Great Summer Reads 2018 Countdown Blitz

 

Day 1   Independence Day 1881 by Zina Abbott

Day 2   Tarragon: Dragon Bane by Karlie Lucas

Day 3   Queen Immortal by Kaci Morgan

Day 4   Sons of the Sphinx by Cheryl Carpinello

Day 5   Courage by Lauren H Salisbury

Day 6   Queen Mary’s Daughter by Emily-Jane Hills Orford

Day 7   Awaken, Shadows of a Forgotten Past by Marcia Maidana

Day 8   The Seeds of Dissolution by William C. Tracy

Day 9   Raven’s Eye by Adam Gowans

Day 10   Relics of the Divine: The Celestial Flame by Stephen R. Watts

Day 11   Beyond by Catina Haverlock and Angela Larkin

Day 12   The Secret of the Sacred Scarab by Fiona Ingram

Day 13   Her Halfback Hero by Shaunna Gonzales

Day 14   Confessions of a Timid Rider by Heather Wallace

Day 15   Zenobia: Birth of a Legend by Russ Wallace

Day 16   Zenobia: Challenging a Legend by Russ Wallace

Day 17   The Guise of a Gentleman by Donna Hatch

Day 18   The Dragons of Alsace Farm by Laurie Lewis

Day 19   Dark Days of Promise by Shaunna Gonzales

Day 20   Aeonian Dreams by Morgan J Muir

Day 21   All the Way to Italy by Flavia Brunetti

Day 22   The Gentleman Physician by Sally Britton

Day 23   Love at Lakewood Med by TJ Amberson

Day 24   Love on a Limb by Laurie Lewis

 

Great Summer Reads 2018 Countdown Blitz: Day 24

 

Love on a Limb by Laurie Lewis

 

Matthew Grayken is young, successful, and dying, which is why he’s about to propose to a total stranger. He isn’t interested in love. He needs a caregiver, a companion, and someone to be his legal voice when he can no longer speak for himself.

Lonely, compassionate nurse Mikaela Compton is intrigued by Matt Grayken’s tender request, but when their friendly marriage turns into love, she rejects the inevitability of Matt’s death and prays for a miracle instead.

Mikaela succeeds in reigniting Matt’s will to fight, but his body is losing the battle, and her determination to save him causes her to betray the fundamental promise she made him–to help him die peaceably.

Their last hope at saving Matt’s life will require a sacrifice from each of them, and force them to decide how far out on a limb they’re willing to go for love.

Amazon

 

Laurie (L.C.) Lewis will always be a Marylander at heart—a weather-whining lover of crabs, American history, and the sea. She admits to being craft-challenged, particularly lethal with a glue gun, and a devotee of sappy movies. Her ninth published novel, her first romance novella, Sweet Water, was inspired by a visit to Oregon’s magnificent coastline, and time spent with Mother Eugenie, upon whom the character Mother Thomasine is based.

Laurie’s women’s fiction novels include The Dragons of Alsace Farm (2016), Awakening Avery (2010), and Unspoken (2004), written as Laurie Lewis.

Using the pen name L.C. Lewis, she wrote the five volumes of her award-winning FREE MEN and DREAMERS historical fiction series, set against the backdrop of the War of 1812: Dark Sky at Dawn (2007), Twilight’s Last Gleaming (2008), Dawn’s Early Light (2009), Oh, Say Can You See? (2010), and In God is Our Trust, (2011).

She is currently completing a political suspense novel planned for a summer 2017 release, a re -release of a romantic comedy, and she’s working on another historical fiction novel for a 2018 release. She loves to hear from readers.

Website • Facebook • Twitter • Instagram • Goodreads

 

Top Ten List:

Ten fun facts:

1. I love all things Maryland crab-based–crab cakes, crab soup, and just eating them right from the steamer.

2. I am a kidney donor.

3. I once recorded a demo single.

4. I was a shot put thrower in high school.

5. I love twinkle lights. I hang them inside, outside, stuff them into jars. They make me happy.

6. I have a crazy love for Christmas nesting boxes. I use them every Christmas to wrap gifts, but it’s a family joke that you have to return the box. Lol!

7. My husband and I met on a CB radio when I was 15. (Don’t ask . . .  LOL.

8. I break into accents with little provocation. My favorites are Irish and British. 

9. I like to write characters with accents, and when I read through my work, I narrate their parts using their accents. (see 8 above.)

