14 April 2014

Retarded Girl Raised in Dog Pen by Lauren Leigh Spotlight!



Publication Date:  March 15, 2014
Genre: Fiction / Mystery 
Publisher: Sartoris Literary Group

Synopsis:

Baby is every adoptive parent’s nightmare—blind, paralyzed from the waist down, unable to speak, and diagnosed with developmental and intellectual disabilities. For the first 10 years of her life she is raised outside in a dog pen by a cruel adoptive father, a Mississippi deputy sheriff who values his bird dogs more than his daughter.

Retarded Girl Raised in Dog Pen is the story of Baby’s placement in a Mississippi mental institution for individuals with profound retardation after the brutal murder of her father and the arrest of her mother, and her desperate attempt to escape the institution.

Once the mother is convicted of murder and sentenced to death, the story takes a bizarre twist as mental health professions discover that Baby is capable of communication, despite being trapped inside a grotesque body that holds her prisoner.

How much does Baby know? Can she prove her mother’s innocence?

As the mother sits on death row, the clock ticking, a brilliant psychologist has the shock of her life when she discovers that Baby is not who she seems. The question is will the psychologist be able to solve the mystery in time to save the mother’s life?

Similar to One Flew Over the Cuckoo’s Nest in the manner in which it reveals the inner workings of a mental institution, it is, in the end, about the triumph of intellect and passion over indifference and cruelty. It is written in the tradition of The Sound and the Fury and To Kill a Mockingbird, two novels that address the complex issue of intellectual disabilities.

About the Author:

Lauren Leigh is a mental health professional who has devoted her life to working with individuals with intellectual disabilities. This is her first novel.

Excerpt:

When Thad Vanderbilt arrived at the county jail, he was eating a hamburger that he’d picked up at the drive-through window of a fast-food restaurant. He took bites of the burger and sips from a cup filled with iced tea as he walked into the building and asked to meet with Rivers in a private conference room.
As she walked in the door, he was in the process of wadding up the paper wrapping around the burger. He tossed it into a nearby trash can and then took a sip from the cup, gurgling the last few drops from the bottom of the cup before discarding it. Left behind was a touch of mayo that stuck about an inch from the corner of his mouth. Rivers noticed it, but said nothing, not really caring whether her lawyer looked foolish or not.
Thad stood and extended his hand as she approached the table and sat in a folding chair. His fingers felt damp from the soft drink cup, and she wiped her hand against her jumpsuit. 
“I’m Thad Vanderbilt,” he said. “I’ve seen you around town, but I don’t think we’ve ever had the pleasure of meeting.”
“I’ve seen you in your convertible.”
Thad laughed. “Yes, and it will be paid for in another three years, just in time to trade it in for a new one.”
Rivers didn’t think that was funny and she did not respond with a laugh of her own.
Thad looked at a legal pad, reading over his scribbled notes.
“I see your husband was a deputy.”
Rivers nodded.
“And you have a little girl named Baby. Is that correct?”
“Yes. Have you seen her?”
“No, I haven’t. I understand she was taken away and placed at Silverstone Retardation Center.”
“That’s what the sheriff told me.”
“She’ll be well taken care of there.”
“I hope so. She’s not used to strangers.”
“They are used to people like her.”
“What do you mean, people like her?”
“You know, retarded.”
“Oh.”
“How do you want to plead on this?”
“What do you mean?”
“Guilty or not guilty.”
“Oh.”
Rivers didn’t answer, sort of drifted away, lost in thought.
“Did you hear me?”
“What?”
“Guilty or not guilty?”
“What’s the difference?”
“If you plead guilty, there is no trial and the judge decides your sentence. If you plead not guilty, you go to trial and listen to people say a lot of bad things about you, and then the jury decides if you are guilty or not guilty, and then, if you are guilty, they pass sentence.”
“And if the jury decides I am not guilty?”
“Then they send you home.”
“In that case, who goes to prison?”
“The prosecutor will decide if there is someone else he wants to prosecute. If there is, then he will go after them and try to get a conviction.
“Oh.”
“So what do you want to do?”
“Did the sheriff give you any information about Angus?”
“I don’t understand.”
“Did the sheriff give you any details about what happened to him?”
 “Sure.”
“Would you mind telling me what you know?”
“No problem.” He looked over his notes. “OK. They found his body yesterday, buried along the tree line of your property, about fifty yards from the dog pen.”
“Did he look upset?”
“Excuse me?”
“Did it look like he was upset over being dead?”
Thad paused again, this time to collect his thoughts. “Ma’am, when you’re dead I don’t think you necessarily look upset or not upset.”
“I see.” She lowered her eyes, looking down at her lap, where her fingers were intertwined in a knot. “Does it say anything about how he died?”
“Yes, ma’am, it says he was struck in the chest with an ax.”
“That all?”
“No, it says he was hacked on a little bit.”
“Do they have the ax?”
“Apparently, it was buried with him.”
Rivers sat quietly for a while. Then she put her hand on her chest, feeling her thumping heart. “Would you mind seeing after the burial?”
“That’s not really what I do.”
“Baby and I are the only family he’s got. If not you, then who?”
“Ma’am, you’ve put me on the spot.”
“I know that.”
Thad doodled on his legal pad as he struggled with her request. He had moved to Murphy County from Memphis, where lawyers played by a different set of rules. In Memphis, her request would have been laughed at, but not in a rural community where everyone knows everyone else, or if they don’t, they know of them or have heard stories about them.
“That’s not something I usually do,” he said. “But I’ll make an exception in your case.”
“Thank you.”
“But you still haven’t answered me.”
“About what?”
“About your plea.”
“Can I decide what goes on the tombstone?”
“I don’t know for sure, but assume that would not be a problem. You are his wife.”
“Will there be flowers?”
“Yes—if I have to send them myself.”
“That’s nice.”
 “I don’t mean to be rude, ma’am, but I need to know your plea.”
Rivers looked up, as if searching for the answer on the ceiling. Inexplicably, a serene look appeared on her face. “What will happen to me if I plead guilty?”
“It is a capital offense to kill a police officer, so the penalty would be death by injection.”
“I see.”
“Is that what you would like to do?”
“Yes, I believe it is.”

