However, my son said to me, “Don’t you know, Mom, that God wouldn’t have made you a writer if he didn’t think you could do it.” Okay, so how do you quit after that? You don’t! I didn’t. I went on to write Murder Uncorked and got an agent and within two weeks had a three book deal with Penguin. I wound up selling nine books with them. After six years of writing for them, I ventured off into the world of Indie publishing and have never looked back.

I am writing under a pen name for my thrillers because they are so different from my mysteries. They are a separate “brand”. This way a reader doesn’t get confused when they download a Michele Scott book versus an A.K. Alexander book.

I was wondering who else is using pen names out there and if so, what is your reasoning? If you’re not a writer, does it matter to you as long as you know what the book is about, or does it help you to be able to recognize which name delineates the type of book you will be reading? Do you think it’s a good idea?

Thank You!

Cheers,
Michele

ABOUT THE AUTHOR…I started writing when I was nine-years-old. I used to write short stories on my dad’s notepads. One day he read one and he said to me, “You are a writer.” It stuck. My dad is still my biggest supporter and he is also my mentor in many ways. I went to college at The University of Southern California. My parents though didn’t think that “creative writing” at USC was a major that would likely be lucrative in the long run, so I figured I would be logical and look at writing in the journalistic field. God (the Universe), etc. had a different plan for me. Soon after I graduated from USC I gave birth to my first son. He was six weeks premature and he had some health issues, which caused me to decide that going into a career at that time would not benefit my son. So, I stayed home with him and I wrote my first book. That first book is tucked away in a box somewhere because it’s pretty darn bad, but it gave me the confidence I needed to know that I could start, write, and finish a book. From that point on, it took me twelve years to become a published author and several manuscripts. It has been a wonderful and amazing process, and although many challenges have presented themselves along the way, I have never quit writing. It is my passion!

My other passion is Horses. These amazing animals are very dear to my heart and I have been known to take in “strays.” My daughter and I are very active in the horse world. My daughter is involved in pony club and three day eventing.

I enjoy work with other writers when I can , especially kids. I designed a program for young writers to help them learn how to write short stories and picture books to writing complete novellas for older kids. I have mentored several students now and it’s a joyful experience to see young writers and their creative minds at work. It is something I am working on expanding with some local teachers in my area.

Family and friends are extremely important to me. I am the proud mother of three amazing kids who have always supported me and are just great, awesome human beings (yes, I know I sound like every mother in the world about their kids, but I really mean it). My husband is my best friend and a very patient man, which is a real positive—he is married to a writer after all. We also have three dogs, a kitty, and eight horses.

When not writing, riding, or being a taxi-cab driver for my youngest, I try to find time to do a little yoga, meditate or cooking. I love cookbooks and cooking!

A.K.’s recent release is Daddy’s Home. You can visit her website at www.michelescott.com/books/ak-alexander.

A KILLER STALKS HIS PREY…
A calculating and deadly killer is in search for what he terms as his perfect family. Preying upon single mothers and their innocent children, the police have dubbed him “The Family Man.”

HE WATCHES THEM…HE TAKES THEM…
He plays out his role as the perfect father. When things don’t go so perfect in his insane fantasy world, the family man kills.

HOLLY JENNINGS IS ON THE CASE…
Crime Scene Investigator Holly Jennings of the San Diego Police Department is determined to track him down and see that justice is served. With Holly being a single mother herself, this man’s crimes are deeply personal to her, and turn more so when a friend and her daughter become the latest victims of “The Family Man.”

Along with tracking an evil killer, Holly is dealing with her own internal demons. She is raising her daughter Chloe alone after the death of her husband–a death she feels guilty for.

To complicate her life further, Holly is doing her best to avoid possibly falling in love again with charming veterinarian Brendan O’Neil. As Holly delves deeper into solving the murders, she finds herself being sucked into a game of cat and mouse by “The Family Man,” that may lead her down a dark path too horrible to bear. One that may cost her gravely-her family, her new found love, and even her life.

• File Size: 421 KB
• Print Length: 282 pages
• Page Numbers Source ISBN: 1456332015

BUY THE BOOK… Amazon Kindle

THE BOOK FAERY REVIEWS…Thanks to Michele Scott through the Pump Up Your Book Tour, we’re giving away ONE copy of DADDY’S HANDS to a lucky reader.

Pump Up Your Book Promotion is currently running a virtual book blog tour with the author. You can find out more information here.

• Paperback: 438 pages
• Publisher: Story Plant, The (March 27, 2012)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 1611880343
• ISBN-13: 978-1611880342

ABOUT THE AUTHOR…Mark Gilleo holds a graduate degree in international business from the University of South Carolina and an undergraduate degree in business from George Mason University. He enjoys traveling, has lived and worked in Asia, and speaks fluent Japanese. A fourth-generation Washingtonian, he currently resides in the D.C. area. His two most recent novels were recognized as finalist and semifinalist, respectively, in the William Faulkner-Wisdom Creative writing competition. The Story Plant will publish his next novel, SWEAT in 2012.