10. When I’m sitting at a light with my blinker on, I hear the beat and break into the song, “Sleigh Ride.” Try it! It’s the perfect rhythm!

 

 

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Great Summer Reads 2018 Countdown Blitz: Day 23

 

Love at Lakewood Med by TJ Amberson

 

Savannah Drake would be thrilled about starting her final year of medical school if it weren’t for one thing: she has to spend a month working in the emergency room with cold, aloof Dr. Wesley Kent as her mentor.

When her first day in the ER proves to be a humiliating disaster, Savannah is ready to swear off emergency medicine forever. Gradually, though, she finds that the unpredictable, emotional experience of caring for patients in the emergency room is affecting her far differently than she expected–and Dr. Kent turns out to be anything but the arrogant attending physician that she assumed him to be.

But just when Savannah finally admits to herself that she is falling for Dr. Kent, she learns that things at the hospital are not all what they seem.

Faced with a seemingly impossible choice, Savannah must decide between her future career and everything that she has come to care so much about.

Amazon

 

TJ Amberson hails from the Pacific Northwest, where she lives with her husband and nutty cocker spaniel.

Her most recent novels include The Kingdom of Nereth, The Council of Nereth, Fusion, and Love at Lakewood Med.

When she’s not writing, TJ can probably be found enjoying a hot chocolate, pretending to know how to garden, riding her bike, playing the piano, or surfing the Internet for cheap plane tickets.

With a love of writing in multiple genres, TJ Amberson strives to provide well-written, age-appropriate, and original novels for tweens, teens, and new adults.

Website • Facebook

 

Top Ten List:

10 of my favorite things:

1. Stargazing

2. Playing the piano

3. Autumn

4. International travel

5. The smell of newly mowed grass

6. Musicals

7. Christmastime

8. Walks on a sunny day

9. A hot chocolate

10. The ocean

 

 

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Great Summer Reads 2018 Countdown Blitz: Day 22

 

The Gentleman Physician by Sally Britton

 

“I didn’t really understand what love was.
I didn’t know what it meant, that I should’ve fought harder for it.”

 

 
Banished from home by her angry father, Julia Devon travels to Bath to fulfill her role as family spinster by assisting her cousin, Lady Macon, in caring for her dying husband.

Nathaniel Hastings’s life runs in a predictable pattern, until a routine visit to one of his ailing patients brings him face to face with Julia, the woman who broke his heart five years before in London.

Julia and Nathaniel find themselves unlikely allies as they work together to tend to the family’s needs, fend off Lady Macon’s scheming brother-in-law, and avoid confronting the pain of their shared past. But could this accidental meeting be their second chance at love?”

Amazon

 

 

 
“Sally Britton is sixth generation Texan, received her BA in English from Brigham Young University, and reads voraciously. She started her writing journey at the tender age of fourteen on an electric typewriter, and she’s never looked back.

Sally lives in Arizona with her husband, four children, and their dog. She loves researching, hiking, and eating too much chocolate.”

Facebook • Twitter • Instagram

 

Top Ten List:

10 (Random) Favorite Things:

1. My Family (Always, always, always at the top of every list)

2. Retro-looking keyboards (that look like typewriters!)

3. Milk chocolate and caramel combinations 

4. Funky socks 

5. Reading until 3 AM 

6. Starry Night, by Vincent Van Gogh 

7. Jane Austen’s Novels

8. Beauty and the Beast books/movies/poems

9. Star Wars. Yes. All of them. 

10. Tacos. Anyone who doesn’t include tacos are lying to themselves. 

 

 

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Great Summer Reads 2018 Countdown Blitz: Day 21

 

All the Way to Italy by Flavia Brunetti

 

 
Until her dad died, Little considered herself a Californian. Now, thanks to half a letter, a symbol she can’t quite remember, and writer’s block, she finds herself back in Italy, the country of her birth. In a headlong rush to return to her beloved San Francisco, Little will travel throughout Italy, enlisting the help of the aunt who raised her, friends old and new, and the country itself, in her search for the answers she needs.

This is the powerful story of those in search of a balance between wanderlust and the necessity to come home, a reminder that although we may be fragments, we are never a lost cause.

Amazon • Goodreads

 

 

 

Born just outside of Rome, Flavia Brunetti grew up bouncing back and forth between Italy and California, eventually moving back to the Eternal City and confirming her lifelong commitment to real gelato.

Flavia holds a Master of Arts degree in Government and Politics from St. John’s University and a Bachelor of Arts in Political Science from John Cabot University.

