two

What if your love was illegal? What would you do?

Paris, Adrift

The Juliana Series, Book Three

She wanted a safe harbor for their love. But rough waters could destroy any hope of starting over…

Heaven is to Your Left

The Juliana Series, Book Four

How far would you go to save the person you loved?

Amazon

Excerpt

Max sat up straight on the couch as I entered the living room. “My god, what happened to you?”

“Don’t you like it?” I adjusted my blue and white striped skinny tie, shook my shoulders so my blue suit jacket and held out one foot to show off the black cowboy boots. I pulled the jacket open and grabbed the belt on my black jeans. “And look!” I stuck my hips out. “A fly!”

“Cover yourself!” He shielded his eyes with his hand. “You didn’t wear that in public!”

“Yeah! Well, I took a cab home.”

“You could’ve been killed walking around with that on your head. What is it? Halloween?”

“I’m a butch!” I turned my back to him. “See? This is a DA. That means duck’s ass for you old fogies.”

“Does it come off? We can’t have you at the club looking like that.”

“I can set it with those darn curlers and get it back to my boring page boy.”

“I better not see you at the club wearing anything remotely similar.”

“Of course not, but on my off hours…”

“You can’t take chances like you did tonight.”

“I know.”

“Getting arrested is the best that could happen to you.”

“I know.”

“Where’d you get them?”

“I went shopping.”

“What store would sell you clothes like that? They’re for men.”

“I went as a man.”

“What?”

“I was so scared they’d figure it out and show me the door.” I sat on the coffee table.

“Sit on the couch like a lady.”

I plopped onto the couch without worrying about which way my legs went. “I walked right into Macy’s and…’

“Macy’s! Oh, my god.”

“My friends, Freddie-Faye and Lady Day taught me.

“Who’s Lady Day?”

“A female impersonator I know.”

“You should not be with someone like that. Someone who doesn’t even know what their sex is. She’s, he’s mentally disturbed.”

“She is not. She’s real nice. She has a nephew who sometimes stays over. She leant me his dungarees. Then she gave me this hair style. I went to the men’s department with my friend. I bought my own Men’s clothes. I was scared the salesman would figure it out, but he just called me ‘sir’ and showed me things and let me go into the fitting room.

“Watch me comb it.” I jumped up. “Butches have to comb their hair different from everybody else.” I reached into my back pocket and slid out my new comb. I jutted my chin out and slapped the comb against the palm of my hand. “You’re sposed to do that first.”

“Why?” Max asked.

“Pay attention.”

He wrapped his hands around his knees. “Listening.”

“Watch. You hafta hold your comb between your first two fingers like this. Then you flick your first three fingers through the front of your hair and, uh…” I stared at my two fingers holding the comb and the one extra finger sticking out by itself.

“What’s the matter?”

“I’m sposed to make a curl come over my forehead. It seems it’d be easier to do with just my fingers, but then what do I do with the comb? Oh, well, there’s a whole ritual to combing your hair when you’re a butch. Like there’s the show combing. Stop grinning like you’re not taking me serious. Butch’s comb their hair in public to defy the rules that get thrown at women. Butches are independent. When they look in a mirror…” I stepped over Max’s white rug and saw myself in the mirror. “They tilt their heads like this and then to the other side like this. That’s to show they know they look good, and everybody wants them. I swear I’m gonna be one, Max!” I grandly threw my comb on the rug.

“Get that comb off my clean white rug!

I picked it up.

About the Author

Vanda wrote her first novel in eighth grade, with encouragement from her teacher, Mr. James Evers, who said, “My children will read your words.” She went on to win an Edward Albee Fellowship among other awards for playwriting. One of her plays, VILE AFFECTIONS, was a finalist for the National Lambda Literary Award. She is now writing a series about LGBT history. The characters are fictional, but the history is fact. The books have all received awards in some form. The third in the series, Paris, Adrift was a Category First Place winner in Chanticlear’s Goethe Award for Late Historical Fiction. This same book was also a finalist in the Lesfic Bard Awards.

