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SNEAK PEEK: Highland Doc’s Christmas Rescue by Susan Carlisle

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Highland Doc's Christmas RescueHighland Doc’s  Christmas Rescue by Susan Carlisle

A chance to mend her body…
A doc to heal her heart?
In this Pups that Make Miracles story, search-and-rescue worker Cassandra Bellow arrives at
Heatherglen Clinic injured and reeling from the loss of her faithful rescue dog. But a Christmas
romance with the gorgeous clinic manager, Dr. Lyle Sinclair, along with Heatherglen’s adorable
therapy dogs, restores Cass’s lust for life. Except soon she must return to America—unless guarded
Lyle asks her to stay…

EXCERPT

As the taxi rolled up the rise Cass Bellow looked out the window at the snow-blanketed Heatherglen Castle Clinic in northern Scotland. Why had she been sent here?

More than once she’d questioned her doctor’s wisdom in transferring her to this private clinic for physical therapy. Weren’t there plenty of other places in warmer climates? Particularly in her native US. Or, better yet, couldn’t she have just gone home and handled what needed doing on her own? But, no, her doctor insisted she should be at Heatherglen. Had stated that he sent all his patients with extensive orthopedic injuries there. He declared the place was her best hope for a full recovery. Finally, at her argument, he’d bluntly told her that if she wanted him to sign off on her release she must complete her physical therapy at Heatherglen.

As the car came to a stop at the front door she studied the Norman architecture of the building with its smooth stone walls and slate roof. The place was huge, and breathtaking. There were more chimneys than Cass had a chance to count.  This place was nothing like what she’d expected. Though it was early November, festive Christmas wreaths made of greenery and red bows already hung on the outside of the lower floor windows. They further darkened her mood.

When she had been given the search and rescue assignment assisting the military after an explosion in Eastern Europe, she had never dreamed she’d end up in traction in an army hospital on a base in Germany. Her shattered arm and leg had finally mended, but she needed physical therapy to regain complete use of them. Now she’d been sent to this far-flung, snowy place to do just that. All she really wanted was to be left alone.

She opened the cab door and wind blasted her. Despite the heat coming from the still running car, she shuddered. As Cass stepped out, one of the large wooden castle doors, decked with a huge Christmas wreath full of red berries, opened. A tall man, perhaps in his mid-thirties, with the wide shoulders of an athlete stepped out. With rust-colored hair and wearing a heavy tan cable sweater and dark brown pants, he looked like the epitome of what she thought a Scottish man should be. As he came down the few steps toward her, he smiled.

“Hello, you must be Ms. Cassandra Bellow. I’m Dr. Lyle Sinclair, the medical director here at Heatherglen. You may call me Lyle.”

His thick Scottish brogue confirmed her earlier thoughts. Yet she was surprised by the way the sunny cheerfulness of his voice curled around her name, nudging at her icy emotions. Irritated, she pushed that odd notion away. This doctor was far too happy and personable for her taste. Her goal was to do what must be done with as little interaction with others as possible. She planned on nursing her wounds in private.

“Yes, that’s me.” To her satisfaction her flat, dry tone dropped the brightness of his smile a notch. If she could just get to her room and collapse she’d be happy. Her right side was burning from the ache in her arm and the agony of putting her full weight on her right leg.

“Flora McNeith, the physiotherapist whose care you’ll be under, couldn’t be here to greet you and asked that I get you settled in.” Concern filled his face. “Do you need a wheelchair? Crutches?”

“No, I can walk on my own. Run, that’s another thing.” She pulled at her jacket to stop the biting flow of air down her neck.

A light chuckle rolled out of his throat and over her nerve endings. “I understand. Then let’s get inside out of this weather.” He looked up at the sky. A snowflake landed on the dark red five o’clock shadow covering his cheek.

Cass averted her eyes and gave the cobblestone drive, cleared of snow, a searching look. It was farther than she wanted to walk, yet she wouldn’t let on. The three steps up to the door looked even more daunting.

