S.I.N.G.L.E. (Still in Need of a Good Loving Equivalent)

Jessica Jacobs is a twenty-two-year-old finance major at the University of Washington, whose brief encounters with blind dating have left her a single, cynical woman. When her best friend, Sara, gets dumped by the love of her life on Valentine’s Day, Jessie proposes a pact boycotting all men for the rest of the semester.

But then Jessie meets Graham, a gorgeous, yet respectable gentleman with the body of a Greek god and a heart of gold. Torn between her commitment to the pact and an undeniable attraction towards Graham, Jessie remains guarded and distant, which only makes Graham want her more. As fate intervenes time and time again, Jessie must embrace the inner fear surrounding her heart or risk losing the only man who would never break it.

*May Contain Spoilers*

S.I.N.G.L.E. by Lindsay Marie Miller is the novel equivalent to the saying that as soon as you stop looking for love, it finds you. Or in this case, it runs right into you after you've had coffee thrown all over you. Miller takes a woman who pushes everyone away from her and introduces her to a man who refuses to give up. Sparks and fights fly as readers witness this blossoming romance. 

Jessie, as Jessica likes to be called, doesn't know how to trust people. Her father abandoned her to start a new life with a new wife and a new daughter when she was young. Jessie believes that her father never loved her and transfers those feelings onto any guy she dates. Jessie is stubborn, quick to anger, snappy, and afraid. Meeting Graham, a man who doesn't give up on what he wants, forces Jessie to see how she's hurting herself by not allowing happiness in her life. It's a tough road to travel but she attempts the trek. The good parts of Jessie make up the woman that Graham falls in love with. She's adventurous, loyal, understanding, and a great friend.

Graham is a man who also has a scar from his past. Though it hurts him everyday, he pushes toward the future. He's handsome, loves family, and is just as stubborn as Jessie is. This commonality leads to a lot of bickering between them, which sort of grows old after a while. The beginning of the book and the end of the book are the most interesting parts. The middle involves more fighting than I thought was necessary followed each time by a sexual make up session. The scene becomes a bit repetitive. Besides repetition, Miller uses a lot of foreshadowing to intrigue the reader. She hints at how this roller coaster of a relationship will end, pushing readers to wonder if Jessie and Graham will make it as a couple.

As a side story, Jessie's roommate has just gone through a difficult break-up and is heartbroken. Sara's single status leads her to meeting Sean, Graham's cousin. Miller offers readers another love story to take part in while also witnessing Jessie's personal growth through love and trust. The series of surprises does keep the story interesting as readers hope Jessie can open her heart to Graham. S.I.N.G.L.E. is a book that explores how trust plays into falling in love and how so much happiness can come from it. 

Rating: 3/5 Cups

What's Next, Wednesday (15)

•  To play along share a book you've been looking forward to reading, whether it's new or has been on your reading list for a while.

I'm looking forward to...

Rebecca Tree by Michael Abramson. Election season is upon us! So I'm reading a political thriller full of potential. In this novel, the world is suffering from Global Warming and Rebecca is blackmailed to run for President. Between secrets coming out and assassination attempts, Rebecca must try to fix what has been broken. 

Rex - Cover Reveal

Today is the cover reveal for Rex, by Adam Rocke, Mark Rogers, and Cody B. Stewart.

Title: Rex

Author: AdamRocke, Mark Rogers, Cody B. Stewart

Genre: Middle Grade

Release date:October 5, 2016

Publisher: http://www.commondeerpress.com

--PRESALE PURCHASE AVAILABLE HERE--

Blurb

When eleven-year-old TJ finds a weird looking egg in the Florida Everglades after a tropical storm rips through, naturally he takes it home for identification. It could be the egg of a mutant duck or something, which would be awesome. Problem is, the egg doesn’t look like it came from a mallard, even a mutated one—it’s too big and heavy and…strange. So he hides it away in his closet and continues on with his life as usual, doing his best to ignore the creepy men constantly banging at his front door and the significant rise in military helicopter sightings in his typically quiet neighbourhood.