AUTHOR SITES:   Love Thy Neighbor page    www.thestoryplant.com

The investigation is complicated by the fact that Stanley wasn’t a nice guy.  His assistant, Tracy, provides a list of people who had reason to kill him.  The list includes a fashion designer ex-wife, a business partner, his mistress’s husband, an assistant, and their very own boss the Chief of Police.

The only evidence they have to go on is a missing cell phone, a stolen book, the victim’s letter opener, and an ugly pair of Alpaca wool mittens.

Join Catherine and Louise as they sort out the clues in A Grand Murder.

• Paperback: 224 pages
• Publisher: Before The Fall Books (August 9, 2011)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0983713707
• ISBN-13: 978-0983713708

ABOUT THE AUTHOR…Stacy Verdick Case was born in Willmar, Minnesota.  After a brief stint as a military brat, where she lived in Fort Sill Oklahoma and Fort Campbell, Kentucky, her family moved back to Minnesota.

Stacy currently lives in a suburb of St. Paul with her husband and her daughter.  Her Catherine O’Brien mystery, A Grand Murder, is available from Before the Fall Books.  Her second Catherine O’Brien mystery Murder is a Family Affair, will be released shortly.  Stacy is hard at work on her third book in the series.

FOLLOW THE AUTHOR… Website | Twitter | Blog | Facebook | Goodreads

FROM THE BOOK FAERY REVIEWS MOM…Very fun and enjoyable thriller to read. A great quick one day read that will have you sleuthing along with Catherine to figure out who did it. {Big smiles from mom.}

If you haven’t read it yet, be sure to read the author’s interview with her the one and only Catherine O’Brien. You should read it and see what types of things an author likes to talk about with their characters.

A book was ONLY provided in exchange for an honest review as part of the Partners In Crime tours.

After the first suspicious death, the captain and his crew are grimly determined to carry on as usual. Disgusted with their inaction, Sidney decides to take matters into her own hands and launch her own investigation. She enlists the halfhearted help of her friend and business partner, the flamboyant and fun-loving Jay Wilson. Suspects abound. What about those two handsome young men who stay mysteriously aloof? One of them has his eye on Sidney. So does another passenger, far too charming and again too young to fit the “High Stepper” mold. Then there’s Captain Vargos, the arrogant ladies’ man whose plans to thwart Sidney’s investigation might include seduction.

Who is that crew member shadowing Sidney? Is the theater really haunted? Even the High Steppers themselves are not as predictable or harmless as they seem. The closer Sydney gets to the truth, the less she understands. ShoreExcursion is the first book in a new mystery series featuring amateur sleuth Sidney Marsh.

• Paperback: 230 pages
• Publisher: Camel Press (April 1, 2012)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 160381874X
• ISBN-13: 978-1603818742

ABOUT THE AUTHOR…Shore Excursion is Marie Moore’s first novel, but not her first writing experience, and like Sidney Marsh, she is a native Mississippian. She graduated from Ole Miss, married a lawyer in her hometown, taught junior high science, raised a family, and worked for a small weekly newspaper, first as a writer and later as Managing Editor. She wrote hard news, features and a weekly column, sold ads, did interviews, took photos, and won a couple of MS Press Association awards for some of her stories.

In 1985, Marie left the newspaper to open a retail travel agency. She completed agency and computer training with Airlines Reporting Corporation, Delta Airlines and TWA, earned her CTC (Certified Travel Counselor) designation, and joined the American Society of Travel Agents (ASTA), International Air Transport Association (IATA), and Cruise Lines International Association (CLIA). For the next 15 years, she managed her agency, sold travel, escorted group tours, sailed on 19 cruises, and visited over 60 countries. Much of the background of Shore Excursion comes from that experience.

Marie also did location scouting and worked as the local contact for several feature films, including Heart of Dixie, The Gun in Betty Lou’s Handbag, and Robert Altman’s Cookie’s Fortune.

In mid-1999, because of her husband’s work, Marie sold the travel agency and moved to Jackson, MS, then New York City, Anna Maria Island, FL, and Arlington, VA. She and her husband now live in Memphis, TN and Holly Springs, MS.

Marie is a member of Sisters in Crime.

Marie Moore’s web site | Shore Excursion blog tour site

FROM THE BOOK FAERY REVIEWS…As a former travel agent, I have to say Marie Moore knew her stuff and made the setting just perfect as if we were on that very cruise ship. An enjoyable mystery read that I believe will appeal to others who like a good mystery. And just like a good mystery/thriller, there’s a twist in the plot that will keep you guessing until the end.