Scared to Live by Stephen Booth Book Tour and Giveaway!!



Title: Scared to Live 
  Author: Stephen Booth 
  Genre: Mystery/Thriller/Crime 
  Publish Date: April 8, 2014 
  Publisher: Witness Impulse 

  Synopsis: The seventh novel in the popular Cooper & Fry series. How do you investigate the murder of a woman without a life? That is the challenge facing Cooper and Fry when a reclusive agoraphobic is found shot to death in her home. With no friends, no family, and virtually no contact with the outside world, the dead woman may have simply been an unlucky victim of a random homicide. At virtually the same time, a raging house fire claims the life of a young mother and two of her children. But as the debris is cleared, troubling questions remain in the ashes. Among them, how did the fire start, where was the husband at two a.m. the day of the blaze, and was it really the fire that killed his family?

Goodreads

Purchase Links

Amazon | Barnes and Noble


About the Author

  Stephen Booth is an award winning British crime writer, the creator of two young Derbyshire police detectives, DC Ben Cooper and DS Diane Fry, who have appeared in thirteen novels set in England’s beautiful and atmospheric Peak District. Stephen has been a Gold Dagger finalist, an Anthony Award nominee, twice winner of a Barry Award for Best British Crime Novel, and twice shortlisted for the Theakston’s Crime Novel of the Year. Ben Cooper was a finalist for the Sherlock Award for the best detective created by a British author, and in 2003 the Crime Writers’ Association presented Stephen with the Dagger in the Library Award for “the author whose books have given readers the most pleasure”. The Cooper & Fry series is published all around the world, and has been translated into 15 languages. Connect with the Author:

Twitter | Blog | Goodreads  


11 April 2014

Tiddly Jinx by Liz Schulte Release Day!!