All she needed was fortitude to make the walk and climb those steps. She had plenty of that. Soft snowflakes continued to drift down as she took a deep breath and steeled herself to put one foot in front of the other. With another silent inhalation, she started toward the entrance. Dr. Sinclair walked beside her.

She managed the first two steps with no mishap but the toe of her short boot caught the edge of the last one. Grabbing at air, Cass finally found the fabric covering Dr. Sinclair’s arm. She yelped with the effort to hold on. Being right-handed, she’d instinctively flailed out that arm and immediately regretted it. Pain shot through it, but not as sharp as it had been weeks earlier. She gritted her teeth, thrusting out her other arm to ease the fall.

Instead of tumbling onto the steps, her body was brought against a hard wall of human torso. The doctor’s arm circled her waist and held her steady. Her face smashed into thick yarn. A hint of pine and smoke filled her nose. For some reason it was reassuring.

“Steady on, I’ve got you.” His deep burr was near her ear.

Cass quickly straightened, getting her feet under her even though pain rocked her. She refused to show it, having already embarrassed herself enough. Her lips tightened. “I’m fine. Thank you.”

Glancing at him, she got the weirdest impression that the concern in his eyes had nothing to do with her physical injuries, as if he was able to see her true pain. That was a crazy idea. She shook that odd thought off and focused on where she was.

Taking a third fortifying breath, Cass stepped into the massive foyer.

No way was she going to let him see the effort it took to keep walking. She’d lived through much worse.

 

ABOUT THE AUTHOR:
300 Susan CarlisleSusan Carlisle’s love affair with books began when she made a bad grade in math in the sixth grade. Not allowed to watch TV until she brought the grade up, Susan filled her time with books. She turned her love of reading into a love of writing romance. Susan has currently authored more than twenty-five books for the HarperCollins Harlequin medical imprint. Her
Modern Masters of Their Castles trilogy will be out in 2020 under her own imprint. Her heroes are strong, vibrant man and the women that challenge them.
In her past life Susan has been a full time mother to four children, a high school substitute teacher and now when she isn’t writing she is busy being a fun grandmother. She lives near Atlanta, Georgia, with her husband of over thirty-five years. Susan loves castles, traveling, sewing and reads voraciously. Visit her at www.SusanCarlisle.com

How Reading Helps You Sleep Better at Night

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How Reading Helps You Sleep Better at NightHow Reading Helps You Sleep Better at Night
Guest Blog by Brooke Chaplan

Reading is tremendous exercise for your brain. It has the same effect on your brain that running has for your body. When your brain is well exercised and happy, it’s able to do the things needed to allow you to sleep well. People who have done this can attest to how well it works. You don’t need to read for hours at a time. It doesn’t matter what you are reading, be it an encyclopedia or a dime store novel. Here are some of the benefits you gain by reading before going to sleep.

Reading Minimizes Stress

A study was done at the University of Sussex that focused on the way reading affects the brain. It showed that half an hour of dedicated reading does more to reduce stress levels than other traditional forms of relaxation. The study showed a 68 percent reduction in stress. Scientists think that there are two reasons why this happens. One is that your mind is completely immersed in the book, so your body is not as focused on its own tense muscles. The second reason is that reading allows you to escape from reality.

Reading a Printed Book Means No Screens before Bed

It can be hard to put the cell phone or mobile device away, especially right before you go to bed. Many have developed the habit of playing video games, checking social media, or watching videos on their phone before they go to sleep. Ditching the tablet and picking up a printed book does wonders for your ability to sleep peacefully.

Reading Makes Your Dreams More Enjoyable

When you dream, you dream about the people and events that took place during your day. If you spend time reading before you lay your head down, your mind may include characters and places from what you have read in your dreams. This means that the books you read before sleeping are dream food.

Reading Gives Your Body Permission to Shut down

Your body needs to shut down before it can shut off. For individuals battling with insomnia, experts recommend spending the hour before going to sleep doing a calming activity. Reading can be this calming activity, but you have to be selective with what you read. Obviously, reading a horror novel or a thriller is not going to give you a calm night’s sleep.