I received a copy in exchange ONLY for an honest review.

My first novel, From the Ashes, is a thriller set primarily in New York City. Because the city itself is a very integral part of the novel, extensive location scouting and site research was necessary to create the level of detail and verisimilitude that the story demanded. I was blessed with the opportunity to take several research trips to New York not only to visit the key locations where the novel’s secrets would be revealed, but also to discover unique details that I couldn’t glean from photographs or travelogues. If my characters were going to experience something, I wanted – as much as possible – to experience it as well. From minute yet important details about famous monuments, to the routes that my characters would take through a park or Midtown Manhattan while being chased by assailants, I got to see the world through my characters’ eyes, and, in doing so, I could envision what they would do, what they would need to react to, where they would go, and what they would experience in real-time, five-senses immersion. At one point in the story, one of my characters climbs on a world-famous Manhattan monument. Wanting to see what he would see, I did the same. Not only was I able to see what my character would discover – something that, without having climbed up there, I would not have been able to see – but I was also surprised to find that none of the many passersby paid any attention to my climbing on the monument, a surprising detail that I have my character reflect on when the same thing happens to him.

Though much of writing is conducted in a study, office, or other writing sanctuary, there’s something truly magical about the creative process when you are physically exploring the locations that your characters will inhabit. From being inspired by international vacations and everyday travels to seeing a particular site through your characters’ eyes, leaving the lonely cloister of your writing workshop and venturing out into the physical realms where your stories will be set is one of the most fully inspirational experiences as a writer for me, and it’s one reason that, as much as I love exploring and discovering new places and the creative possibilities they hold, I will never run out of stories to write.

ABOUT THE AUTHOR…An avid reader since the age of three, Jeremy Burns was devouring novels by the time other children his age were still learning their ABCs. Blessed (and, at times, cursed) with a decidedly active imagination and an insatiable curiosity for nearly everything, Jeremy made learning and storytelling two of his chief passions. After earning his degree in History from Florida State University, Jeremy accepted a position teaching literature, creative writing, political science, and philosophy at an international school in Dubai. Like the characters in his books, Jeremy is an intrepid explorer whose own adventures have taken him from Mayan ruins in the Yucatan to the pyramids of Egypt, from medieval castles across Europe to the jungles of Bangladesh, and beyond. To date, Jeremy has traveled to more than twenty countries across four continents, seeking adventure, discovery, and ideas for future novels. When not exploring a new corner of the globe, Jeremy lives in Florida, where he is working on his next thrilling novel.  For more info on Jeremy and his upcoming projects, visit www.AuthorJeremyBurns.com and www.facebook.com/JeremyBurnsBooks. 

A DEADLY CONSPIRACY

Graduate students Jonathan and Michael Rickner, sons of eminent archaeologist Sir William Rickner, are no strangers to historical mysteries and archaeological adventures.  But when Michael is discovered dead in his Washington, D.C. apartment, Jon refuses to believe the official ruling of suicide.  Digging deeper into his brother’s work, he discovers evidence that Michael was murdered to keep his dissertation research buried.

A DEVASTATING NATIONAL SECRET

Joined by Michael’s fiancée Mara Ellison, Jon travels to New York where he uncovers the threads of a deadly Depression-era conspiracy – one entangling the Hoover Administration, the Rockefellers, and the rise of Nazi Germany – and the elite cadre of assassins that still guard its unspeakable secret.

THE LABYRINTHINE PATH TO THE TRUTH

Finding themselves in the crosshairs of the same men who killed Michael, Jon and Mara must navigate a complex web of historical cover-ups and modern-day subterfuge, outwitting and outrunning their all-powerful pursuers as they race through the monuments and museums of Manhattan in a labyrinthine treasure hunt to discover the last secret of John D. Rockefeller, Jr., before their enemies can bury the truth – and them – forever.

• Paperback: 394 pages
• Publisher: Fiction Std (January 17, 2012)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 1936558327
• ISBN-13: 978-1936558322

BUY THE BOOK… Amazon.com (trade paperback or Kindle) | Amazon.co.uk (trade paperback or Kindle) | Barnes and Noble (trade paperback or Nook) | Apple’s iBooks Store | Sony’s Reader Store

Let’s now check out how her interview went…

……………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………

I’m so happy to have a chance to sit down and talk to Catherine O’Brien, the St. Paul, Minnesota Homicide Detective who, along with her partner Louise, just wrapped up, an extraordinary case. 

Stacy: Hi Catherine, Thank you for taking the time to answer a few questions for everyone today.

Catherine: No problem.

S: Tell us a little about yourself.

C: What do you want to know?

S: How long have you been a police officer for starters? 

C: For ten years. I started in patrol and worked my way into homicide.

S: What made you want to be  a police officer?

C: An overweening need for justice. I think I read to many Justice League Comics growing up.