TiddlyJinxReleaseDay

Tiddly Jinx 2 

Tiddly Jinx Selene Warren’s life is plagued by disaster. To fix the trouble her good intentions caused, she needs to rescue the necromancer who tried to help her, find and return the Pole of Charon, and win over the Elfish people. However, nothing ever goes as planned. The necromancer reappears in the Abyss, but is determined to be an enemy rather than a friend. The Pole of Charon can’t be tracked, yet small tears between worlds pop up and let in monsters that threaten to expose what Selene brought back. Tensions between elves and the other fae could erupt into violence at any moment, tearing apart the race once and for all. To mend the rips in the veil, Selene’s coven will have to use black magic, but that comes at a cost. Every time a spell is cast their souls are at stake. Forced to make a deal with an enemy or let the world be destroyed, all of her the lies and double crosses start to add up. The line between good and evil blurs until Selene doesn’t know which side she is fighting for.


Liz - Easybakecoven (2)

  Start the Series for FREE - Easy Bake Coven For Selene Warren being a witch is no big deal. She dabbles in harmless magic with her friends and never thinks much about it. However, when a stranger who seems to know her shows up at her studio and her grandmother is brutally attacked, her simple life becomes complicated. A world of elves, half-elves, fae—and one peculiar Sekhmet named Femi open up to her. She will discover that fairy tales are real, politics are ugly in any world, and there is a lot more to her life than she ever dreamed possible. This new reality threatens swallow Selene whole, but with a forgotten past beating down her door, she will have to dive in to save her future. Amazon / Barnes and Noble    

About Author Liz Schulte

Many authors claim to have known their calling from a young age. Liz Schulte, however, didn’t always want to be an author. In fact, she had no clue. Liz wanted to be a veterinarian, then she wanted to be a lawyer, then she wanted to be a criminal profiler. In a valiant effort to keep from becoming Walter Mitty, Liz put pen to paper and began writing her first novel. It was at that moment she realized this is what she was meant to do. As a scribe she could be all of those things and so much more. When Liz isn’t writing or on social networks she is inflicting movie quotes and trivia on people, reading, traveling, and hanging out with friends and family. Liz is a Midwest girl through and through, though she would be perfectly happy never having to shovel her driveway again. She has a love for all things spooky, supernatural, and snarky. Her favorite authors range from Edgar Allen Poe to Joseph Heller to Jane Austen to Jim Butcher and everything in between. Follow Liz Schulte: Website | Facebook | Twitter | GoodReads --

The Whitechapel Virgin by Carla Acheson Blog Tour!


“Acheson has a gift for being able to bring the grit of poverty to life " - (Rachel Malone) HISTORICAL NOVEL SOCIETY 


"TAKE A DEEP BREATH AND JOURNEY INTO THE SLUMS OF WHITECHAPEL, LONDON, DURING JACK THE RIPPER'S BRUTAL REIGN OF TERROR." 






About The Book: 

Catherine, a fifteen year old runaway, stumbles into a seedy brothel-house tavern in the back streets of Whitechapel, London. She hesitates at the scene before her, one filled with low class prostitutes and drunkards, but it is late, and the dimly-lit labyrinthine alleyways are filled with deviant fellows and petty criminals. 

Weary and hungry, she meets Eddie, the rugged young tavern boy who shows her to a room for the night. She settles down only to be awoken in the early hours by piercing cries from the room next door. Arising to find the cause of the commotion, she becomes witness to a gruesome abortion. 

Filled with revulsion, Catherine decides to flee as soon as daylight arrives, but Eddie quickly soothes her fears and convinces her to stay, arranging for her to meet Madame Davenport, the nefarious brothel-mistress who employs Catherine as a serving girl, under the proviso she begins work ‛servicing’ men once she is settled in. 

Difficulties arise, however, when Eddie’s growing romantic affections for Catherine clash with her sudden infatuation for the dashing middle-class gent, Mr Cross. Unknown to Catherine, the lothario is keeping a diary of his affairs with Whitechapel’s whores, with the dishonourable intention of turning his writing into a successful ‛gentleman’s, publication.' Mr Cross quickly seduces the fresh young virgin, allowing his sexual fantasies to escalate into an unfathomable obsession. 

As Catherine tries her hardest to fit into the ways of life at the lodging house, she encounters only jealousy from Eddie, and resentment from the other prostitutes who reside there. Annie, in particular, dislikes the new girl who has blossoming beauty and youth on her side. 

Unexpectedly one night, a crime occurs within the narrow landing of George Yard Buildings. Local prostitute Martha Tabram is found brutally hacked to death by a cruel assailant. The police can unearth no explainable motive. The Victorian crime stuns the entire Whitechapel district, causing widespread panic amongst the prostitutes who each fear for their own lives. 