Then one day he comes home from school and it’s as though a hand grenade has gone off inside his bedroom. Suddenly, TJ knows he’s dealing with something a little more interesting—and a little more deadly—than a duck.

Doesn't this cover promise suspense with a playful nature?

While the color scheme helps make this cover eye-catching for young readers!

About the Authors

Cody B. Stewart

Cody B.Stewart was born in the Adirondacks, in Upstate New York. His love of stories began in those mountains as he vanquished trolls, fought in the American Revolution and discovered his latent mutant powers. Stories have continued to consume his life, but he now plucks them out of his head and puts them down on paper in the form of novels and comic books. He left the Adirondacks to grow into a man, did so, and has since returned with a wonderfully supportive wife and two sons.

Adam Rocke

Adam Rocke never met an adventure he didn’t love. From swimming with great white sharks without a cage, to jumping out of a plane without a parachute, Adam’s adrenaline junkie tendencies play a major role in his writing. Throw in a secondary degree in CryptoZoology and it’s anyone’s guess where Adam’s literary travels will take him.

Mark Rogers

Mark’s career as a travel journalist has broughthim to 56 countries and counting. These trips have fed his imagination while atthe same time provided authentic experiences and sensory detail that find theirway into his novels and screenplays. Mark’s won multiple awards for his travelwriting, including an award for his Hurricane Ivan coverage in Jamaica. Hiswork regularly appears in USA Today and other media outlets. Mark lives in BajaCalifornia with his Sinaloa-born wife, Sophy, where they recently built a rockhouse overlooking the sea.

Now that we've shared this awesome cover, we can't wait to share the book!

See you in October!

www.commondeerpress.com

www.facebook.com/commondeerpress

@AHerdOfDeer

Teaser Tuesday (222)

Teaser Tuesdays is a weekly bookish meme, hosted by MizB of A Daily Rhythm/Books and a Beat. Anyone can play along! Just do the following:
• Grab your current read
• Open to a random page
• Share two (2) “teaser” sentences from somewhere on that page
• BE CAREFUL NOT TO INCLUDE SPOILERS! (make sure that what you share doesn’t give too much away! You don’t want to ruin the book for others!)
• Share the title & author, too, so that other TT participants can add the book to their TBR Lists if they like your teasers



S.I.N.G.L.E. (Still in Need of a Good Loving Equivalent) ( Kindle 20%)
     - Lindsay Marie Miller

"Nothing happened," I barked back. "We went to Dairy Queen, the washing machine exploded, and then he kissed me."

Better in the Morning

Veronica Buccino has a plan: marry John DelMonico and quit her soul-sucking job as a lawyer. And when he tells her he has big news, she’s certain he’ll pop the question. But instead of proposing, John informs her that he’s moving to London.

Heartbroken, Veronica feels lost. Salvatore and Antoinette, her dead grandparents, begin to visit her dreams in an attempt to steer her in the right direction. At their suggestion, Veronica takes a news reporting class, which leads to a challenging freelance assignment covering a conspiracy trial. She also begins dating an unlikely suitor: creative Syd Blackman.

Just when her love life and career are looking up, Veronica is tossed back to square one by an event that makes her question all her new choices.

*May Contain Spoilers*

Another girl who listens to her dreams! Better in the Morning by Fern Ronay was a beautiful story about a woman who's stuck in a job she hates with a boyfriend who doesn't really get her. But things are about to change. Really change. With the help of her deceased grandparents, who speak to her in her dreams, Veronica's life is about to undergo a serious make-over for the better. The process may not be easy but it is definitely entertaining. 

Veronica is ready for real love that lasts a lifetime and she thinks that John will give that to her. But suddenly, he's moving across the globe and she's left with nothing but a job where she is treated like crap. Given, she doesn't love the job so she doesn't really put in the work it would take to succeed. Regardless, her boss and co-worker are a combination of cruel and cold. Veronica is a woman who believes. She has an abundant amount of faith that guides her through life. She may be a little judgmental but she's loving and hopeful. Readers will relate to her career struggles, her fear, and her hopes. She has bills to pay and it's hard to take a leap changing job fields, but she hopes for the best. With humor and dream sequences, Veronica will make it through this. 

