Thanks to Hannah Robertson of JKS Communications, I am giving away one print copy of ‘Blood Creek’ by Kimberly Collins.
Description Blood Creek by Kimberly Collins
In 1912 West Virginia, starving coal miners are arming themselves and threatening to strike. Wealthy coal operators have hired the Baldwin-Felts Detective Agency to protect their fortunes and crush the rebellious miners by whatever means necessary–no matter how violent. Long-smoldering resentments are about to erupt into one of the largest armed insurrections in US history: The West Virginia Coal Mine Wars.
In the midst of this powder keg atmosphere, Ellie Cline arrives in Charleston on the arm of John Havers, a top lieutenant to Tom Felts himself. Ellie becomes the envy and talk of Charleston high society. Young, breathtaking, and, as the gossips whisper behind her back, a kept woman. Ellie doesn’t mind the gossip. She adores being the center of attention. She loves the parties, the fine dresses, the jewelry. This is the life she always believed she deserved. Could it at last be enough?
But Ellie has a past–and secrets. A husband on the run for killing her lover. A baby daughter living with her cousin back in Matewan. A new lover she sneaks into her bed while Havers is away. And her biggest secret of all–Ellie is a spy.
Uniquely positioned to know the battle plans of both sides, Ellie straddles two worlds–the sparkling, high society life of Charleston and the family roots that still twine deep into the coal dust of Matewan. Now Ellie must choose between luxury and loyalty, between escape from drab small town poverty and love for her family.
Praise Blood Creek by Kimberly Collins
“Kimberly Collins’s compelling novel revisits a tumultuous period in American history through a colorful cast of characters.” — Foreword Clarion Reviews
About Kimberly Collins
Kimberly Collins is the author of two novels, most recently Blood Creek, which is the first in the Mingo series. Collins grew up in Matewan, West Virginia, the home of the Hatfield & McCoy feud and the legendary Matewan Massacre.
She loves the mountains, the river, the people, and the history. Collins is busy working on several projects including the Mingo series, short stories, photography, and dabbling in other creative endeavors. In 2017, she co-wrote her first screenplay for a short film, which premiered at the Knoxville Film Festival.
Thanks to Jennifer Vance of JKS Communications, I am giving away one print copy of ‘Seventh Flag’ by Sid Balman Jr..
Description Seventh Flag by Sid Balman Jr.
The US and Europe have unraveled since World War II and radicalism has metastasized into every community, tearing away the decency, optimism, and security that shaped those robust democracies for more than eight decades. No place is immune, including the small West Texas town of Dell City, where four generations of an iconic American family and a Syrian Muslim family carve a farming empire out of the unforgiving high desert.
These families’ partnership is as unlikely as the idea of a United States, and their powerful friendship can be traced back to a bloody knife fight in a Juarez cantina just after World War II. The bond forged that night between Jack Laws, an Irish American who staked his claim in West Texas after the war, and Ali Zarkan, whose great-grandfather sailed from the Middle East to Texas in the mid-1800s as part of President Franklin Pierce’s attempt to create the US Army Camel Corps, shapes each generation of the families as they come of age and adapt to shifting paradigms of gender, commerce, patriotism, loyalty, religion, and sexuality.
From the beaches of the Western Pacific to the battlefields of the Middle East and from the lawless streets of Juarez to the darkest corners of the Internet, the two families fight real and perceived enemies―journeying, as they do, through the football fields of Texas and West Point, the hippie playgrounds of Asia, the music halls of Austin, the terrorist cells of Europe and the political backrooms where fortunes are gained or lost over the rights to Western water. Underlying their experiences is the basic question of what constitutes identity and citizenship in America, or in Texas, a land over which six flags have flown. The seventh flag, ultimately, is not one of a state or a nation, but of a mosaic of cultures, religions, and people from every corner of the world―all struggling to define what it means to be unified under an ambiguous banner.
Praise Seventh Flag by Sid Balman Jr.
“To me, what made this book stand out was the core belief that ‘we are all Americans’ together in this battle against extremism, racial bigotry, and hate, in whatever form it may take.”– Readers’ Favorite
“At precisely the moment when our diverse and multi-ethnic nation needs a spiritual lift, Sid Balman gives us a portrait of the complex racial and generational relations that define who we really are as Americans. You can smell the creosote of the desert and taste the huevos rancheros in this tale of West Texas . . . a splendid account of what being American is all about, a rich portrait useful to us all.”– Mike McCurry, former White House Press Secretary (1995–1998) and Director/Professor, Center for Public Theology, Wesley Theological Seminary, Washington DC
About Sid Balman Jr.
A Pulitzer-nominated national security correspondent, Sid Balman Jr. has covered wars in the Persian Gulf, Somalia, Bosnia-Herzegovina, and Kosovo, and has traveled extensively with two American presidents and four secretaries of state on overseas diplomatic missions.
With the emergence of the web and the commoditizing of content, Balman moved into the business side of communications. In that role, over two decades, he helped found a news syndicate focused on the interests of women and girls, served as communications chief for the largest consortium of U.S. international development organizations, led two successful progressive campaigning companies, and launched a new division at a large international development firm centered on violent radicalism and other security issues on behalf of governments and nonprofits.
A fourth-generation Texan, as well as a climber, surfer, paddler, and benefactor to Smith College, Balman lives in Washington DC with his wife, three kids, and two dogs.
