All posts by Melanie

Another Rebecca by Tracey Scott-Townsend

rebecca
ANOTHER REBECCA
BY TRACEY SCOTT-TOWNSEND

rebecca

On the cusp of adulthood, Rebecca Grey has no idea where her life is headed. Like many of us, she struggles to build a sustainable identity, a task made even harder by the fact that her mother is engaged in an extended breakdown and her absent father has another family to worry about. Dealing with their problems leaves little time for her own, and pretty soon, something has to give. As she toils under the weight of a tragedy that was never hers to begin with, Rebecca faces the impossible task of carving out a future for herself, all the while shadowed by the mistakes of her parents. Told with an experienced voice through the eyes of three characters.

Another Rebecca tells the story of one family’s moving inability to let go of the past, of love lost and found, and a young woman’s determination to pull herself out of disaster.

BUY LINKS

AMAZON UK

AMAZON.COM

THE LAST TIME WE SAW MARION

**********

Author bio

rebecca

Tracey spends her writing time in her much-loved shed. It’s a world of her own making, like her stories. She says that stepping inside and closing the door behind her induces a feeling like the one you get in the hushed atmosphere of a church.

She is the mother of four children, three of whom have now left home: one of them particularly far away. Still, she’s sure that Australia will provide as much inspiration for her writing as Iceland has done, (another place she was introduced to by her son). She’s really hoping to witness a full show of the Northern Lights next time she is there.

Closer to home, Tracey enjoys travelling in the bus-with-a-woodstove with her husband and their Labrador, Riley. They are always on the lookout for a scenic lay-by in which to sleep. Last year they spent time all over the British Isles, including the Outer Hebrides, which will be the setting for a future novel. In a few years they plan to set off on the road (by way of the sea) for an extended period of time: after all, writing can be done anywhere.

Find/follow Tracey at these links:

Website http://traceyscotttownsend.com/

Facebook Author page https://www.facebook.com/AuthorTrace

Twitter @authortrace https://twitter.com/authortrace

about.me http://about.me/traceintime

Tumblr https://www.tumblr.com/blog/authortrace

Instagram  https://instagram.com/authortrace/

**********

GIVEAWAY

The prize will be 2 ecopies of Another Rebecca.

a Rafflecopter giveaway

**********

BCB-Host Button-200

Happy Mother’s Day!

Happy Mother’s Day

To all of you out there who are mothers, grandmothers and even great-grandmothers, I wish you all a Happy Mother’s Day.

mother's day
Ruth (Neddo) Robertson May 13, 1930 – September 14, 2010

For me, I’ll be partaking in what has become a tradition since losing my mum in the fall of 2012. Now on Mother’s Day, I visit the cemetery and leave flowers at her grave.

The cemetery celebrations started the day we buried my mum’s ashes. We sent her off with a song by her favourite singer – Vince Gill, and her favourite tipple – champagne. For the last few years of her life, I spent a lot of time out home doing as I called it “mother-sitting”. She introduced me to everyone who came into the house as “This is my daughter, Melanie. She’s writing a book.” So when I was offered my contract, it seemed right that I should celebrate there with her and my dad.

mother's day
Celebrating with my contract, manuscript and champagne

How do you celebrate Mother’s Day?

 

 

Using posters to publicize your book

Fancy seeing the cover of your book on a billboard, bus stop, subway/metro station? Think it’s impossible? Too expensive? What if I told you, you could get two posters for your online advertising for the low price of £15. Here are four posters done by Gary Walker of Look 4 Books.

posters

A Shadow in the Past

Nineteen-year-old Sarah Shand finds herself thrust back into the past. There she struggles to keep her real identity from a society that finds her comments and ideas strange and her speech and actions forward, unlike Victorian women. When Sarah verbally confronts confining social practices, including arranged marriages, powerful enemies commit her to a lunatic asylum. After falling in love with the handsome Laird of Weetshill, Robert Robertson, she must decide whether to find her way back to her own time or to remain in the past with him.

posters

The Consequences Collection

The Consequences Collection is an eclectic compilation of twelve stories ranging from non-fiction through creative non-fiction to pure fiction, in prose and poetry.

The story of a Scottish Home Child is based on fact and told from the child’s point of view; The Mystery Woman of Kinettles is a non-fiction article on the appearance and subsequent disappearance of a woman’s body near the Wellington County House of Industry (Poor House) in 1879 Southwestern Ontario.

Some of these stories are lighter than others, and some might even beg you to leave the lights on.

**********

Gary’s posters are unique to each book which makes them even more popular with the authors he supports. The two below are the most recent ones he did for me.

From a touch of medieval…

posters

to a modern setting…

posters

You can see more of Gary’s work on pinterest or on his Books and Life blog.

Which one of these book posters to you like best?

 

Cover Reveal~THE WIND WEEPS by Anneli Purchase

I’ve been shopping, found a designer I like, and bought a new outfit. Now I have a new image. It’s not for me, but for my novel, The Wind Weeps.

The Wind Weeps has so many tangible elements that I could have focused on any number of them for a cover image. The story involves boats, the BC coast, commercial fishing, handsome men, beautiful women, and the isolation of the coast. But my designer, Anita B. Carroll of http://race-point.com , suggested that since the book has so much emotion in it, why not go with a cover that reflects it.

Remember the terror Julia Roberts felt in the movie Sleeping with the Enemy? That’s the kind of terror Andrea feels about her husband, Robert. But in her case it isn’t so easy to escape him. He has taken her to live in a remote cabin on the coast, all communication unavailable to her.

We have love, anticipation, happiness, hope, desperation, indecision, ambivalence, frustration, fear and joy, just to name a few of the emotions found in The Wind Weeps.