My favorite parts of the book were the dream chapters. In these, Veronica gets to hang out with her deceased grandparents who are full of love and laughter. I think these sequences are where readers will really connect with Veronica. They get to read her thoughts by living her dreams with her. The dreams are intimate and important situations that lead Veronica to happiness while helping her leap over the obstacles. 

The plot of Better in the Morning begins with Veronica and her boyfriend breaking up because he's moving to London. She thought he was going to propose and is absolutely heartbroken. Not all readers have been in that exact situation but the experience of a relationship ending is easy to relate to. However, this loss turns into a little push for Veronica. She starts a news-reporting class and even goes on a few dates. Things are looking up until they all fall apart again. Veronica has to fight for her happy ending and readers will enjoy watching her climb out of the chaos. 

Rating: 4/5 Cups

Meet Author Andrew Joyce - Author of Resolution: Huck Finn's Greatest Adventure

My name is Andrew Joyce, and I write books for a living. One morning, about five years ago, I went crazy. I got out of bed, went downstairs, and threw my TV out the window. Then I sat down at the computer and wrote my first short story. I threw it up on a writing site on the Internet just for the hell of it. A few months later I was notified that it was to be included in an anthology of the best short stories of 2011. I even got paid for it! I’ve been writing ever since.

Tracy has been kind enough to allow me a little space on her blog to promote my new book, RESOLUTION: Huck Finn’s Greatest Adventure, so I thought I’d tell you how it came about. It all started way back in 2012 . . .

My first book was a 164,000-word historical novel. And in the publishing world, anything over 80,000 words for a first-time author is heresy. Or so I was told time and time again when I approached an agent for representation. After two years of research and writing, and a year of trying to secure the services of an agent, I got angry. To be told that my efforts were meaningless was somewhat demoralizing to say the least. I mean, those rejections were coming from people who had never even read my book.

“So you want an 80,000-word novel?” I said to no one in particular, unless you count my dog,because he was the only one around at the time. Consequently, I decided to show them City Slickers that I could write an 80,000-word novel!

I had just  finished  reading   Mark Twain’s Huckleberry Finn for the third time, and I started thinking about what ever happened to those boys, Tom and Huck. They must have grown up, but then   what?   So   I   sat   down   at   my   computer   and   banged   out  REDEMPTION:   The   Further Adventures of Huck Finn and Tom Sawyer in two months; then sent out query letters to agents.

Less than a month later, the chairman of one of the biggest agencies in New York City emailed me that he loved the story. We signed a contract and it was off to the races, or so I thought. But then the real fun began: the serious editing. Seven months later, I gave birth to Huck and Tom as adults in the Old West. And just for the record, the final word count is 79,914. The book went onto reach #1 status in its category on Amazon (twice) and won the Editor’s Choice Award for best Western of 2013. The rest, as they say, is history.

But not quite.

My agent then wanted me to write a sequel, but I had other plans. I was in the middle of editing down my first novel (that had been rejected by 1,876,324 agents . . . or so it seemed) from 164,000 words to the present 142,000. However, he was insistent about a sequel, so I started to think about it. Now, one thing you have to understand is that I tied up all the loose ends at the end of REDEMPTION, so there was no way that I could write a sequel. And that is when Molly asked me to tell her story. Molly was a minor character that we met briefly in the first chapter of REDEMPTION, and then she is not heard from again.

So I started to think about what ever happened to her. After a bit of time—and 100,000 words—we find out what did happen to Molly. It is an adventure tale where Huck Finn weaves through the periphery of a story driven by a strong female lead. Molly Lee was my second book, which achieved #2 status on Amazon.

Now I was finished with Huck Finn and Tom Sawyer for good. Now I could go back to my first novel and resume the editing process.

But not quite.