S: Your partner Louise says you have an Elliot Ness complex.

C: Of course she does. (Rolls eyes) What cop doesn’t secretly dream of taking down the mob? In the cold gray light of morning, Louise dreams of a bust like that too.

S: Louise told us a little about you, tell us a little about her.

C: Louise is possible the worst driver on the planet, and I’m not kidding about that. I call her Prius the Chariot of Death. She’s incredible talk, which makes me feel like a hobbit by comparison. She’s also really smart. As a package she’s annoying. I mean tall, pretty, smart, couldn’t she have a hunchback or something to even it out? But she’s the only person, besides my husband, who can tolerate me for any length of time, so I can’t complain.

S: Tell us about your husband Gavin. 

C: He’s hot. I’m not even sure why he’s with me. Louise reminds me all the time that he’s too good for me, and she’s right.

S: How does he feel about your career?

C: He hates the days when there’s danger, which is understandable. It causes some conflict between us, but we work it out in the end.

S: You’ve implied that Randy (Digs) Ray has a crush on your partner Louise.

C: No, I don’t imply. It’s a fact that anyone can see. Blind people in outer space can see it every time he’s in the same room with Louise. Louise is the only person who doesn’t see it and I think she’s lying, or being coy, though I’ve never known her to be coy.

S: Tell us about this case you just wrapped up.

C: It was just another day on the job. I still don’t see what all the fuss is about.

S: Well, the victim was rather high profile. 

C: Yeah, Nathan Stanley was a successful business owner, but I think the real reason everyone was so interested in this case is because he was friends with every big shot in town. Plus the sex and the blackmail. That always gets people’s juices flowing. I’m sure that’s what caught the attention of the media.

S: Your partner Louise was shot during this investigation?

C: Yes, and we’re never going to hear the end of it. I swear she’s such a baby about this. I’ve been shot three times and it’s not fun but you deal with it and move on.

S: So what’s next for you? 

C: I’m being forced to go on vacation.

S: Most people like vacations.

C: Well, most people are the poster child for traveler’s aide. Every vacation I have is a complete disaster. But Gavin really wants to spend some time together, and I can’t work right now anyway, so we’re off to the lake. Just saying that made me a little nauseous.

S: Good luck on your vacation!

C: Thanks.

ABOUT THE AUTHOR…Stacy Verdick Case was born in Willmar, Minnesota.  After a brief stint as a military brat, where she lived in Fort Sill Oklahoma and Fort Campbell, Kentucky, her family moved back to Minnesota.

Stacy currently lives in a suburb of St. Paul with her husband and her daughter.  Her Catherine O’Brien mystery, A Grand Murder, is available from Before the Fall Books.  Her second Catherine O’Brien mystery Murder is a Family Affair, will be released shortly.  Stacy is hard at work on her third book in the series.

FOLLOW THE AUTHOR… Website | Twitter | Blog | Facebook | Goodreads

Prominent businessman, and friend of the chief of police, Nathan Stanley is stabbed on the frontsteps of his Grand Avenue Hill home. Catherine O’Brien and her partner Louise Montgomery are tasked with figuring out who-done-it, in two days or less.

The investigation is complicated by the fact that Stanley wasn’t a nice guy.  His assistant, Tracy, provides a list of people who had reason to kill him.  The list includes a fashion designer ex-wife, a business partner, his mistress’s husband, an assistant, and their very own boss the Chief of Police.

The only evidence they have to go on is a missing cell phone, a stolen book, the victim’s letter opener, and an ugly pair of Alpaca wool mittens.

Join Catherine and Louise as they sort out the clues in A Grand Murder.

• Paperback: 224 pages
• Publisher: Before The Fall Books (August 9, 2011)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0983713707
• ISBN-13: 978-0983713708

  

GUERLAIN – LAVANDE

Guerlain created this soliflore in the 1840s… over 170 years ago! It was reprised again in the 1920′s but was no longer produced beyond WWII. Anything but a ‘typical’ Lavender scent, Lavande has a complex backbone of shimmering citruses, lavender, tumbling florals, vetiver and darker, mossy accords. It is distinctly Guerlain in it’s approach as more of an ‘abstract’ of Lavander than a literal interpretation. Its deeply aromatic heart and exceptionally mossy base are unparalleled in modern perfumery, making it a regrettable loss to the annals of perfume history.

ABOUT THE AUTHOR…M.J. Rose is the international best selling author of eleven novels and two non-fiction books on marketing. Her next novel THE BOOK OF LOST FRAGRANCES (Atria/S&S) will be published in March 2012.  Her fiction and non-fiction has appeared in many magazines and reviews including Oprah Magazine. She has been featured in the New York Times, Newsweek, Time, USA Today and on the Today Show, and NPR radio.  Rose graduated from Syracuse University, spent the ’80s in advertising, has a commercial in the Museum of Modern Art in NYC and since 2005 has run the first marketing company for authors - Authorbuzz.com.  The television series PAST LIFE, was based on Rose’s novels in the Renincarnationist series. She is one of the founding board members of International Thriller Writers and runs the blog- Buzz, Balls & Hype.  She is also the co-founder of Peroozal.com and BookTrib.com.