Reading before you sleep allows the tension of the world to fade out and relaxation to flow in. Pairing your reading with a low light, calming music, and a comfortable pillow and Dynasty mattress will be sure to help you get the rest you need.  If you are battling with insomnia, it may be time to get rid of the tech and instead get stuck in a good book.

Brooke Chaplan is a freelance writer and blogger. She lives and works out of her home in Los Lunas, New Mexico. She recommends buying used heavy construction equipment for sale. For more information, contact Brooke via Facebook at facebook.com/brooke.chaplan or Twitter @BrookeChaplan

SNEAK PEEK: The Nasty Habits series, Book One, SWEET SALVATION

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sweet salvationWHY LIVE JUST A LIFE, WHEN YOU CAN LIVE A ROMANCE?

The Nasty Habits series, Book One, SWEET SALVATION

DISCOVER WHAT HAPPENS WHEN FORBIDDEN PASSION IGNITES IN THE MOST UNLIKELY OF PLACES!
A strict, Catholic nunnery in the Berkshire Mountains of Massachusetts.
Beautiful, virginal Sister Margaret is devoted only to one thing, and that’s her faith. Along with her other pure, young sisters, she’s committed to living a simple life of sacred duty in the Convent of the Blessed Virgin.
That is, if only evil, sadistic Mother Superior Antonia Humilitas would leave them alone.
Then, tall, handsome Trevor is assigned to work off his troubled past in the convent gardens. He’s trouble, alright, and it’s up to Maggie to save him, body and soul.
But the question is: Who is saving whom?

Move over, Danielle Steel! The Nasty Habits series, Book One, SWEET SALVATION (Written Warrior Press; ISBN 978-1-951346-07-2; Paperback; 316 pp; $9.98; October 24, 2019) available in print and on Kindle Unlimited

Some vows are meant to be broken. In the suspenseful, scandalous Nasty Habits series, a group of cloistered young nuns explores the idea that the Kingdom of Heaven just might be beneath their robes!

In Book One, SWEET SALVATION, we discover what happens when forbidden passion ignites in the most unlikely of places:

A strict, Catholic nunnery in the Berkshire Mountains of Massachusetts.

Beautiful, virginal Sister Margaret is devoted only to one thing, and that’s her faith. Along with her other pure, young sisters, she’s committed to living a simple life of sacred duty in the Convent of the Blessed Virgin.

That is, if only evil, sadistic Mother Superior Antonia Humilitas would leave them alone.

Then, tall, handsome Trevor is assigned to work off his troubled past in the convent gardens.

He’s trouble, alright, and it’s up to Maggie to save him, body and soul.

But the question is: Who is saving whom?

All NASTY HABITS BOOKS MAY BE ENJOYED AS A STAND-ALONE OR SERIES.

In this, her debut romance novel, author Lily Miles welcomes you to her world of romance. She’s been a writer for many years in various genres under different names, and now it’s her great pleasure to contribute her voice to the romance scene as well—considering romance flows through her veins, it may as well flow from her pen! Lily lives in New York City, a place of glamour and excitement that has been the one constant lover in her life. She’s passionate about travel and exploration of any kind—she lives for adventure. And whether she’s pursuing romance on her laptop or between the sheets, she always has a good read on her night table.

Lily hopes SWEET SALVATION will be the good read on yours.

Because sometimes a racing pulse can be a good thing.

Check out the book: https://amzn.to/2MAbYi0
lilymilesromance@gmail.com

Website:      http://www.lilymilesromance.com

Facebook:   https://www.facebook.com/LilyMilesRomanceAuthor/

Instagram:   https://www.instagram.com/lilymilesromance/
Twitter:        https://twitter.com/LilyRomance

Cultural Change Mystery Solved

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Culture+CoverCulture is changing, but why? Author and societal explorer, Gary W. Wietgrefe, identifies and explains the mysterious agent causing societal change.