It was then that Huck and Molly ganged up on me and demanded that I resolve their lives once and for all. It seems that I had left them hanging, so to speak. Hence,  RESOLUTION: Huck Finn’s Greatest Adventure. Here is the blurb from the back cover of the book:

There you have it. Now, if you nice people will just go out and buy  RESOLUTION, perhaps Huck and Molly will leave me alone long enough so that I can get some editing done on my first novel.

Thank you for having me over, Tracy It’s been a real pleasure.

- Andrew 

Author Bio:

Andrew Joyce left high school at seventeen to hitchhike throughout the US, Canada, and Mexico. He wouldn’t return from his journey until decades later when he decided to become a writer. Joyce has written four books, including a two-volume collection of one hundred and forty short stories comprised of his hitching adventures called BEDTIME STORIES FOR GROWN-UPS (as yet unpublished), and his latest novel, RESOLUTION. He now lives aboard a boat in Fort Lauderdale, Florida, with his dog, Danny, where he is busy working on his next book, YELLOW HAIR.

Buy Resolution on:

Amazon / Barnes & Noble / iTunes

What's Next, Wednesday (14)

•  To play along share a book you've been looking forward to reading, whether it's new or has been on your reading list for a while.

I'm looking forward to...

S.I.N.G.L.E. (Still in Need of a Good Loving Equivalent) by Lindsay Marie Miller. The first thing that happens after making a pact is temptation to break it. This story is about Jessica and her self-promise to steer clear of men, at least for the time being. And there's Graham, the temptation. This novel seems like it's going to be a fun, romantic, easy read and I can't wait to start on it.

Teaser Tuesday (221)

Teaser Tuesdays is a weekly bookish meme, hosted by MizB of A Daily Rhythm/Books and a Beat. Anyone can play along! Just do the following:
• Grab your current read
• Open to a random page
• Share two (2) “teaser” sentences from somewhere on that page
• BE CAREFUL NOT TO INCLUDE SPOILERS! (make sure that what you share doesn’t give too much away! You don’t want to ruin the book for others!)
• Share the title & author, too, so that other TT participants can add the book to their TBR Lists if they like your teasers




Better in the Morning (Kindle 15%)
   - Fern Ronay

"Baby steps, Veronica. You have to stop thinking you're stuck and do some things you're afraid of."

Indiana Belle (American Journey #3)

Providence, Rhode Island, 2017. When doctoral student Cameron Coelho, 28, opens a package from Indiana, he finds more than private papers that will help him with his dissertation. He finds a photograph of a beautiful society editor murdered in 1925 and clues to a century-old mystery. Within days, he meets Geoffrey Bell, the "time-travel professor," and begins an unlikely journey through the Roaring Twenties. Filled with history, romance, and intrigue, INDIANA BELLE follows a lonely soul on the adventure of a lifetime as he searches for love and answers in the age of Prohibition, flappers, and jazz.

*May Contain Spoilers*

For the first time in the American Journey series, Geoffrey Bell has someone come to him about time travel in this third book, Indiana Belle by John A. Heldt. Someone who promises to help him gain more crystals and learn the location of the original time travelling cave. Yet, someone who can't promise to leave the past alone. 

Cameron Coelho is a twenty-first century man with nothing but his dissertation studies and his former girlfriend's father as a friend. It isn't the worst life, but it isn't the best either. When Cameron comes across a diary that speaks of time travel and a photo of a murdered woman, he goes all in. In doing so, Cameron became the man he was supposed to be. Readers will enjoy Cameron's character. He's passionate, caring, loving, intelligent, and a gentleman. The main connection between readers and Cameron will be his uncertainty about letting an innocent woman die... again. Readers will either think he should leave it be so he doesn't mess up the future or they'll think he should save her and take his chances. I rooted for saving her. Candice Bell is a humorous, talented journalist who loves adventure and spicing things up. 

