Spotlight: In Search of Paradise

About the Book:
Ben and Anders were not prepared for the apocalypse. How could they be? They couldn't even decide if they were boyfriends or undercover lovers. But then the earth opened beneath their feet and everyone they knew was gone except for Ben, Anders and Anders' sister, Zawadi. So now they have to find a new place to call home, a new way to be. Zawadi and Ben are fighting like cats and dogs, and there's no privacy or lube to be had for love or money.They really do not need this.Just when they thought they were getting the hang of this apocalypse thing, the excrement really hits the fan. If they thought they were in a life or death situation before, they didn't know the half of it.

About the Author:
Annemarie is a writer and ghostwriter. She wrote her first complete book in 2007, chronicling the painful and sometimes traumatic experiences involved in being a single mom. She has since written several fiction books; a - currently - four-part series called Child of Destiny, several short stories, and one post-apocalyptic gay African romance. She finds her bliss in writing unique stories about human relationships. 


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Spotlight: Plague in Paris

Description:
Mr. Hildebrand and his valet, Driscoll, have fled the British Isles for Paris amidst rumours of scandal. Hoping for a warmer reception in Paris, they are looking for a way to put it all behind them. As Driscoll wanders the streets, tracking the gossip and searching for that special someone that could solve all their problems, he starts to get a hint of something deeper going on.

Though the Parisians are more welcoming of their unaccepted views, it is not long before they face problems worse than they had found back home. As the city is wracked by chaos, the ties that bind are tested. Tensions continue to rise and as the last British airships pull away from the city, they must determine if they can stay safe in their new home.

They are going to have to leave Paris, the city they thought would be a safe haven, behind. Battered and beaten, will they be able to survive?

About the Author:
Tyler Omichinski is a writer and game designer from the wilds of Canada. He is a writer for Lynnvander Studios and several other game companies. He was the editor for the Ennie Award nominated Little Heroes, and the author of the best seller The Plague in Paris. He lives with his partner and a gigantic black dog. 

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Review: The Dragon Throne

Title: The Dragon Throne (The Four Kingdoms #1)
Author: Chrys Cymri
Page Count: 214
3.5 TURTLES: A very enjoyable read, I recommend you check it out.
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*This book was given to me by the author in exchange for an honest review.

Description:
‘You have only one part of the Summoning Ring,’ said the dragon to Fianna. ‘And neither the knowledge nor the strength to use it even if it were complete.’ 
Fianna is the only child of King Stannard and Queen Fiona, and has always expected to become the next Keeper of the Dragon Throne. She exiles herself from the court when her father decides to take a second wife. Recalled to Secondus castle after Stannard’s death, she has to contend with the split loyalties among the royal knights. In desperation, she agrees to summon the dragons to support her claim to the throne. Their challenge sends her to meet them in their Sacred Mountains. 
In the woods of the unicorn herd, the Prancer loses his milk-brother to an attack by a dragon. He travels across the human kingdoms to seek the killer, discovering the complexities of human relationships and the delights of ale along the way. 
They meet at the Sacred Mountains. And so begins a story of love, friendship — and betrayal.

Review:
The Dragon Throne follows the intertwining stories of the princess Fianna and unicorn Prancer. They are both on a mission: Fianna to secure her throne and Prancer to find the dragon that murdered his milk brother. I particularly enjoyed Prancer’s story as he leaves the land of the unicorns and enters the kingdoms of men. His antics discovering such human things as inns and ale was hilarious, and his discovery of the intricacies of human beings was touching. I very much felt for Fianna, too, at the unfairness of her inheritance being threatened when her father gets remarried to someone who could possibly bring him a son. Yet the story is very much one of personal growth for Fianna, so at the beginning of her story she comes off as immature and a bit bratty. She grows out of this, but at the beginning I did want to shake some sense into her.

The story is full of surprises, many of which added to the intrigue of the story for me. Without giving too much away, I will say that one big reveal caught me off guard in a way I didn’t enjoy. I don’t enjoy big reveals at the end of a book that radically change how I perceive the story I’m reading, at least without some foreshadowing. If this reveal had come earlier I wouldn’t have minded, but since there was no way to guess it ahead of time and it came at the very end, it annoyed me. 

Since the story ended with such a twist, I have no idea where it will go. It opens up a whole new realm of possibilities that, while is drastically different from what I thought I would be reading, has the potential to be very exciting. It is certainly a unique take on a fairy tale setting, so fans of that setting should find The Dragon Throne enthralling as long as they keep an open mind.




Disclosure: this post contains links to an affiliate program (Amazon), for which I receive a few cents if you make purchases. 