Wietgrefe’s new non-fiction book, “Culture and the Mysterious Agent Changing It”, is a twenty riddle mystery. Readers try to figure out the agent by the end of the book.

What can we expect in the twenty-first century? Culture and learning will parallel ancient ways. Wietgrefe exposes and explains the secrets causing societal change.

“Radical advances in transportation and communications during the twentieth century were historic anomalies,” explains Wietgrefe. “It is no secret modern digital technology allows adults to work and train their children at home just as it has throughout history. A capricious agent is trying to block progress.”

Wietgrefe’s new “Relating to Ancients” series explains customs, traditions, and learning systems of two parallel cultures—ancient and new.

His second book, “Learning as it influences the 21st century”, uses humor and thought provoking stories to explain phobias and learning gaps hampering development.

Change is for the better, says Wietgrefe. “Eighty-one years remain in the 21st century. Memory and learning systems will change radically from today’s standardized, yet antiquated, systems.”

Wietgrefe’s California producer and New York distributor has his books available worldwide as hardcover and e-books.

 

 

 

A 100-Year-Old Holocaust Survivor on How Books Save Lives

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avelocityofbeing_cover“There are times when dreams sustain us more than facts. To read a book and surrender to a story is to keep our very humanity alive.”

BY MARIA POPOVA (reprinted with permission from Brainpickings.org)

A 100-Year-Old Holocaust Survivor on How Books Save Lives

It is often said that books save lives. Most of the time, however heartfelt the sentiment, it is figurative. Every once in an improbable while, it approximates the literal. But only on the rarest of occasions, in the most extreme of circumstances, do books become lifelines in the realest sense.

One such occasion is immortalized in A Velocity of Being: Letters to a Young Reader (public library) — the collection I spent eight years putting together in the hope of showing young people how essential reading is to an inspired and inspiring life. There are original illustrated letters about the transformative and transcendent power of reading from some immensely inspiring humans — scientists like Jane Goodall and Janna Levin, artists like Marina Abramović and Debbie Millman, musicians like Yo-Yo Ma, Amanda Palmer, and David Byrne, entrepreneurs like Richard Branson and Tim Ferriss, poets like Mary Oliver, Elizabeth Alexander, and Sarah Kay, media pioneers like Kevin Kelly, Jad Abumrad, and Shonda Rhimes, beloved writers of literature for young people like Jacqueline Woodson, Judy Blume, and Neil Gaiman, and a great many celebrated authors of books for so-called grownups. But one of the most powerful letters comes from someone whose name might not, or at least not yet, mean much to many: Helen Fagin.

Art by Ingrid Gordon for Helen Fagin’s letter from A Velocity of Being: Letters to a Young Reader.

Helen was twenty-one when her family was imprisoned in the Warsaw Ghetto in Nazi-occupied Poland. She and her sisters managed to escape, but they lost both of their parents in the Holocaust. Helen arrived in America not speaking a word of English, then went on to earn a Ph.D. and teach literature for more than two decades. She devoted her life to elucidating the moral lessons of humanity’s darkest hour and was instrumental in the creation of the Holocaust Memorial in Washington, D.C. To this day, she remains a voracious reader of literature and moral philosophy, swimming effortlessly from Whitman to Camus and back again in a single conversation.

Helen Fagin, a week after her 100th birthday, with Ash Gaiman. Photograph by Amanda Palmer.

Helen happens to be my dear friend Neil Gaiman’s cousin. One day over dinner, having just visited her in Florida, a very animated Neil told me the incredible story of how a book — a particular book — became a lifeline for the teenage girls at the secret school Helen had set up in the Warsaw Ghetto as an antidote to the innumerable assaults against dignity to which the Nazis subjected these Jewish youths: the denial of basic education. Her story stopped me up short as the profoundest embodiment of the core ethos of A Velocity of Being, and so I invited her to tell it in a letter.