Catherine's anxiety increases when Edward Cross begins to show signs of 'odd' sexual behaviour and mental decline, as he brutally tries to expunge the girl of her virtues. 

When two more gruesome murders occur in the area, the prostitutes realise that there is no escape from the vicious killer who calls himself Jack The Ripper. 

But who is he? And who will be the next Jack victim? 



Purchase The Book



About The Author
Carla lives in Gibraltar with her family and is a member of the Freelance Writers Association. She works as a book
reviewer and has interviewed and published book reviews and articles for best-selling and award-winning authors. Her articles and reviews have been featured in various press publications, as well as Waterstones Quarterly UK Magazine.
Her debut fiction novel ‘The Last Gift’ released October 2012, is available on both Kindle and paperback.
Carla is also the founder of the Rock Writers Group formed in Gibraltar in 2009.
Music production, singing, reading and writing have always been the main essential ingredients in Carla’s life.
Visit her website:  http://www.carla-acheson.com/
Visit her on Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/thewhitechapelvirgin

This tour was hosted by Worldwind Virtual Book Tours

Follow the rest of The Whitechapel Virgin tour

10 April 2014

Recovering From Life by Debra McKenna Review!


ISBN: 978-0615841458
Pages: 278
Size: 8.5 x 5.5
Format: Paperback
Publication Date: August 2013
Subject: Contemporary Women's Fiction
Publisher: Debra McKenna
Available: Amazon.com

Recovering From Life is the tale of 39-year-old, redheaded spitfire Stephanie McCarthy¹s rollicking road to redemption.  A gifted freelance writer in Northern California, Steph works days hawking frozen foods while her life limps along.  Until her husband, Kenny, disappears into the crack ghetto.  His descent into addiction catapults Steph onto a wild ride that feels unendurable‹but ultimately leads to her own self-discovery.

Marooned in a state of financial doom, legal tangles, and emotional turmoil, Steph navigates the pitfalls of her new path, which takes her into the realms of drug dealers, high finance‹and hot romance.  With her wisecracking buddy, Lee, and other surprising allies at her side, Steph begins to rebuild her world as she stumbles into her blind spots and wrestles with her faulty guy-radar. 

When Steph at last spies the ³Welcome to Reality² sign at the end of the road, she realizes that her job is to heal from a life she never chose‹and to recover from the one that she did. But while she rides that roller coaster of recovery, Stephanie has one hell of a good time.
About this Author

Debra McKenna received a B.A. in English and did graduate work in Creative Writing. After nine years of feature writing and editing for city magazines, she decided to try her hand at fiction–that’s not including the fiction sometimes told her parents during the high school years. Their, “Where have you been?” was always answered by her, “At the library,” which was true during the day but never at night. There were much more interesting things to do at night.
She developed a love of books early on in grade school, first becoming enamored with Mark Twain, Carolyn Keene, F. Scott Fitzgerald, James Thurber, and John Steinbeck, then moving on to J.D. Salinger, Kurt Vonnegut, Erica Jong, Marilyn French, Rita Mae Brown, Marge Piercy, Tom Wolfe and so many others. After reading the first book that really moved her, Debra thought simply: “Wow, look what he did.” She was smitten with the idea of creating another world.
Now a student of life and the human condition, this traveler of an unusual road has developed an emotional intelligence that influences her life and instructs her activities. She has a natural bent towards philosophy with a heavy dose of humor on the side. How can you live in this world otherwise?
When Debra’s not writing, she enjoys reading a variety of women authors, watching films, walking her dog, working out, and caterwauling to the radio.
Recovering from Life is her first novel.
My Thoughts
Recovering from life is about a woman who finds out her husband is back into drugs, cheating on her and has stolen from his company. A humorous look at a woman's fight back from the humiliations  that she has suffered at the hands of her husband. With no money and a job she loathes, she moves in with her bestie and proceeds to get her life back on track. Along the way she comes across some sketchy characters, laughable situations and struggles that only she can realize the way out of. Can she recover and forgive past mistakes? Will she find what she is looking for?? You will have to read this funny, poignant book for yourself. A fresh storyline but not maudlin where the character keeps feeling sorry for herself. Stephanie pulls herself back on track and does it with humor. I loved this book and highly recommend it!
I received a copy for review and was not monetarily compensated for my review.