Today she travels the world working for an international humanitarian organization and spends her free time writing and wandering around her beloved Roma in constant search of bookstores and the perfect espresso.

You can find her city blog on Rome at whichwaytorome.com and her portfolio of published writing at flaviinrome.com.

Facebook • Twitter • Instagram

 

Top Ten List:

My top 10 Favorite Things

1.  Turning the corner into the courtyard of my apartment building in Rome after a long time away.

2. Books, books, always books.

3. A pen given as a gift, with beautiful, inspiring ink, sitting atop a brand-new, fresh notebook.

4. People whose eyes light up when they talk about something they love.

5. Piano music in a new place. 

6. Unexpected kindness, given freely.

7. Adventures that run into you on a quiet day, like dancing down Via Giulia or the market at Campo de’ Fiori early in the morning.

8. Cicadas on a summer night (there’s a short story about them in All the Way to Italy, called “What Sings in the Night”!)

9. Watermelon.

10. That moment of stomach rise, stomach fall when the wheels of the plane come up off the ground and suddenly, you’re flying toward somewhere new. But then also, coming home. 

 

 

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Great Summer Reads 2018 Countdown Blitz: Day 20

 

Aeonian Dreams by Morgan J Muir

 

Mariah has chosen to become a vampire, but she can’t remember why.

 
Upon waking in the labyrinthine caves of Sophus, a centuries-old vampire, Mariah can’t remember all the choices that brought her there, but she does know there are dangerous secrets hidden within her.  As she learns to control her powerful new body— and its bloodthirsty urges— Mariah discovers a unique ability to travel through a world of spirit, the key to remembering her past, and possibly the future.

At first, it seems her path is simple: learn to control her bloodlust, find her missing husband, and return with him to raise their son. However, things are more complicated than they seem, and neither Sophus nor her husband’s captor is willing to let them go. Mariah must use whatever skills she can to find her husband and protect her still-mortal son, but will it be enough?

Amazon• Goodreads

 

 

Morgan J Muir lives in Utah with her fantastic husband, three offspring, and as many cats (but she doesn’t carry them with kits in sacks, and has never been to St. Ives). She grew up riding horses and motorcycles and listening to her grandmother read poetry. She grew up reading any sci-fi/fantasy novel she could get her hands on and so was surprised the day she discovered that she also really enjoyed historical fiction.

Morgan always loved to write and draw and her parents always liked to say that they knew she’d write a book some day.  Ever since she was small she told stories and drew pictures for her tales.  When she got old enough, all of her spare time between classes was spent writing and she always had a notebook with her.

Her first novel was originally written after her first child was born, to help her pass the long, lonely hours as a new stay-at-home mom.  As her kids got older and more came she was too busy to do much with her stories, until one year she was introduced to NaNoWriMo, which finally rekindled the spark that led her to finish what she’d started.

Morgan’s favorite authors are Brandon Sanderson, Kristen Britain and Marion Zimmer Bradley.

Facebook • Amazon

 

Top Ten List:

10 random facts about me.

 

1. Blue Roan is my favorite color of horse

2. I prefer off-road motorcycles to street bikes

3. I published my first book in 3rd grade

4. I can’t act worth beans

5. My favorite jersey number is 13

6. A ring inscribed with the phrase “Prone to wander” reminds me to write

7. Despite having a cell phone for over 15 years, I still don’t have a smart phone

8. Reading my teacher’s ratty old copy of “Birth of the Firebringer” by Meredith Ann Pierce in 4th grade is what first inspired me to start writing.

9. Horses are my favorite mammal

10. I think top 10 lists are as difficult to compile as writing a book cover blurbs
    

 

 

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Great Summer Reads 2018 Countdown Blitz: Day 19

 

Dark Days of Promise by Shaunna Gonzales

 

Thirty-four year old Vicki Laramie must learn to trust before she can love, but she might die trying.

While Vicki’s children grapple with the death of their father — a man whom she’s successfully fabricated as loving, a lie her rebellious teenager recognizes — she must find a way to support her family and find a role model for her boys.

She never intends to fall for Staff Sergeant Chase, her best friend’s son, who suffers from Post Traumatic Stress Disorder (PTSD). She’d much rather choose a safer man to love, but her children have a voice in the decision she makes.

With two deaths to deal with, a suitor after her money, a rebellious son, and Sergeant Chase’s repeated attacks, she can only hope to survive the danger she faces. If she doesn’t, her children will be left without either parent.