Christmas Eve Secret: Time Travel Novel by Elyse Douglas
Publisher: Broadback (September 16, 2019) Category: Time Travel, Historical Fiction, Romance, Christmas Tour Dates: October-November, 2019 ISBN: TBD Available in Print and ebook, 440 pages
Description Christmas Eve Secret: Time Travel Novel by Elyse Douglas
A mysterious man from the past steals the time travel lantern.
When Eve and Patrick find it, they destroy it.
Eve’s life is shattered.
She must return to the past, where secrets await.
In the third novel of THE CHRISTMAS EVE series, Eve and Patrick Gantly are living a normal life in 2019 New York, preparing to celebrate the Christmas season. Patrick is taking courses in forensic psychology and Eve continues to work as a nurse practitioner. To their delight, she is three months pregnant.
Despite their happiness, Eve is having premonitions that something dreadful is about to occur. Concerned about the future and the safety of their child, she insists that they destroy the time travel lantern. Patrick is more cautious.
One afternoon when Patrick is out, a sinister man breaks into the apartment and forces Eve to give him the lantern. In many ways, Eve is relieved the lantern is gone. She hopes they can now live a more normal life.
A day later, Patrick shadows a woman who has been staking out the Gantly’s brownstone apartment, and he confronts her. To his and Eve’s utter shock, they learn that Lucy Rose is from 1924 and that she time-traveled with the man who took the lantern. He returned to 1924, but she chose to stay behind. She offers to sell the lantern back to Eve and Patrick, and they reluctantly agree, hoping to keep it out of unscrupulous hands.
Convinced that the lantern is a threat to their future happiness, Eve and Patrick decide to destroy it.
But the lantern has more power than they could have ever imagined. Once the lantern is destroyed, Eve’s life is completely changed. She must set off on an adventure, in a struggle that will return her to the past, where she will learn the secret of the lantern’s origin and delve into the farthest reaches of her heart.
Praise Christmas Eve Series by Elyse Douglas
“If you are a fan of authors such as Nicholas Sparks and Marybeth Whalen, or H.G. Wells or Jack Finney, you need to add this book to your shelves. This is a romantic suspense novel with many dangerous and tense moments. As always, when one travels in time, the concern of consequences and potential changes to history and the future weigh heavily on both the traveler’s and readers’ minds. Those worries added to the atmosphere but were also handled skillfully. I smiled at a certain twist of color. It is a perfect bookclub read.”-Laura’s Interests
“The Christmas Eve Letter is a wonderful time travel book and one of my favorite books of the year.”–The Book Return Blog
“This book is the perfect vehicle for a movie, and I can only hope that there will be more in the series. This novel is truly as close to perfection as the reader could imagine! 5 Stars!”–My Devotional Thoughts Blog and Reviews
“I enjoyed the new characters, an update on characters from the first book, and the possibility for more books. If you enjoy time travel-themed novels you will love these books!”–StoreyBook Reviews
My Thoughts Christmas Eve Letter: Time Travel Novel by Elyse Douglas
I can’t seem to get enough of the husband and wife author team, Elyse Douglas! I have read several of their books and have loved all of them. The Christmas eve Series can be read out of order and I actually read the second book, ‘The Christmas Eve Daughter’ first. Your can read my review for book 2 here.
Now for my thoughts on Book 1, ‘The Christmas Eve Letter’. Though the books in this series can be read out of order, I am so glad I went back and read this book after reading book 2. It gave me more of the back story on how the lamp used to time travel was found and how Eve met and fell in love with Patrick in 1885.
When Eve found the lamp it contained a love letter to a distant relative, living in 1885 with Eve’s same name. She didn’t know that the lamp was a conduit to time travel but found out when she lit it and she woke up on a park bench in New York in 1885. She had know idea how she was going to get back to 2016 but in the meantime she wanted to find her distant cousin who she heard was dying of TB. Eve is a nurse and thought she may be able to help and also reunite her with the man who wrote the love letter. She thought that may be the key to finding the lamp to return to her time.
There was quite a bit of intrigue and romance in ‘The Christmas Eve Letter’. I loved the interaction between Eve and Detective Sargent Gantly Patrick). The humor especially made it fun and delicious! The sense of time and place were captured beautifully and mad it quite believable. I loved learning more about the female doctor in 1885, Dr. Long and her relationship with Eve. I love strong female characters and Eve and Dr. Long are both strong. I loved ‘The Christmas Eve Letter’ for it’s intrigue, humor, and romance. Elyse Douglas is a excellent story teller and the character pop off the page and transport the reader into their lives. I listened to the audiobook and the narrator was excellent and added to the story coming to life. This is another 5 star book by Elyse Douglas!
Stay tuned for my review of book 3, “The Christmas Eve Secret’ in October!
About Elyse Douglas
Elyse Douglas is the pen name for the married writing team Elyse Parmentier and Douglas Pennington. Elyse grew up near the sea, roaming the beaches, reading and writing stories and poetry, receiving a master’s degree in English Literature. She has enjoyed careers as an English teacher, an actress and a speech-language pathologist.
Douglas has worked as a graphic designer, a corporate manager and an equities trader. He attended the Cincinnati College Conservatory of Music and played the piano professionally for many years.
Giveaway Christmas Eve Secret: Time Travel Novel by Elyse Douglas
This giveaway is for the winner’s choice of one print or ebook copy of the book. Print is open to the U.S. only and ebook is available worldwide. There will be 3 winners. This giveaway ends November 29, 2019, midnight pacific time.
Blood Creek by Kimberly Collins
Seventh Flag by Sid Balman Jr.