To celebrate the publication of the book, which Helen sees as an invaluable part of her legacy, I asked her to read her letter for the New York Public Library launch event. She was 97 at the time she wrote her letter and is approaching her 101st birthday as she reads it:

YOU CAN WATCH THE VIDEO BY FOLLOWING THIS LINK

Dear Friend,

Could you imagine a world without access to reading, to learning, to books?

At twenty-one, I was forced into Poland’s WWII ghetto, where being caught reading anything forbidden by the Nazis meant, at best, hard labor; at worst, death.

There, I conducted a clandestine school offering Jewish children a chance at the essential education denied them by their captors. But I soon came to feel that teaching these sensitive young souls Latin and mathematics was cheating them of something far more essential — what they needed wasn’t dry information but hope, the kind that comes from being transported into a dream-world of possibility.

One day, as if guessing my thoughts, one girl beseeched me: “Could you please tell us a book, please?”

I had spent the previous night reading Gone with the Wind — one of a few smuggled books circulated among trustworthy people via an underground channel, on their word of honor to read only at night, in secret. No one was allowed to keep a book longer than one night — that way, if reported, the book would have already changed hands by the time the searchers came.

I had read Gone with the Wind from dusk until dawn and it still illuminated my own dream-world, so I invited these young dreamers to join me. As I “told” them the book, they shared the loves and trials of Rhett Butler and Scarlett O’Hara, of Ashley and Melanie Wilkes. For that magical hour, we had escaped into a world not of murder but of manners and hospitality. All the children’s faces had grown animated with new vitality.

A knock at the door shattered our shared dream-world. As the class silently exited, a pale green-eyed girl turned to me with a tearful smile: “Thank you so very much for this journey into another world. Could we please do it again, soon?” I promised we would, although I doubted we’d have many more chances. She put her arms around me and I whispered, “So long, Scarlett.” “I think I’d rather be Melanie,” she answered, “although Scarlett must have been so much more beautiful!”

As events in the ghetto took their course, most of my fellow dreamers fell victim to the Nazis. Of the twenty-two pupils in my secret school, only four survived the Holocaust.

The pale green-eyed girl was one of them.

Many years later, I was finally able to locate her and we met in New York. One of my life’s greatest rewards will remain the memory of our meeting, when she introduced me to her husband as “the source of my hopes and my dreams in times of total deprivation and dehumanization.”

There are times when dreams sustain us more than facts. To read a book and surrender to a story is to keep our very humanity alive.

Sincerely,

Helen Fagin

Special thanks to Helen’s children, Gary and Judith Fagin, for filming this video, and most of all to Neil and Amanda for bringing this remarkable person into my world and, through her contribution to A Velocity of Being: Letters to a Young Reader, into our shared human world. What an honor.

Complement with a peek inside this massive labor of love eight years in the making, all proceeds from which we are donating to the New York public library system, then sit down with a cup of tea and watch the recording of the NYPL launch celebration — a magical evening of readings by sixteen of our letter writers, original art for the letters, live literature-inspired music, and a roomful of largehearted love of books.

REVIEW: “BLACK LIST” BY BRAD THOR

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blacklistBlack List  by Brad Thor
Review by Mike Pihlman @ Tracyreaderdad

Genre: Thriller

Note: Two years ago I stopped reading “Full Black” on page 340, a “clunker”, but, I gave it my best try considering the dark times just starting in 2017. In 2019, I decided to pick up Brad Thor again. “Black List” is awesome!

Caroline Romero is being followed.

An employee of the top secret private company, Adaptive Technology Solutions (ATS), she knows the people who are following her, and she knows that if she does not complete her task, the world will never know about how evil ATS is. She has to hurry and be smart.

Caroline dies.

Athena Project Delta operative, Riley Turner, is in the Carlton Group safe house in Paris. Scot Harvath knocks on the door and all hell breaks loose.

Riley dies. ?

But Harvath kills the four man team of special operatives…..and flees to safety.

Reed Carlton is awakened by smoke. He tries to summon his guards with no success. Luckily, he has a secret passage way out of the house.

Reese flees to safety, but, the Carlton Group is no more….everyone is dead.