The Daughter of the Sea and the Sky by David Litwack Spotlight and Giveaway!!



From the author of There Comes a Prophet and Along the Watchtower comes a new literary journey exploring the clash between reason and faith, and the power of hope and love.

After centuries of religiously motivated war, the world has been split in two. Now the Blessed Lands are ruled by pure faith, while in the Republic, reason is the guiding light—two different realms, kept apart and at peace by a treaty and an ocean.

Summary: A mysterious nine-year-old from the Blessed Lands sails into the lives of a couple in the Republic, claiming to be the Daughter of the Sea and the Sky. Is she a troubled child longing to return home, or a powerful prophet sent to unravel the fabric of the Republic? The answer will change the lives of all she meets... and perhaps their world as well.

Author: David Litwack

Genre: Fantasy/Speculative Literary Fiction

Release Date: May 19th, 2014

Publisher: Evolved Publishing

Now, let's celebrate!  Tell the world about this great title below and enter to win one of these great prizes:



Read an Excerpt:

Jason grabbed the girl just as she began to sink. Despite the buffeting sea, he carried her back to the shore without straining and lay her fragile form on a swath of grass beyond the rocks—a slip of a child no more than nine or ten years old.

Plain cotton pants clung to the girl’s legs, and an elaborately embroidered tunic covered her slender frame—the typical garb of the zealots, but other than her clothing, she looked nothing like a zealot. Her skin was light and perfect, unblemished but for a trickle of blood on her arm. Her golden hair hung down to the middle of her back, and her round eyes held the color of the ocean.

Were Helena a believer, she’d have considered this the face of an angel.

Jason offered his bottle, but the girl shied away. Helena cradled the child’s head and tilted her chin while he trickled a few drops into her mouth.

The girl licked her cracked lips and opened for more. After she’d drunk her fill, she turned to Helena. Her eyes grabbed and held. “The dream,” she said. “It’s true. I can see it in your eyes.”

Helena felt a sudden urge to distract the girl, to disrupt that penetrating gaze. “Who are you?”

The girl ignored the question, instead resting her hand on Jason’s forearm.

His muscles twitched as if he were unsure whether to linger or jerk away.

“Your arm is hot,” she said.

“That’s because I’ve been running.”

The girl’s ocean-blue eyes opened wider. “From what?”

He withdrew his arm and flexed his fingers. “Are you from the Blessed Lands?”

The girl nodded.

“Why would you make such a dangerous voyage alone in such a small boat?”

“I was in no danger,” she said.

He waved a hand at the flotsam, still surging in the tide. “But your boat’s destroyed, and it took us to save you.”

“Yes, I suppose.” She looked back out to sea as if expecting to find her boat still afloat. “Then I thank Lord Kanakunai for sparing me and delivering me to kind people who would help.”

“But who are you?” Helena said more insistently.

The girl motioned for more to drink, this time grasping the bottle with both hands and emptying it. When she finished, she sat up and lifted her chin like royalty. “I am Kailani, the daughter of the sea and the sky.”




About the Author:

The urge to write first struck at age sixteen when working on a newsletter at a youth encampment in the woods of northern Maine. It may have been the wild night when lightning flashed at sunset followed by the northern lights rippling after dark. Or maybe it was the newsletter’s editor, a girl with eyes the color of the ocean. But he was inspired to write about the blurry line between reality and the fantastic.

Using two fingers and lots of white-out, he religiously typed five pages a day  throughout college and well into his twenties. Then life intervened. He paused to raise two sons and pursue a career, in the process — and without prior plan — becoming a well-known entrepreneur in the software industry, founding several successful companies. When he found time again to daydream, the urge to write returned.

There Comes a Prophet is his first novel in this new stage of life. His second book, Along the Watchtower, will be available June 2013. And The Daughter of the Sea and the Sky is nearing completion.

David and his wife split their time between Cape Cod, Florida and anywhere else that catches their fancy. He no longer limits himself to five pages a day and is thankful every keystroke for the invention of the word processor.

