Friday, May 20, 2016

Two Soul Mate historical from Linda Bennett Pennell are going on sale for 99¢!!



Two Soul Mate historical are going on sale for 99¢!!  




Al Capone at the Blanche Hotel is on sale for 99¢  May 20-May 27! 


Al Capone at the Blanche Hotel tells a story of lives unfolding in different centuries, but linked and irrevocably altered by a series of murders in 1930.  
Lake City, Florida, June, 1930: Al Capone checks in for an unusually long stay at the Blanche Hotel, a nice enough joint for an insignificant little whistle stop. The following night, young Jack Blevins witnesses a body being dumped heralding the summer of violence to come. One-by-one, people controlling county vice activities swing from KKK ropes. No moonshine distributor, gaming operator, or brothel madam, black or white, is safe from the Klan's self-righteous vigilantism. Jack's older sister Meg, a waitress at the Blanche, and her fiancĂ©, a sheriff’s deputy, discover reasons to believe the lynchings are cover for a much larger ambition than simply ridding the county of vice. Someone, possibly backed by Capone, has secret plans for filling the voids created by the killings. But as the body count grows and crosses burn, they come to realize this knowledge may get all of them killed.  
Gainesville, Florida, August, 2011: Liz Reams, an up and coming young academic specializing in the history of American crime, impulsively moves across the continent to follow a man who convinces her of his devotion yet refuses to say the three simple words I love you. Despite entreaties of friends and family, she is attracted to edginess and a certain type of glamour in her men, both living and historical. Her personal life is an emotional roller coaster, but her career options suddenly blossom beyond all expectation, creating a very different type of stress. To deal with it all, Liz loses herself in her professional passion, original research into the life and times of her favorite bad boy, Al Capone. What she discovers about 1930’s summer of violence, and herself in the process, leaves her reeling at first and then changed forever.
From Soul Mate Publishing:  Al Capone at the Blanche Hotel 
Take a look at the real Blanche Hotel and other actual locations featured in Al Capone at the Blanche Hotel!  https://www.pinterest.com/lindabennettpen/al-capone-at-the-blanche-hotel/


Confederado do Norte, 

2015 Honorable Mention in the RONE Awards, is on sale for 99¢ May 27- June 3!!


Set during the aftermath of the American Civil War, Confederado do Norte tells the story of Mary Catherine MacDonald Dias Oliveira Atwell, a child torn from her war devastated home in Georgia and thrust into the primitive Brazilian interior where the young woman she becomes must learn to recreate herself in order to survive.   
October, 1866.
Mary Catherine is devastated when her family emigrates from Georgia to Brazil because her father and maternal uncle refuse to accept the terms of Reconstruction following the Confederacy’s defeat. Shortly after arrival in their new country, she is orphaned, leaving her in Uncle Nathan’s care. He hates Mary Catherine, blaming her for his sister’s death. She despises him because she believes Nathan murdered her father. When Mary Catherine discovers Nathan’s plan to be rid of her as well, she flees into the mountain wilderness filled with jaguars and equally dangerous men. Finding refuge among kind peasants, she grows into a beauty, ultimately marrying the scion of a wealthy Portuguese family. Happiness and security seem assured until civil unrest brings armed marauders who have an inexplicable connection to Mary Catherine. Recreating herself has protected Mary Catherine in the past, but this new crisis will demand all of the courage, intelligence, and creativity she possesses simply to survive.    
Confederado do Norte available from Amazon:  http://amzn.com/B00LMN5OMI
See scenes from Brazil and other locations featured in Confederado do Norte!  https://www.pinterest.com/lindabennettpen/confederado-do-norte/