Rose lives in CT with her husband the musician and composer, Doug Scofield, and their very spoiled and often photographed dog, Winka.

For more information on M.J. Rose and her novels, please visit her WEBSITE. You can also find her on Facebook.

A sweeping and suspenseful tale of secrets, intrigue, and lovers separated by time, all connected through the mystical qualities of a perfume created in the days of Cleopatra–and lost for 2,000 years.

Jac L’Etoile has always been haunted by the past, her memories infused with the exotic scents that she grew up surrounded by as the heir to a storied French perfume company. In order to flee the pain of those remembrances–and of her mother’s suicide–she moved to America. Now, fourteen years later she and her brother have inherited the company along with it’s financial problems. But when Robbie hints at an earth-shattering discovery in the family archives and then suddenly goes missing–leaving a dead body in his wake–Jac is plunged into a world she thought she’d left behind.

Back in Paris to investigate her brother’s disappearance, Jac becomes haunted by the legend the House of L’Etoile has been espousing since 1799. Is there a scent that can unlock the mystery of reincarnation – or is it just another dream infused perfume?

The Book of Lost Fragrances fuses history, passion, and suspense, moving from Cleopatra’s Egypt and the terrors of revolutionary France to Tibet’s battle with China and the glamour of modern-day Paris. Jac’s quest for the ancient perfume someone is willing to kill for becomes the key to understanding her own troubled past.

• Hardcover: 384 pages
• Publisher: Atria Books (March 13, 2012)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 1451621302
• ISBN-13: 978-1451621303

PRE-ORDER NOW for March 23rd release:

I received an e-copy in exchange for an honest review as part of Historical Fiction Virtual Book Tours.

Here’s her reply…

This is a tough one to answer. I write suspense and my characters are often in precarious, unenviable positions. If I knew I was going to trade places with one of them, I’d write about a woman living on a tropical island, surrounded by books and music, with no worries aside from which flavor ice cream to eat. Of course, that would make for a boring story.

Of all my characters, I’d pick Lucianna Martel from my novel Hit List. She’s a private investigator, working the strangest case of her career. Ian McCormick’s mother Corinne has gone from sane to crazy in the space of a weekend. Ian hires Lucianna to find out what happened to her. Suddenly, Lucianna finds herself attempting to trace the routes of insanity.

Lucianna is smart, independent and tough. She’s also sexy and has a great sense of humor. I love her Uncle Vinnie, who is Lucianna’s secretary, backup and enforcer. In the midst of this complicated investigation, Lucianna falls in love. She’s not too happy about this predicament. The idea of being in love has her more rattled than the guns firing at her.

Lucianna and I share some traits. She’s vegan and I’m vegetarian. This means I could live her life for a day without being subjected to dinner at a steakhouse. We also share a love of animals and music. I couldn’t trade places with a character that hates animals or had never heard Eric Clapton play guitar.

Though we do have things in common, our differences are vast. She hasn’t been married, has no children. She’s an extravert, while I’m a total introvert. Her legs are long and thin, mine are short and fat gravitates to my thighs. The world is a different place through her eyes. Her life is travel, crime, guns, dating, and the sort of independence I never experienced. Lucianna is the kind of badass woman I’d like to be for a day.

At the end of those 24-hours, I’d be too exhausted to do more than sit on the couch in my pajamas, surrounded by my three dogs and holding a good book. My life does have advantages.

ABOUT THE AUTHOR…Darcia Helle lives in a fictional world with a husband who is sometimes real. Their house is ruled by spoiled dogs and cats and the occasional dust bunny. Suspense, random blood splatter and mismatched socks consume Darcia’s days. She writes because the characters trespassing through her mind leave her no alternative. Only then are the voices free to haunt someone else’s mind.

Find and follow Darcia Helle on: Author Website | Author Blog | Other Website | Twitter | Goodreads | Facebook

Max Paddington refuses to go into the light until he finds his killer. This presents a dilemma, since Max is even less competent as a spirit than he was as a live person. No one sees or hears him and he can’t manage to get anywhere or do anything on his own.Joe Cavelli is a private investigator, living an ordinary life. Then one day he walks across a parking lot, gets yelled at by a ghost, and his life only gets stranger from there.Max and Joe team up to find Max’s killer. In the process, they form an unlikely friendship and change each other’s lives in ways they never expected.