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09 April 2014

Blessed are the Dead by Kristi Belcamino Spotlight!



BLESSED ARE THE DEAD (Witness, on sale 6/10/2014, $2.99, ISBN 13: 9780062338907), Kristi Belcamino relies on her knowledge gained from working as a crime reporter at newspapers in California, specifically in her experience with a serial killer who police and FBI agents liked to several kidnappings and murders. Belcamino’s personal past colors this smart, thrilling novel with a unique new voice.

BLESSED ARE THE DEAD offers chilling, authentic glimpses into the mind of a psychopath while also mining the psyche of an extremely likeable protagonist.  The novel sets up a new series featuring Gabriella Giovanni, an Italian-American Bay Area crime reporter.  BLESSED ARE THE MEEK, the second book in the series will be published in July.

BLESSED ARE THE DEAD pits Italian-American Bay Area Crime reporter against a serial killer who preys on children. When they were little girls, Gabriella Giovanni’s sister was kidnapped and killed. Twenty years later, Gabriella spends her days on the crime beat flitting in and out of other people’s nightmares and then walking away unscathed. That changes when a little girl disappears and Gabriella’s quest for justice and a front-page story leads her to a convicted kidnapper who reels her in with tales of his exploits as a longtime serial killer and promises to reveal his secrets to her alone. Meanwhile, Gabriella’s passion for her job quickly spirals into obsession when she begins to suspect the kidnapper also killed her sister. Gabriella won’t hesitate to risk her life to garner justice for the dead.

Gabriella Giovanni’s big Italian-American family can’t understand why she chooses her adrenaline-pumping career as a San Francisco Bay Area newspaper reporter over being married with little bambinos running around. Gabriella spends her days on the crime beat flitting in and out of other people’s nightmares and then walking away unscathed. That’s because for twenty years Gabriella has avoided confronting her own dark childhood memories: her sister’s kidnapping and murder followed by her father’s sudden death three days later. 

But her ability to avoid her past dissolves in an instant when a little girl disappears on the way to the school bus stop. Gabriella’s quest for justice and a front-page story leads her to a convicted kidnapper who reels her in with tales of his exploits as serial kidnapper and murderer and promises to reveal his secrets to her alone. Meanwhile, her passion for her job quickly spirals into obsession when she begins to suspect the kidnapper also killed her sister. When the biggest newspaper in town scoops her on the story, Gabriella begins to believe the fate of her career and the mystery of what happened to her sister both lie in the hands of the kidnapper. When he is sprung from jail on a technicality, Gabriella risks her life to meet with him, hoping to find answers that will help her confront her past and heal her deep psychological wounds.


Kristi Belcamino is a writer, photographer, and Italian mama who also bakes a tasty biscotti.

As an award-winning reporter in California, she flew over Big Sur in an FA-18 jet with the Blue Angels, raced a Dodge Viper at Laguna Seca and watched autopsies. Her first novel, BLESSED ARE THE DEAD, was inspired by her dealings on the crime beat with a serial killer.

SEDITION By Katherine Grant First Chapter!


An unforgettable historical tale of piano playing, passions, and female power

The setting of Sedition by Katharine Grant: London, 1794.

The problem: Four nouveau rich fathers with five marriageable daughters.

The plan: The young women will learn to play the piano, give a concert for young Englishmen who have titles but no fortunes, and will marry very well indeed.

The complications: The lascivious (and French) piano teacher; the piano maker’s jealous (and musically gifted) daughter; the one of these marriageable daughters with a mating plan of her own.

While it might be a truth universally acknowledged that a man in possession of a title and no money must be in want of a fortune, what does a sexually awakened young woman want? In her wickedly alluring romp through the late-Georgian London, Italian piano making, and tightly-fitted Polonaise gowns, Katharine Grant has written a startling and provocative debut.


About this author


Katharine Grant was born into a family described by Lord Burghley, Treasurer to Elizabeth 1st, as of ‘more than usual perversity’ for clinging to their Catholic faith, an act, during the Reformation, of blatant sedition. In 1746 her five times great uncle, Francis Towneley, supported Bonnie Prince Charlie, and, as a result, was the last person in the UK to be hanged, drawn and quartered. His head was spiked on Temple Bar, and thereafter had a series of slightly macabre adventures until final burial after the Second World War.