Spotlight: Not From the Stars

Description:
Theatre is true love… This wonderful novel, perfect for theatre lovers and Downton Abbey enthusiasts, is set in Yorkshire, England, in 1885. Bertha Roundtree, wife of Anthony Roundtree, dies in childbirth, leaving her infant daughter Elisa behind. Once wealthy, the Roundtree family is destitute after Anthony gambled away its fortune. Anthony Roundtree is a cruel man. He has no interest in his infant daughter, leaving her to be raised by his spinster sister Lillian, a rather simple woman with no dowry and no prospects, and a cruel governess. Anthony is determined to turn Elisa into a lady, and marry her off to Sir John Garingham, who wants the tomboy Elisa turned into the perfect lady – no matter what it takes. But the betrothal goes awry when Elisa develops a mind of her own, a passion for her art teacher, and an obsession with the theatre. And her youthful vigour is about to lead into a glamourous world with a dark underbelly… Filled with the history of the British theatre and allusions to Shakespeare, Not From the Stars is the first in the His Majesty’s Theatre series about the lives of the actors and academics who lived in the repressive days of Edwardian England, but refused to be stifled. 

About the Author:
As a Certified Music Therapist and Licensed Creative Arts Therapist, I founded Music Gives Life. We bring musical performing into the lives of senior citizens. Many of my Show Stoppers, ages 60-101, never performed in public before joining my program. NY1-TV News named us their NYers of the Week. A former senior center director, nursing home music therapist, and primary caregiver for two elderly relatives, I have unique insights into the joys and frustrations shared by geriatric patients and their caregivers.

I Want To Go To Lithuania, or HOW TO HAVE FUN WITH YOUR AGING PARENTS, my step-by-step, hands-on manual for adults who love and care for older adults, was published in May. https://cms.kirkusreviews.com/book-reviews/christina-britton-conroy/i-want-go-lithuania-or-how-have-fun-your-aging-par/

NOT FROM THE STARS, BUT FROM THINE EYES, and TRUTH AND BEAUTY, the first 3 book3 in my 4-book historical fiction series, HIS MAJESTY'S THEATRE, have been published by Endeavour Press, UK. The last book, BEAUTY’S DOOM will be released in November 2017. It tells the story of a gay actor-manager escaping arrest by pretending to marry his leading lady and father her illegitimate child. Together, they harbour a country heiress escaping a forced marriage.

My years as a professional singer compelled me to write her first novel, ONE MAN'S MUSIC. Set in NYC during the Vietnam period, it is the story of a young soprano's obsession with an orchestral composer. ONE MAN'S MUSIC is available in paperback, audiobook, and eBook. 

In my first career: a classically trained singer/actor, I toured the globe singing operas, operettas, and musicals. I soloed with orchestras, oratorio societies, at Radio City Music Hall, and folk venues, accompanying myself the guitar and Irish Harp. My theatrical credits include: On The Twentieth Century, directed by Harold Prince, with Rock Hudson, Imogene Coca, and Judy Kaye; The Women with Anita Gillette, Dody Goodman, Julie Newmar, Virginia Graham, Jane Kean, and Margaux Hemingway; and the original Actors Studio production of Let ‘em Rot by Cy Coleman, directed by Morton DaCosta.

I am very lucky to live in Greenwich Village, NYC with my darling husband, actor/media-coach/cartoonist, Larry Conroy.

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Spotlight: Drowning Above Water

About the Book:
Malina was an abused teenage drug addict, barely clinging to life. A caring doctor tried to keep her above water as she sank to the depths of her own darkness. It wasn’t enough. In a last-ditch effort to save her daughter’s life, Malina’s troubled mother trafficked her to America, where she hoped her sister Grizella could save this drowning girl. After twenty years as a sex worker, Malina becomes pregnant. To save her own child’s life, she escapes back across the waters, with the help of her devoted friend Petyr. She is willing to risk her own life to try to find the man who once loved her—to beg him to raise her child. In the hope of delivering an innocent into his arms, something she could never be, she drags herself to the limits to create a single, lasting goodness for her baby. If she can save a life, maybe her own was worth the pain of living.


About the Author:
Alyssa Herron is a writer and actor. She is known for her pitch black comedy but she loves, loves, loves a sad story. She's a Jane Austen in a Hemingway world. Her debut novel Drowning Above Water was released on her fortieth birthday, and she'll tell you her feelings about that if you ask. Her original stage plays have been produced by various theatre companies in the Pittsburgh area. As a screenwriter, she has had her screenplays advance as finalists for the Steeltown Film Factory and the Sundance Institute competitions. Her poetry has been published both online and in print and she also performs these as a spoken word artist. On stage she has been humbled to play Lady Macbeth and on screen, she was tickled to play a lesbian vampire. Her son just wishes she was better at video games.

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Praise for Alyssa Herron’s writing:
 “My favorite by far, is Herron’s “Granny’s House” … Herron’s use of language, idiom and lingo is really rather remarkable, and she has a clever way of defining, in a few words, the world of her play and the characters in it.” -Pittsburgh City Paper

 “Probably the biggest standout in this volume is Alyssa Herron’s “Delilah By Proxy.” Far from the traditional superhero story, this tale is incredibly moving and truly shows the most human elements behind the superpowers.” -Amazon book review

 “Uncategorizable, meanwhile, is a wonderfully bizarre retelling of “The Legend of Sleepy Hollow.” … Would that all such license with established literary or historical facts be so clever.” -Pittsburgh City Paper 


Disclosure: this post contains links to an affiliate program (Amazon), for which I receive a few cents if you make purchases.