• Genre: Young Adult (YA) Fiction - Contemporary/Paranormal Mystery
• Published by: Createspace (July 14, 2011)
• Age Recommendation: 12 years of age & up
• Format: eBook & Trade Paperback
• ISBN13: 978-1463640200
• Number of pages: 250

Buy the book at: Amazon.com | Amazon.ca | Amazon.co.uk | Barnes & Noble | Author’s Website | Smashwords | Sony – Reader Store | Diesel | Kobo

 

 

Into The Light by Darcia Helle – NURTURE Book Tour Schedule:

February 27th – Jaidis S. @ Juniper Grove
February 27th – Farrah K. @ The Book Faery Reviews
February 28th – Grace L. @  Books Like Breathing
February 28th – Hywela L. @ Hywela Lyn: Romance That’s ‘Out Of This World’
February 29th – Miranda Wh. @ Ricochet Reviews
March 1st – Inga K. @ Me And Reading
March 2nd – Melissa Kr. @ Melissa’s Eclectic Bookshelf
March 2nd – Laurie J. @ Laurie’s Thoughts & Reviews

• Format:Kindle Edition
• File Size: 440 KB
• Publisher: Levanter Publishing (December 15, 2011)

ABOUT THE AUTHOR…Lois Brown received her bachelor’s degree in journalism and worked as a news correspondent in Washington, D.C. She later completed a Master’s degree in communications and started her own freelance business.

She has written nearly fifty articles and books, many of which are about nutrition and the use of natural food supplements. She worked as the chief editor to former New York Times best-selling author Dr. Neil Solomon, and she co-wrote a book on time management with former Miss America Sharlene Wells Hawkes.

In 2004 she published a book with psychologist Victoria Anderson catered to Mormons about how to better manage stress and anxiety.

Two years ago she turned her interests to writing fiction for all ages. Currently she is publishing a collection of short stories about treasure hunting.

FROM THE BOOK FAERY REVIEWS…TOTALLY not what I expected. PLEASANTLY surprised and CAN’T WAIT to read the next in the series. Who would have thought I would not have been able to put down another young adult fiction within the same week?! I seriously was impressed that I could not stop reading until I was done, and surprising to me I could really connect with 13 year old Renee, but then again, she did have an old soul. I was constantly on the edge wondering what was going to happen next to Renee, her neighbor doctor, and her best friend Sam with nearly every chapter!  I was totally thrown off when the story unfolded its pieces because I don’t believe one piece was what I really expected it was going to be…and that ending?! Oh you better believe I want to get a copy of the next book!

THE GIVEAWAY…Thanks to the author, we’re giving away two of her ebooks (CYCLES and TREASURE HUNTERS) as well as a collection of magnets made from sandstone only found in southern Utah (by Zion’s National Park.) The magnets are connected to the book Treasure Hunters. This giveaway runs now through the end of February, ending at 11:59pm February 29 and is open to all US mailing addresses.

To enter the contest…answer this question…

If you were given the opportunity to be saved at the last minute before death by having a blood transfusion, would you take it not caring what type of life that transfusion might give you in the long run?

I received a copy in exchange for an honest review. 

On My Shelves is a weekly post at The Book Faery Reviews which shares THREE books from our personal collection. These books could be favorites, books to be read as soon as possible for our own enjoyment, as well as books to be read soon for scheduled reviews.

Books let us into their souls and lay open to us the secrets of our own.  ~William Hazlitt

SWAPPING LIVES by Jane Green - Vicky Townsley is single, solvent, and seriously successful. Features director of the hugely successful Poise!magazine, she has an amazing flat, good friends, a fantastic wardrobe . . . in short, everything—except the life she wants: marriage, children, and a house in the country.

On the other side of the Atlantic, Amber Winslow has a stone mansion in Connecticut, two kids (and a full-time nanny), the requisite golden retriever, and a busy charitable commitment for the local Women’s League. But she hasn’t quite found the fulfillment she had expected from being a wife and mother. When she spots an intriguing contest inPoise!, Amber never expects to be picked.

THE BOOK OF AIR AND SHADOWS by Michael Gruber - A fire destroys a New York City rare bookstore—and reveals clues to a treasure worth killing for. . . . A disgraced scholar is found tortured to death. . . . And those pursuing the most valuable literary find in history are about to cross from the harmless mundane into inescapable nightmare.

BETWEEN SISTERS by Kristin Hannah - Years ago, Meghann Dontess made a terrible choice that cost her everything, including the love of her sister, Claire. Now, Meghann is a highly successful attorney who doesn’t believe in intimacy–until she meets the one man who can change her mind. Claire Cavenaugh has fallen in love for the first time in her life. As her wedding day approaches, she prepares to face her strong-willed older sister. Reunited after more than two decades apart, these two women who believe they have nothing in common will try to become what they never were: a family.

All book summaries came from Barnes & Noble website.