Indiana Belle was an enjoyable novel. Evansville, Indiana provided a good even footed setting with enough good and bad to keep the story interesting. There was a nice twist at the end, which I found surprising. Though the idea had fluttered through my head, I didn't expect it. Also, this was the first time any of the characters had traveled to the future. I thought that was a nice enhancement, though it was freaky, as it should be I suppose. I wonder now if that's how the author imagines the future to be. It would be interesting to analyze it more thoroughly to see what current events may have influenced the description of the future. Heldt is a writer who is easy to read and easy to understand. Perfect for light summer reading. As a lover of time travel novels, I recommend this to anyone else who enjoys the genre. 

Rating: 3/5 Cups

Behind on the series? Read the reviews for books one and two!

     

What's Next, Wednesday (13)

•  To play along share a book you've been looking forward to reading, whether it's new or has been on your reading list for a while.

I'm looking forward to...

Better in the Morning by Fern Ronay. Just when Veronica thinks she's going to get exactly what she wants: to quit her job and marry her dream-guy, he announces he's moving. All of a sudden she's alone. But her dreams push her to a new career path and maybe a new guy. I'm excited about this one because it seems it will be a quick, easy, wonderful, entertaining novel. 

Teaser Tuesday (220)

Teaser Tuesdays is a weekly bookish meme, hosted by MizB of A Daily Rhythm/Books and a Beat. Anyone can play along! Just do the following:
• Grab your current read
• Open to a random page
• Share two (2) “teaser” sentences from somewhere on that page
• BE CAREFUL NOT TO INCLUDE SPOILERS! (make sure that what you share doesn’t give too much away! You don’t want to ruin the book for others!)
• Share the title & author, too, so that other TT participants can add the book to their TBR Lists if they like your teasers



Indiana Belle (Kindle 26%)
   - John A. Heldt

A black, shifting, formless mass, the Tri-State Tornado, was just beyond the river and approaching fast. The most violent twister in recorded history was perhaps a minute away from sending three people to their maker.

The A to Z of Normal

Clare Thorpe’s need for order and symmetry governs everything she owns – from tins and toiletries, to cushions and clothes.
Yet she has always managed to hide the compulsions dominating her world. Until now.
When long-distance boyfriend Tom proposes, her secret life begins to unravel. How can she share a future with the man she loves, if she can’t even share her space?
And when the only way forward brings a threat greater than any compulsive behaviour, do they have a future together at all?
A poignant and humorous story of love, family, secrets…and military precision.

*May Contain Spoilers*

Helen Barbour takes readers inside the life of a woman plagued with Obsessive-Compulsive Disorder who desperately wants to find peace in her novel, The A to Z of Normal. It takes Clare hours to perfect her home and now that she's engaged, she doesn't want problems popping up in her relationship. So Clare decides to take control of her controlling OCD and try to muss it up a bit. 

Clare is a really nice, likeable character. The story focuses solely on her so readers get the in-depth look into her world with OCD. It's easy to see that living with this disorder is an everyday struggle. Readers will connect with Clare empathetically as well as sympathetically, but there's also her personality outside of the controlled realm that readers will see and like. She worries about her father, her sister, her niece and nephew. Clare's a fantastic Auntie who spends real, quality time with her niece and nephew. Clare is also loving, friendly, and a bit naive. The OCD doesn't define her and Clare learns that when she tries to overcome it. The only thing I didn't like about Clare was the cheating incident ... and then the lying incident. I don't think it's right that she failed to tell Tom about it, but I also don't think it's right that another character basically tricked Clare into thinking her relationship with Tom was over. It's a catch-22 situation, but I think Clare should have come clean. 

The A to Z of Normal is a well written novel with humor, love, acceptance, and strength. I really enjoyed the dialect that Barbour used for this novel. It was fun to read the British-English terms in the dialogue and the narrative. The plot was pretty well laid out, Clare and Tom get engaged at the beginning causing Clare to realize that she has to work on her OCD if they're ever going to live together happily ever after. Throw a couple of wrenches into that simple plan and readers will enjoy the bumpy ride. I'm sure this novel could help those living with OCD to know they aren't alone, but it's also a book for people who are interested in understanding OCD a bit better while being entertained with a love story. 