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Sports Memoir – Red Card By Tony Kelly

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Red Card: A Bet You Can Win!

Memoir, Sports, Non-Fiction

Published: April 2021

Publisher: Austin Macauley Publishers

Former UK professional soccer star (footballer), Tony Kelly lost it all, but he stands today as someone who is unbreakable!

Having lost most of his wealth, his house and eventually his fiance’, Tony refused to be broken and fought back.

Through years of pain and suffering, somehow, Tony managed to turn his life around in a positive way, and his journey from disaster to redemption and triumph is nothing short of amazing. Tony has literally been to hell and back, but through family and friends’ support, professional help, his renewed faith, and sheer courage, he is now in a position to help others, and that is something he could never have envisioned six years ago.

A tragic, yet uplifting and inspiring tale of one man’s journey through gambling addiction. It’s a must-read for those who feel lost, broken, and without hope, as Tony’s story is testimony that all is not lost. That this is a bet you can win!

About the Author

Best selling Author Tony Kelly is a former professional (footballer) soccer star who played for six teams within his nine-year career. He is also a recovering gambling addict. In his first book, Tony wrote and shared this story, “Red Card: The Soccer Star Who Lost It All To Gambling,” in 2013. He now released his much anticipated second book titled “Red Card: A Bet You Can Win!” in April 2021 and is available on Amazon Kindle, Amazon Books, Barnes & Noble, and other fine online book stores in both the UK and USA.

Tony was crazy about (UK Football) soccer from the age of seven. At sixteen, he was the youngest player ever on the first team at Bristol City, UK. In his twenties, Tony turned professional and went on to play for clubs such as Stoke City, Cardiff City, Leyton Orient, and Bury in the second and third divisions of the Soccer (Football) League. He also enjoyed a spell playing for a team in Sweden. His career was cut short and ruined by a gambling addiction. He continued to gamble addictively and lost jobs, the rest of his soccer career, his partner, and his financial wealth he worked hard to gain.

Today, Tony is the Founder and Managing Director of ‘Red Card Gambling Consultancy and Gambling Support Project’ (Non-Profit) in 2015 and has been sharing prevention of problem gambling and addiction with individual one on one therapy, awareness, prevention, educational workshops, visiting and speaking at schools, and much more in and around London, UK.

Tony has helped and worked with the UK Gambling Commission in an advisory role on regulations. A tireless advocate of recovery, Tony has grown to become well-respected within the gambling harm reduction and prevention sector throughout the United Kingdom. His work has been endorsed both by the UK media and the UK parliament. As a recovering addict, his wish for the book release is to help raise awareness and educate the public about this crippling gambling disorder.

Born Nyrere Anthony Kelly in England, Tony resides in London; his books are his journey of ‘Redemption and Recovery’ as Tony is proof that miracles do happen and recovery is possible.

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Historical Fiction – Poisoned Jungle By James Ballard

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Historical Fiction, Vietnam War

Publisher: Koehler Books

In a powerful human saga, Andy teeters on the chasm of survivor’s guilt, desperate to find equilibrium in his life. Deep down, he wants to live but doesn’t know how. Poisoned Jungle is an intimate glimpse into one veteran’s struggle for meaning after experiencing the despair of war.

Poisoned Jungle speaks to the long psychological tentacles war has on the lives it touches, and the difficulty of breaking free of them. Realizing changes have occurred deep within, Vietnam War medic Andy Parks must reconcile his new reality to establish a life worth living-not an easy task. How will Andy Parks ever dispel the images he brought home with him? He can’t live with them-or outrun them. Even in sleep he finds no rest.

“The napalmed children peered at him, uncomprehending, not understanding what happened, and asked him to fix their burns, alleviate their pain. He tried to explain- such a terrible mistake. No words came out of his mouth.”

About the Author

Author, beekeeper, entrepreneur, and Vietnam combat medic.

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