2,000 years later, Father Chris Mognahan is a member of the Hetairia Melchizedek, a secret society within the Catholic Church that studies Biblical omens. The society asks Chris to investigate an unusually grotesque crime – a murder on a college campus where the killer’s hand literally burned off the victim’s face. While the killing seems isolated at first, the society ties the murder to the final Biblical prophecy and a terrifying omen that the order of the prophecies is about to be disrupted. The final battle is coming too soon – long before humanity is prepared to win it.

Suddenly, Chris finds himself fighting against time and hell to keep the prophecies in order and stop an early Armageddon. He is joined by a band of unlikely allies, and together they find themselves in Rome above the Vatican Necropolis – the city of the dead – where the future is revealed to them in ancient texts.

They are not alone, however; an evil as old as time itself hunts them. As they travel across continents on their mission, the demonic force follows relentlessly, waiting in every shadowed corner, and every dark place.

As Armageddon descends, Father Chris finds that his only hope lies in a young woman within the group who has a secret gift – and their belief that God Himself may have sent her to keep the final angelic trumpet from sounding out the early end of the Earth.

• Paperback: 478 pages
• Publisher: 23 House (September 23, 2011)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0982477767
• ISBN-13: 978-0982477762

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ABOUT THE AUTHOR…Carrie Salo is a dark storyteller and emerging author of supernatural thrillers. Classically trained at an Ivy League university, she studied the works of master storytellers seven stories underground in the muffled heart of one of the world ‘s largest libraries.

Carrie seeks to wield unrelenting suspense in her own exploration of all things (especially true things) that keep us awake at night.   She has written under the guidance of two bestselling and national prize-winning authors.   Her extensive travels have taken her to many haunted places, including the private catacombs of the Vatican.   The Sounding is Carrie’s debut novel.

Carrie enjoys the smell of old books, New York riesling, late night jogging and thunderstorms, though not in that order.   Storytelling is Carrie’s secret life.   While she looks into all the dark corners by night, by day she is an advertising copywriter and account manager.

FROM THE BOOK FAERY REVIEWS…The Sounding was both exciting and scary;  a heart beating kind of read that couldn’t be put down. So real feeling that it made me wonder if it could really happen.

I received a copy from Planned Television Arts in exchange for an honest review.

On My Shelves is a weekly post at The Book Faery Reviews which shares THREE books from our personal collection. These books could be favorites, books to be read as soon as possible for our own enjoyment, as well as books to be read soon for scheduled reviews.

Books let us into their souls and lay open to us the secrets of our own.  ~William Hazlitt

The Ghost Orchid by Carol Goodman - For more than one hundred years, creative souls have traveled to Upstate New York to work under the captivating spell of the Bosco estate. Cradled in silence, inspired by the rough beauty of overgrown gardens and crumbling statuary, these chosen few fashion masterworks–and have cemented Bosco’s reputation as a premier artists’ colony. This season, five talented artists-in-residence find themselves drawn to the history of Bosco, from the extensive network of fountains that were once its centerpiece but have long since run dry to the story of its enigmatic founder, Aurora Latham, and the series of tragic events that occurred more than a century ago.

Ellis Brooks, a first-time novelist, has come to Bosco to write a book based on Aurora and the infamous summer of 1893, when wealthy, powerful Milo Latham brought the notorious medium Corinth Blackwell to the estate to help his wife contact three of the couple’s children, lost the winter before in a diphtheria epidemic. But when a séance turned deadly, Corinth and her alleged accomplice, Tom Quinn, disappeared, taking with them the Lathams’ only surviving child.

The more time she spends at Bosco, the more Ellis becomes convinced that there is an even darker, more sinister end to the story. And she’s not alone: biographer Bethesda Graham uncovers stunning revelations about Milo and Corinth; landscape architect David Fox discovers a series of hidden tunnels underneath the gardens; poet Zalman Bronsky hears the long-dry fountain’s waters beckoning him; and novelist Nat Loomis feels something lingering just out of reach.

After a bizarre series of accidents befalls them, the group cannot deny the connections between the long ago and now, the living and the dead . . . as Ellis realizes that the tangled truth may ensnare them all in its cool embrace.

Love Finds You in Lonesome Prairie Montana by Goyer & Fleiss - Julia Cavanaugh has never left New York City. But in 1890, the young woman must head west to ensure that the orphans under her care are settled into good families. After her final stop in Montana, she plans to head straight back east. But upon arriving in the remote town of Lonesome Prairie, Julia learns to her horror that she is also supposed to be delivered—into the hands of an uncouth miner who carries a bill of purchase for his new “bride.” She turns to a respected circuit preacher to protect her from a forced marriage but with no return fare and few friends, Julia’s options are bleak. What is God’s plan for her in the middle of the vast Montana prairie?