The Troll meets with Caroline’s sister, Nina, who gives him the memory dongle she got in the mail from Caroline.

Nickolas uses his vast knowledge of everything technical to read the contents of the dongle. What he finds is shocking!

The U.S.A. is under attack. The Internet will be crushed. A coup is about to take place, but, everyone who can help….is dead. Or missing.

To see what happens….you will have to read “Black List”. A scary, very timely (considering the FCC in 2019 is trying to take away the free, open, Internet, and the 2019 Gov’t is proposing controls on Social Media. Dark times in real life….just not the party doing it that was probably envisioned in the book), thriller where only a handful of people must somehow communicate without being found out….to save the country.

But…..big brother (ATS) is watching everything you do.

Resist!

Dirty Jobs Mike Rowe Releases New Book: The Way I Heard It

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the-way-i-heard-it-9781982130862_lgExecutive producer and host Mike Rowe presents a delightfully entertaining, seriously fascinating collection of his favorite episodes from America’s #1 short-form podcast, The Way I Heard It, along with a host of personal memories, ruminations, and insights. It’s a captivating must-read.

The Way I Heard It presents thirty-five mysteries “for the curious mind with a short attention span.” Every one is a trueish tale about someone you know, filled with facts that you don’t. Movie stars, presidents, bloody do-gooders, and villains—they’re all here, waiting to shake your hand, hoping you’ll remember them. Delivered with Mike’s signature blend of charm, wit, and ingenuity, their stories are part of a larger mosaic—a memoir full of surprising revelations, sharp observations, and intimate, behind-the-scenes moments drawn from Mike’s own remarkable life and career.

 

About the Author
Mike Rowe is best known as the executive producer and host of the hit shows Dirty Jobs, Somebody’s Gotta Do It, and Returning the Favor. He also hosts the podcast The Way I Heard It, a collection of short stories for the “curious mind with a short attention span.” As CEO of the mikeroweWORKS foundation, Mike has led the effort to close America’s widening skills gap and facilitated the granting of millions of dollars in work ethic scholarships.

 

REVIEW: BOOK REVIEW: “LETHAL AGENT” BY VINCE FLYNN / KYLE MILLS

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lethalagentBOOK REVIEW: “LETHAL AGENT” BY VINCE FLYNN / KYLE MILLS
Review by Mike Philman, TracyReaderDad

Al Mukalla, Yemen

Surviving a previous attack by Mitch Rapp in Iraq…..ISIS leader, Sayid Halabi, has been recovering, as much as he can, from his wounds. During his recovery, Halabi has had plenty of time to think, plan, organize, and plot……revenge.

Central Yemen

A team from “Doctors Without Borders” is in a small village caring for the people ravaged by an as yet unknown virus they have dubbed: YARS for Yemeni Acute Respiratory Syndrome. It is more contagious and deadly than the 1918 Spanish Flu virus. The team of specialists need to contain this virus…… or millions could die.

United States

Senator Christine Barnett is the leading candidate to succeed President Alexander come election day. Christine is fomenting fear and hate among her supporters (sounds familiar!) and is waging a very successful campaign to gain the ultimate power…..the Presidency of the United States.

Mexico / San Ysidro, CA

NASA stumbled upon a tunnel leading to a mall in the United States from Mexico, and the DEA has just successfully stopped a shipment of drugs coming through that newly discovered tunnel. But hidden within that stash of drugs is…….something much more sinister, and deadly.

A devastating attack on the United States, and the World, is about to take place. Millions upon millions of lives are at stake and only one person stands in the way…….Mitch Rapp.

“Lethal Agent” is a fast, brutal, thriller that will leave you scared out of your pants. Up to date with the state of this union in 2019, “Lethal Agent” offers the reader a foreboding sense as to how hate, distrust of intelligence agencies, fear, the quest for ultimate power (the “Chosen One”) and ignorance……can open the door for disaster rather than closing it.