Katharine grew up on the edge of the Lancashire moors with five sisters and one brother and, sometimes using family stories, has written nine novels for children and young adults. She has written regularly for most newspapers in Scotland and is currently the Royal Literary Fund Writing Fellow at the University of Glasgow. Sedition is her first novel for adults.

She has also published several books for children and young adults under the name K.M. Grant. For more information, see The History Girls: Naming myself, by Katharine Grant.

CLICK BELOW TO READ AN EXCERPT

Whip Smart:Lola Montez and the Poisoned Nom de Plume by Kit Brennan Spotlight and Excerpt!



Whip Smart: The Bodice-Ripper for the Literary Mind
Audacious Historical Figure Cracks Victorian Molds
 
 
The much-anticipated sequel to Whip Smart: Lola Montez Conquers the Spaniards, Kit Brennan’s Whip Smart: Lola Montez and the Poisoned Nom de Plume is finally released by Astor + Blue Editions, (ISBNs: ePUB-9781938231704, ePDF-9781938231711; Historical Fiction/Romance; eBook $6.99; Pub date: February 2014).
 
Brennan’s Whip Smart series is a wild and sexy romp through 19th Century Europe, based on the real-life adventures of the audacious Lola Montez (aka: Eliza Gilbert) as she shreds The Continent, dancing her way into the hearts and bedrooms of brutes and barons. With the brilliance, romance, wit, and humor that Brennan displays in Spaniards, this frothy second in the series picks up again, and the dangerous mystery continues apace.
 
Whip Smart: Lola Montez and the Poisoned Nom de Plume opens in 1844 with the unstoppable, unquenchable, gorgeous, ever-headstrong Lola Montez on the run from haunting memories of Spain and the wild adventure that nearly stole her life.
 
The excitement heats up near Dresden, where Lola encounters celebrated composer Franz Liszt at his concert, and the attraction is instant as he tickles the ivories. However, when their passionate affair must end, Liszt encourages Lola to set her sights on Paris and establish her dancing career. Assisted by famed writer George Sand, Lola does so with a vengeance.  The very night the alluring Lola performs her racy Spider Dance at the Paris Opera, she meets the man of her dreams: the co-owner of La Presse newspaper, and best friend of novelist and playwright Alexandre Dumas (The Three Musketeers and The Count of Monte Cristo).
 
Lola seems on the verge of breaking Victorian tradition and actually having it all, but forces are at work to suppress the dangerous female upstart.  Deadly threats turn into reality, as shadowy figures stop at nothing to sabotage Lola’s new endeavour -- to pen an adventure novel about a smoldering hot female character, cloaked behind a nom de plume.
 
Incandescent Paris nights abound with frenemies in the shape of writers, artists, and courtesans – the risky backdrop to Lola’squest for true love. Can the career of her dreams survive or is Lola simply too whip smart for her own good?   With Victorian sparkle and witty repartee, whip-cracking Lola and her newest adventure will surely bring extra excitement to Whip Smart readers, and new fans.
###
 
The first book in the series,Whip Smart: Lola Montez Conquers the Spaniards, is also available on all devices and e-book store platforms.
 
The third installment, Whip Smart: Lola Montez Starts a Revolution will be published October, 2014.
 
The entire series will be available as an audiobook on Audible.com.
 

 
ABOUT THE AUTHOR
 
Kit Brennan is the author of Whip Smart: The Lola Montez Series — adventure novels based on the real-life story of Lola Montez, a top-notch, notorious bad girl of the Victorian world. Kit’s keen interest in history (especially Victorian) drew her to Lola, one of the most widely-traveled women of her time: Lola Montez Conquers the Spaniards (book one) is set in England and Spain, Lola Montez and the Poisoned Nom de Plume (book two) in France, the upcoming Lola Montez Starts a Revolution(book three) in Germany and Switzerland and Lola Montez Seduces America (book four) in New York, Nicaragua and California.
 
Brennan is an award-winning playwright, and teaches writing and storytelling at Concordia University in Montreal, Quebec. She divides her time between that vibrant city and the quiet lake wilderness of Ontario, alongside her husband, Andrew.
 
 
  
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