Pride and Prejudice and Zombies by Jane Austen & Seth Grahame-Smith - “It is a truth universally acknowledged that a zombie in possession of brains must be in want of more brains.”

So begins Pride and Prejudice and Zombies, an expanded edition of the beloved Jane Austen novel featuring all-new scenes of bone-crunching zombie mayhem. As our story opens, a mysterious plague has fallen upon the quiet English village of Meryton—and the dead are returning to life! Feisty heroine Elizabeth Bennet is determined to wipe out the zombie menace, but she’s soon distracted by the arrival of the haughty and arrogant Mr. Darcy. What ensues is a delightful comedy of manners with plenty of civilized sparring between the two young lovers—and even more violent sparring on the blood-soaked battlefield. Can Elizabeth vanquish the spawn of Satan? And overcome the social prejudices of the class-conscious landed gentry? Complete with romance, heartbreak, swordfights, cannibalism, and thousands of rotting corpses, Pride and Prejudice and Zombies transforms a masterpiece of world literature into something you’d actually want to read.

During the 18 years that have passed since publication of the first of my 13 novels, the question that readers have posed to me most often is, by far, “Where do you get your ideas?” And the question is perfectly logical. Creativity is sometimes described as “making something out of nothing,” so the making of a novel invariably begins with the mere “nothing” of an idea.

We’ve all heard those classic words of advice to aspiring writers: Write what you know. And I have heeded that advice. Many interests that have developed over the course of my life have found their way into my books—theater, music, architecture, running, and more. These interests have equipped me with minor areas of ready-made “expertise” that can add color, depth, and credibility to the storytelling. As to the “germ” of each story, the inspiration, it seems to be waiting for me when the time comes to start a new project. When a new story is looming, I “raise my creative antenna” and put myself in a more receptive mode for ideas. The inspiration may come from a news story, from an overheard snatch of conversation, from a catchy phrase that seems promising as a title, or from something that I’ve been sitting on all my life. But it’s always out there. The trick for the writer, of course, is to learn to recognize it.

Further, because most of my writing has been in the mystery genre, the initial idea for a story may stem from an interest in a particular motive, means, or opportunity for killing a fictitious, though no less hapless, victim. One of my novels, Boy Toy, involved mushroom poisoning, a topic about which I had no prior knowledge. That’s where old-fashioned research comes into play (far easier now in the age of the Internet), equipping the writer with sufficient knowledge to create a fictive reality with credible authority. In my new mystery, The MacGuffin, I needed a crash course in thermodynamics before I could concoct a believable plot regarding alternative energy and pepper it with the right buzzwords.

The idea is only the beginning, of course. The inspiration phase just seems to happen; the perspiration phase that follows involves considerably more effort and discipline. But it’s the initial idea—that “ah-hah!” moment—that jump-starts the process and gives writers the impetus to roll up their sleeves and get down to the work of storytelling.

ABOUT THE AUTHOR…Michael Craft is the author of a dozen prior novels and three stage plays. As a mystery writer he has been known for many years as the author of the popular “Mark Manning” series, set in the Midwest, as well as the “Claire Gray” series, set in California. Three of his novels have been honored as national finalists for Lambda Literary Awards. His latest mystery novel, The MacGuffin, features a new protagonist, architect Cooper Brant. In recent years, Michael Craft has broadened his creative focus to include playwriting and screenwriting. He lives in Rancho Mirage, California. 

You can visit his website at www.michaelcraft.com or connect with him at Facebook at http://www.facebook.com/profile.php?id=100001138388778&sk=info.

A cold-case murder fifteen years ago halted promising developments in the quest for clean energy when the rumored prototype of a groundbreaking water engine was stolen or destroyed. Now the race is on to repower America, and Cooper Brant, still grieving that long-ago murder of his father, suddenly finds his family visited by a second violent death, raising the stakes to unearth lost secrets. When Coop discovers how the two crimes are linked, a grim message becomes clear. He’s next.

• Paperback: 300 pages
• Publisher: Questover Press (July 17, 2011)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0615499716
• ISBN-13: 978-0615499710

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A car crashes in front of rookie PI Paige Holden’s home. And suddenly, she finds one of her pro bono clients dying in her arms—from a gunshot wound. With her last breath, the woman whispers cryptic words into her ear and hands her a blood-smeared flash drive.

Five years ago, State’s Attorney Grayson Smith put a murderer behind bars. But when Paige Holden shares the flash drive with him, its contents cast doubts on the conviction—and lead him and Paige into a world of blackmail, dark secrets, and a decades-long string of murders. An investigation they’ll survive only by trusting each other—and the truth.

 Learn about the author here http://karenrosebooks.com.

• Publisher: Penguin Group (USA)
• Paperback: 544 pages
• Genre: Mystery Thriller
• Publish Date: 2012-06-05
• ISBN 13: 9780451236166