Amazon • B&N • Kobo • iTunes • Smashwords

 

 

Shaunna Gonzales currently resides with her family in the greater Seattle area. Married
over thirty years, her role as wife and mother of four continue to be her priorities.

A storyteller in her youth, she endevored to extend her love of stories to the written word and in 2005 began to write her first novel. Though that manuscript will remain buried, she has continued to learn.

Once told by her doctors that she would never leave her wheelchair — due to her Multiple sclerosis. It has been tucked in a closet while she continues on. (In other words muddles on.)

Shaunna has worked as a professional reviewer for InD’Tales eMagazine for three years. In 2012 she also served as the vice president of Moonwriters, the on-line chapter of American Night Writers Association (ANWA She prefers to write romantic fiction and has ventured into the romantic suspense, and time-travel genres. Her debut novel, Dark Day s of Promise was released by Desert Breeze Publishing in 2012 re-released 2015.

Although she prefers to spend her days writing, she is willing to share what she has learned from the school of life and is often found “giving back.”

Website • Facebook • Amazon • Goodreads

 

 
Top Ten List:

10 favorite actors in no specific order.

1. Hugh Jackman

2. Matthew McConaughey

3. Tom Cruise

4.  George Clooney

5. Sean Connery

6. Harrison Ford

7. Daniel Craig

8. Pierce Brosnan

9. Robert Downey Jr.

10. Brent Spinner

 

 

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Great Summer Reads 2018 Countdown Blitz: Day 18

 

The Dragons of Alsace Farm by Laurie Lewis

 

 
In need of his own redemption, Noah Carter finally confronts his childhood hero, the once-beloved uncle who betrayed him. Instead of vengeance, he offers forgiveness, also granting Uncle John a most curious request—for Noah to work on the ramshackle farm of Agnes Deveraux Keller, a French WWII survivor with dementia.

Despite all Agnes has lost, she still has much to teach Noah. But the pair’s unique friendship is threatened when Tayte, Agnes’s estranged granddaughter, arrives to claim a woman whose circumstances and abilities are far different from those of the grandmother she once knew.

Items hidden in Agnes’s attic raise painful questions about Tayte’s dead parents, steeling Tayte’s determination to save Agnes, even if it requires her to betray the very woman she came to save, and the secret her proud grandmother has guarded for seventy years.

The issue strains the fragile trust between Tayte and Noah, who now realizes Tayte is fighting her own secrets, her own dragons. Weighed down by past guilt and failures, he feels ill-equipped to help either woman, until he remembers Agnes’s lessons about courage and love. In order to save Agnes, the student must now become the teacher, helping Tayte heal—for Agnes’s sake, and for his.

Amazon • Goodreads

 

Laurie (L.C.) Lewis will always be a Marylander at heart —a weather-whining lover of crabs, American history, and the sea. She admits to being craft-challenged, particularly lethal with a glue gun, and a devotee of sappy movies. Her ninth published novel, her first romance novella, Sweet Water, was inspired by a visit to Oregon’s magnificent coastline, and time spent with Mother Eugenie, upon whom the character Mother Thomasine is based.

Laurie’s women’s fiction novels include The Dragons of Alsace Farm (2016), Awakening Avery (2010), and Unspoken (2004), written as Laurie Lewis.

Using the pen name L.C. Lewis, she wrote the five volumes of her award-winning FREE MEN and DREAMERS historical fiction series, set against the backdrop of the War of 1812: Dark Sky at Dawn (2007), Twilight’s Last Gleaming (2008), Dawn’s Early Light (2009), Oh, Say Can You See? (2010), and In God is Our Trust, (2011).

She is currently completing a political suspense novel planned for a summer 2017 release, a re-release of a romantic comedy, and she’s working on another historical fiction novel for a 2018 release. She loves to hear from readers.

Website • Facebook • Twitter • Instagram • Goodreads

 

Top Ten List:

1. I have a bunion that should get it’s own zip code

2. I’m a kidney donor

3. I once eyed a singing career

4. My mom was told I’d never have children. Four kids later. . . . . LOL!

5. I met my hubbie over a CB radio when I was 15 and pretending to be a British exchange student

6. I ran a lab and raised organisms for elementary children to study in their Hands-on Science curriculum. Over Christmas, I’d bring the creatures home. We had frogs and crayfish in our bathtub over Christmas!