Andrea once loved orchids, but Robert has turned them into a symbol of his control over her. The orchid on the cover seems to be weeping. The sky is blood red, the sea is dark and rough. And yet Andrea is determined to survive and get back to the man she wishes she had married, the one who has never stopped loving her.

wind

For more than just a romance, why not click on the link to download The Wind Weeps. You won’t sleep until you finish it.

Amazon.com

Or if you are in the UK:

Amazon.co.uk

For those with e-readers other than Kindle, go to Smashwords.com

AUTHOR BIO

wind
Anneli_Purchase

Anneli Purchase is an author and freelance copy-editor. She writes for the Loveahappyending Lifestyle Magazine, which she also helps to edit. Anneli lives on her little acre of paradise on Vancouver Island with her husband and two spaniels. She has published three novels and is working on her fourth.

 

 

Promo ~ CATCHING CASSIDY by Melissa Foster

cassidy

cassidy

CATCHING CASSIDY

HARBORSIDE NIGHTS, Book One

Release date April 28, 2015

“Catching Cassidy was laugh out loud funny, heartwarming, sexy, and hands down one of my favorite reads so far this year!” — #1 NYT Bestselling Author of The Bet – Rachel Van Dyken

Wyatt Armstrong never imagined that instead of celebrating his college graduation, he and his twin sister would be dealing with the death of their parents.  Then again, Wyatt had never been one to think past tomorrow. He heads to their summer home in Harborside, Massachusetts, with his best friend Cassidy Lowell in tow, to deal with his parents’ death and to try to figure out his next step.

Six foot two, infuriatingly handsome, and flirtatious, Wyatt Armstrong has always been there for Cassidy, helping her pass her classes and fend off unwanted advances, while driving her insane with his one-night stands—but that’s what best friends are for, isn’t it? Having each other’s backs. There was never any doubt that she would accompany him to his family’s summer home—but she never expected to begin seeing Wyatt as more than a friend. Or has she been ignoring her feelings all along?

It’s impossible to ignore the sizzling heat between them as Wyatt and Cassidy get even closer, but Cassidy knows Wyatt’s past, and she has a real job to begin in the fall. Wyatt may be a sure thing for the summer, but Cassidy needs more. For the first time in his life, Wyatt is forced to look toward the future if he doesn’t want to lose the one woman who’s shared his past and owns his heart.

***

HARBORSIDE NIGHTS is a sexy, hot, and evocatively real New Adult Romance series that follows a group of friends who have known one another for years as “summer” friends, and now come together after college to build their lives. They’re tough, edgy, and accepting—most of the time. This series is written in the loving, raw, and emotional voice readers have come to love by New York Times & USA Today bestselling, award-winning author Melissa Foster.

Check out the awesome video trailer for CATCHING CASSIDY (Harborside Nights, Book 1). Releasing April 28!

PRE-ORDER links:
KINDLE: http://amzn.to/1xplPq5
NOOK: http://bit.ly/CatchingCassidy_Nook
KOBO: http://bit.ly/CatchingCassidy_Kobo
GPLAY: http://bit.ly/CatchingCassidy_GooglePlay
iBOOKS: https://itunes.apple.com/…/catching-cassidy-ha…/id907998032…
Paperback: http://amzn.to/1Ew4xv2

ABOUT MELISSA FOSTER

cassidy

Melissa Foster is a New York Times & USA Today bestselling and award-winning author. She writes contemporary romance, new adult, contemporary women’s fiction, suspense, and historical fiction with emotionally compelling characters that stay with you long after you turn the last page. Her books have been recommended by USA Today’s book blog, Hagerstown Magazine, The Patriot, and several other print venues. She is the founder of the  World Literary Café and Fostering Success. When she’s not writing, Melissa helps authors navigate the publishing industry through her author training programs on  Fostering Success. Melissa has been published in Calgary’s Child Magazine, the Huffington Post, and Women Business Owners magazine.

Melissa hosts an annual Aspiring Authors contest for children and has painted and donated several murals to The Hospital for Sick Children in Washington, DC. Melissa lives in Maryland with her family.

Visit Melissa on social media. Melissa enjoys discussing her books with book clubs and reader groups, and welcomes an invitation to your event.

Authors Links:

Website

Twitter

Facebook

Pinterest

Goodreads

Sign up for Melissa’s newsletter to stay up to date with releases and giveaways

http://www.melissafoster.com/newsletter/

***

GIVEAWAY

3 ecopies of SLOPE OF LOVE

a Rafflecopter giveaway

#AtoZChallenge – Zebra

zebra

A member of the horse family, the zebra is native to Africa. Unlike their ‘cousins’ horses and donkeys, zebras have never been domesticated.

Zebra
By Muhammad Mahdi Karim (www.micro2macro.net) Facebook Youtube (Own work) [GFDL 1.2 (http://www.gnu.org/licenses/old-licenses/fdl-1.2.html)], via Wikimedia Commons

In the news recently, a zebra got in on the selfie craze. You can see the photos at www.mirror.co.uk.

Did you know that the stripes on a zebra are unique to each animal?

 

 

#AtoZChallenge – Wallaby

A wallaby is a small to mid-sized member of the kangaroo clan. Like their cousin, the kangaroo, wallabies are marsupials and carry their young, also called joeys, in their pouches.

In 2008, Wendell, a wallaby from Saunders Country Critters zoo escaped and “Where’s Wendell” fever took over and sightings of the wayward wallaby were reported throughout Eastern Ontario and Quebec. Sadly, this story didn’t have a happy ending, and Wendell was found dead a few short miles from his home.

wallaby
By Glen Fergus (Own work, Cooktown, Queensland, Australia) [CC BY-SA 3.0 (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/3.0)], via Wikimedia Commons