 

New ‘Boo-Worthy’ Mystery Reads

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FudgeFudge Bites: A Candy-Coated Mystery #7 Nancy Coco

Halloween on Mackinac Island is a season of fun tricks, but finding a corpse is no treat for fudge shop owner Allie McMurphy

Night Of The Really Dead

It’s late October, off-season for tourists, but locals are up and lurching for the annual zombie walk charity event. Though everyone’s living it up, trouble is just a few pawprints away. Allie follows the bloody tracks of her calico cat, Carmella, to a body in the alley behind the Historic McMurphy Hotel and Fudge Shop. Unlike the island’s other walking dead, this one’s flatlined for good. It seems that someone is using the zombie fest as the perfect backdrop for murder. Now amateur sleuth Allie and dreamboat officer Rex Manning must use every trick in their treat bag to unmask a killer in disguise.

Praise for Nancy Coco and the Candy-Coated Mysteries

“I will be counting down the days until the next mystery with Allie McMurphy.” —Cozy Mystery Book Reviews

Help support pet adoption – see details inside.

Includes an excerpt from Nancy Coco’s new and upcoming Oregon Honeybee Mystery series!

You can purchase FUDGE BITES at:
Kensington Books

alibiAutumn Alibi: A Wiccan Wheel Mystery #6 Jennifer David Hesse

After a hectic year, Edindale, Illinois, attorney Keli Milanni is ready to welcome autumn by counting her many blessings. But a case of murder could cause her to fall behind…

Keli is hoping that Mabon, the Wiccan Autumn Equinox, will bring balance back into her life. But it’s death that comes calling when she’s asked to consult on an estate case. Recently passed, Elaine Turnbull left everything, including her valuable art and antiques collection, to her granddaughter, Lana. But Lana has been missing for years, ever since a tragedy tore her family apart. Also missing may be Elaine’s most recent will. Then there’s the not-so-small detail that Elaine’s death by natural causes may not have been so natural after all…

With the help of her boyfriend Wes, who knew Lana in high school, Keli starts digging into Elaine’s past—and her journals. Soon she discovers that everyone, from Elaine’s caretaker to her curator, had a motive for murder—along with a seemingly rock-solid alibi. Between missing people, missing documents, a string of vandalism against her friends, and the sense she’s being stalked, Keli is feeling a disturbing chill. Now not even her Wiccan protection rituals may save her from a killer with a cold heart that’s far from grateful…

You can purchase AUTUMN ALIBI at:
Kensington Books

checkoutLate Checkout: A Witch City Mystery #9 Carol J. Perry

A dead ballplayer means foul play in Salem…

Field reporter Lee Barrett is not happy that her hours are being cut back at WICH-TV, although it is nice to spend more time volunteering with Aunt Ibby, a research librarian at Salem’s main branch. But Lee’s least favorite task is going up to the stacks, a spooky, seldom-frequented upper section of the library. On this day she has good reason to be afraid—she finds a dead man, surrounded by hundreds of scattered books and torn-out pages.

Her police detective beau, Pete Mondello, is soon on the scene, and the deceased is identified as a former minor league baseball player—and ex-con—named Wee Willie Wallace, who hasn’t been seen in Salem for twenty years. With help from her friend River’s Tarot reading, her clairvoyant cat O’Ryan, and Lee’s own psychic gifts, she steps up to the plate to catch the killer who took the old ballplayer out of the game…

You can purchase LATE CHECKOUT at:
Kensington Books

claretClarets Of Fire: Rose Avenue Wine Club Mystery #4 Christine E. Blum

Wine connoisseur Annie “Halsey” Hall must turn up the heat on a felonious firebug…

Halsey and the ladies of the Rose Avenue Wine Club are celebrating with newlyweds Penelope and Malcolm, who are thrilled to be opening their new winery. They’re also partnering with a cherished neighborhood eatery, Rico’s Pizza, which will be serving young clarets from their fall harvest. But as Halsey attempts to savor the bouquet of her Tooth & Nail Cab, a different scent intrudes—smoke. The nearby pizza parlor is going up in flames. As they rush to the scene, Halsey’s rescue dog Bardot pulls a body from the burning building—the pizza delivery driver—but it’s too late.