7. I have a weakness for twinkle lights, nesting boxes, and anything sung by Groban or Bocelli

8. I never met a plate of fried chicken I didn’t love

9. Favorite saying: “Everything’s better with sound effects.”

10. I keep a little lighted Christmas tree up all year long

 

 

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Great Summer Reads 2018 Countdown Blitz: Day 17

 

The Guise of a Gentleman by Donna Hatch

 

 
The widowed Elise is a perfect English lady living within the confines of society for the sake of her impressionable young son. Her quiet world is shattered when she meets the impulsive and scandalous Jared Amesbury. His roguish charm awakens her yearning for adventure. But his irrepressible grin and sea-green eyes hide a secret.

A gentleman by day, a pirate by night, Jared must complete one last assignment from the Secret Service before he can be truly free. Elise gives him hope that he, too, can find love and belonging. His hopes are crushed when his best laid plans go awry and Elise is dragged into his world of violence and deceit. She may not survive the revelation of Jared’s past…or still love him when the truth is revealed.

The Guise of a Gentleman is a clean and wholesome Regency Romance, a.k.a. “clean” that explores finding one’s true self, loyalty, honor, and trusting loved ones. With plenty of swashbuckling action, it provides a several good twists that play off of familiar situations and proudly proclaims the redemptive power of love.

Amazon • Goodreads

 

Donna Hatch is the author of the best-selling “Rogue Hearts Series,” and a winner of writing awards such as The Golden Quill and the International Digital Award. A hopeless romantic and adventurer at heart, she discovered her writing passion at the tender age of 8 and has been listening to those voices ever since. She has become a sought-after workshop presenter, and also juggles freelance editing, multiple volunteer positions, and most of all, her six children (seven, counting her husband). A native of Arizona who recently transplanted to the Pacific Northwest, she and her husband of over twenty years are living proof that there really is a happily ever after.

Website • Facebook • Twitter • Goodreads • Amazon

 

Top Ten List:

Donna’s Top 10 Favorite Things to do in the Summer:

1. Go for long walks with a friend

2. Have a tea party

3. Go to the beach

4. Build sandcastles

5. Watch the sunset

6. Visit gardens

7. Make ice cream

8. Hike with my family

9. Play miniature golf

10. Read a good book

(Actually, I love doing most of these in the winter, too.)

 

 

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Great Summer Reads 2018 Countdown Blitz: Day 16

 

Zenobia by Russ Wallace

Challenging a Legend ( book 2)

 

 
Sequel to the award-winning Zenobia – Birth of a Legend.

The continuing saga of the deadly young warrior who will one day challenge Rome for the supremacy of her world. As the dynamic girl continues her education in Egypt, for a time she is diverted from her warrior path. Complicating Zenobia’s life is a budding romance with her brilliant and charismatic instructor. The challenge – he is the scholar, she the warrior. Can they blend their worlds to become the most exciting couple in Alexandria?

Learning of a slave trade in kidnapped young women, Zenobia determines to free the oppressed. Warrior skills will not be enough. Her new challenge – to become a pirate, then a temptress in her fight for justice.

The Author is putting both books in this Series on special offer on Amazon 25 – 26th of July 2018! 
Click the Amazon Link below to view the steeply discounted price!

Amazon

 

 

Russ Wallace is a long-time student of history and religion. He employs a vivid imagination to fill in the life of Zenobia, a real historical figure and one of the most fascinating women who ever lived.

He is working on future books in the Zenobia Book Series. Zenobia – Birth of a Legend won a 2012 IPPY award in Historical Fiction.

Website • Facebook • Twitter • Google+ • Goodreads • Amazon

 

 

Top Ten List:

10 random facts about Russ Wallace:

1. Russ loves humor. You might even consider him an amateur stand-up comedian. Whenever opportunity allows he loves to share this talent with others. Russ’s wife Ruth says when they cruise; Russ enjoys doing his stand-up comedy on talent night.

2. Russ was a string cheese sales person, he had a cleaning business but most of his life he designed and built houses. All before he was a writer, of course. 

3. Russ is a great gardener and landscaper- wherever he lives you are sure to find lots of trees, plants, and flowers all around.

4.  We say Russ is a world traveler and we mean it, he has visited over 37 different countries.

5.  Favorite food? Peanut Butter

6. Favorite movie? Gone with the Wind

7. Favorite book? Bible

8. Russ grew up in the suburbs of Chicago

9. Russ loves finding good deals and is a garage-sale-enthusiast

10. One of his favorite vacation spots is Hawaii

 

 

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Zenobia:Birth of a Legend ( book 1) by Russ Wallace