Rating: 4/5 Cups

What's Next, Wednesday (12)

•  To play along share a book you've been looking forward to reading, whether it's new or has been on your reading list for a while.

I'm looking forward to...

Indiana Belle by John Heldt. This is the third book in the American Journey series and it's time for another trip into the past. Time travel novels always excite me because history gets a chance to come to life in a way that doesn't bore me for a single moment. In this installment, one man goes back to the 1920s to save a woman from being murdered... I mean to solve a woman's murder. 

Teaser Tuesday (219)

Teaser Tuesdays is a weekly bookish meme, hosted by MizB of A Daily Rhythm/Books and a Beat. Anyone can play along! Just do the following:
• Grab your current read
• Open to a random page
• Share two (2) “teaser” sentences from somewhere on that page
• BE CAREFUL NOT TO INCLUDE SPOILERS! (make sure that what you share doesn’t give too much away! You don’t want to ruin the book for others!)
• Share the title & author, too, so that other TT participants can add the book to their TBR Lists if they like your teasers



The A to Z of Normal (Kindle 3%)
   - Helen Barbour

This is how it would be if I lived here: a constant battle between my order and Tom's mess.
The battle would have to remain a secret one, though. I could never share with Tom the unwritten rules that govern my life.

Killer Potential

Seventeen-year-old Yvette doesn’t know what’s worse: being locked up on a high security psych ward for a crime she’s not sure she committed, or having to see the vacant eyes of her fellow patients.

All she wants is her sister back, her parents to get a clue, her brother to quit dealing drugs, the murder trial to be over, and most of all, to be reunited with the pretty little pills that change the gory red on her hands to a much more pleasant hazy blue.

Well that and serious, hard-core, merciless revenge.

*May Contain Spoilers*

Aften Brook Szymanski surprises readers with possibilities in her novel, Killer Potential. Yvette has had an undoubtedly hard time growing up. Her father is always busy, her mother doesn't seem to care, and she has trouble getting along with her foster siblings. Meanwhile her older sister is too absorbed with skipping class and her little brother... that blood isn't thicker than anything. 

But is that the background of a killer? A seventeen year old murderer? Potentially. 

Yvette is depicted in two time frames within this novel: the past and the present. The past tells the story of moving around a lot, her dad trying to keep a paying job. Yvette's mother is depressed, struggling to raise her three children and make money by taking care of foster children. Throughout this, Yvette didn't get a lot of attention. She was the tattle tale, trying to keep everything in order. She didn't like to get in trouble or step out of line. That didn't make her foster siblings too keen to be nice to her. 

With the past, readers see how lonely Yvette was as a little girl, and how much she wanted to be close with her older sister. The past moves quicker than the present and soon Yvette is teen. She's experienced fear, loss, and confusion. Her mother is too interested in taking medicine to make the pain go away than getting out of bed, while her dad is still constantly gone. But as the past draws closer and closer to the present, the closer the truth is to coming out. The truth behind Yvette's current living situation in a maximum security psych ward. 

In the present, Yvette is suffering. She's in a psych ward for a murder she may or may not have committed. She's completely dependent on pills because they help her escape what happened for a little while. What's interesting is that it seems every time Yvette takes a pill, that's when the past comes back and reveals a little more about what's going on to the reader. Yvette is a terrifying girl in the present. She's manipulative, depressed, and rude. 

The contrast between the past and present is intriguing because the reader has to figure out how Yvette got to this point and Yvette isn't a very reliable narrator. That unreliability causes readers to second guess what they're being told and shown. But that's also what makes this novel so entertaining to read, the reader gets to make assumptions and guesses that may or may not be true by the end of the novel. And readers have no idea what exactly happened until the final few chapters. Also, as a  young adult novel, it traverses dangerous territory. It talks about self-harm, drug use, drug overdose, drug dealing, and rape, among other things. Killer Potential isn't for everyone, but it is an entertaining novel with mystery, intrigue, and a character with the potential to be a killer.

Rating: 3.5/5 Cups

...

Happy Fourth of July!

I hope everyone celebrating has a wonderful holiday.