When investigators determine a rag soaked with gasoline in a bottle from the winery started the blaze, police suspect both the pizza parlor owners and Penelope and Malcolm of arson and murder. With her friends’ business and freedom at stake, it’s up to Halsey to smoke out the real arsonist—before somebody else gets scorched….

You can purchase CLARETS OF FIRE at:
Kensington Books

Two bitesTwo Bites Too Many: A Sarah Blair Mystery #2 Debra H. Goldstein

Far from a domestic goddess, Sarah Blair would rather catch bad guys than slave over a hot stove. But when a dangerous murder boils over in Wheaton, Alabama, catching the killer means leaving her comfort zone…

Things are finally looking up for Sarah Blair following her unsavory divorce. Settled into a cozy carriage house with her sassy Siamese cat, RahRah, she has somehow managed to hang on to her modest law firm receptionist job and—if befriending flea-bitten strays at the local animal shelter counts—lead a thriving social life. For once, Sarah almost has it together more than her enterprising twin, Emily, a professional chef whose efforts to open a gourmet restaurant have hit a real dead end…

When the president of the town bank and city council is murdered after icing Emily’s business plans, all eyes are on the one person who left the scene with blood on her hands—the Blair girls’ sharp-tongued mother, Maybelle. Determined to get her mom off the hook ASAP, Sarah must collect the ingredients of a deadly crime to bring the true culprit to justice. But as neighbors turn against her family, can she pare down the suspects before another victim lands on the chopping block?

Includes quick and easy recipes!

You can purchase TWO BITES TOO MANY at:
Kensington Books

 

Popular Nerds: How Reading Helps Kids Make Friends at School

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Popular Nerds How Reading Helps Kids Make Friends at SchoolPopular Nerds: How Reading Helps Kids Make Friends at School
Guest Post by Brooke Chaplan

Reading can benefit children in many ways. In addition to improving academics, reading often can help young people expand their circle of friends. If you have a child who wants to make more friends, encouraging him or her to read more often can be an excellent start. Here are some of the main ways that reading helps kids make friends at school.

Following Popular Reading Trends

Many children nowadays follow popular reading trends that allow them to connect better with other young people. Popular book series that are geared toward young readers are known to attract many young fans, and reading the books in one of these series helps give children things to talk about with other fans who might attend their school. Examples of popular book series for young readers include Harry Potter, the Hunger Games, and Percy Jackson and the Olympians.

Improved Communication

Children who read often usually develop better vocabulary, and this can help with communicating with other kids. An improved vocabulary can help children convey ideas better and develop new friendships with classmates. Reading gives young people the tools to express their personal interests and concerns more effectively, which can help them build stronger relationships with other children. Better conversations can be had during recess or around the school lunch table when reading is a regular part of life. Reading has also been shown to improve empathy, which also helps kids interact with each other.

Shared Knowledge

Reading makes kids smarter, and the knowledge that they gain can be shared to improve the lives of other children. If you have a son or daughter who excels academically because of regular reading, he or she can tutor other kids in certain subjects to try to improve their grades, and this can also be a great way to make new friends. The knowledge attained through reading can also be shared in classroom discussions, which can additionally work well in establishing stronger connections with other students.

Your child likely attends school with kids who are in several different grade levels, and reading can help your son or daughter connect better with older kids. This will allow your child to add more diversity to his or her circle of friends by including people of different age groups who share some common interests.

Reading can make your child a well-rounded individual both socially and academically. Offering positive reinforcement when it comes to reading can help your child form stronger relationships with school peers.

Brooke Chaplan is a freelance writer and blogger. She lives and works out of her home in Los Lunas, New Mexico. She loves the outdoors and spends most of her time hiking, biking, and gardening. For more information, contact Brooke via Facebook at facebook.com/brooke.chaplan or Twitter @BrookeChaplan

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