 BIO:
Linda shares this about herself: 
"I have been in love with the past for as long as I can remember. Anything with a history, whether shabby or majestic, recent or ancient, instantly draws me in. I suppose it comes from being part of a large extended family that spanned several generations. Long summer afternoons on my grandmother's porch or winter evenings gathered around her fireplace were filled with stories both entertaining and poignant. Of course being set in the American South, those stories were also peopled by some very interesting characters, some of whom have found their way into my work.
As for my venture in writing, it has allowed me to reinvent myself. We humans are truly multifaceted creatures, but unfortunately we tend to sort and categorize each other into neat, easily understood packages that rarely reveal the whole person. Perhaps you, too, want to step out of the box in which you find yourself. I encourage you to look at the possibilities and imagine. Be filled with childlike wonder in your mental wanderings. Envision what might be, not simply what is. Let us never forget, all good fiction begins when someone says to her or himself, Let's pretend."
Linda resides in the Houston area with one sweet husband and one adorable German Shorthaired Pointer who is quite certain she’s a little girl.
Twitter: @LindaPennell  

Friday, March 11, 2016

Inspiration. A Glimpse of Eternity by Ryan Jo Summers





I have Ryan Jo Summers on my blog today, talking about the inspiration for her new book.


Inspiration:

 This story was written for two reasons. One, it started as therapy. I'd been handed some medical news I was reeling with, struggling to find ways to cope. A friend suggested I write about out. So I invented Kasey Griffin and gave her MS, which gave us some of the same daily struggles. Kasey became my alter ego. Then to add to her problems, I gave her a love interest-- Ben Salem, who came from my crush on Harry Connick Jr. Handsome, charming, funny and musically incline; Harry and Ben both have it all. That was the start of the story.


Years before that, I had been driving home Valentine's evening from work and spotted a bouquet of roses in the middle of the road. Wondering what could have led to them being discarded there, my writer's mental wheels pondered that for a while. Once I started penning 'Glimpse Eternity', the roses had to become part of the story.



Blurb:
 

        Kasey Griffin is determined to prove a diagnosis of Multiple Sclerosis isn't going to ruin her life or define her expectations. She is dedicated to her pregnant sister, her pets and operating her bookstore, 'The Next Chapter'. She has everything she needs to have a full and satisfying life--the daily challenges of her condition notwithstanding.  

         Then hunky musician Ben Salem rolls into town. Ben's subtle charm quickly reminds Kasey she is more than a woman with a disease, she is also a woman with a heart. And Ben wants it.

         Will Ben still desire her once he learns the terrible details of he condition? 



Excerpt:



         Silence hung between them. She shifted from foot to foot. Should she offer coffee, cook breakfast, or ask what happened that he spent the night? Self-consciously, she tugged at her hair again. Muttonchop whined at the tension slowly filling the room.



    “So, does that happen often?” he asked slowly, cautiously, reaching out to pat Muttonchop. “Last night?”



    Her eyes widened, breath caught. She felt like a deer in the headlights. So this was where he was going to walk out, she decided. Thomas padded into the room and sat, watching them. She wanted to scoop the big cat up, to hold him as a shield from what was to come. He was going to ask just enough questions to find out what was wrong with her and then decide it wasn't for him. Who would want her once he knew? She took a breath, steeling herself for the inevitable.



    “Sometimes.”



    He considered that, tilting his head. “Have you seen a doctor? It seems kind of out of character for you.” He cracked a quick grin. “Please don’t look like I’m scaring you because it’s starting to scare me.”



    He was scared? She was terrified. She pulled in a hard breath. “I have seen a doctor. It's complicated.”


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   Bio: 

   Ryan Jo Summers is a North Carolina writer who likes to pen romances with a twist. Love stories blended as inspirational, with paranormal, suspense or time travel--or several at once. She also writes non-fiction for regional periodicals. Her dad is a songwriter and his aunt wrote poetry, so Ryan came by the writing gene honestly.

         Her hobbies include poetry, bird watching, houseplants and gardening, gathering with friends, hiking in the forest, painting canvas and ceramics, and working wiggly word find puzzles, mah johngg or chess.  She lives in a 1920 cottage with a menagerie of pets. She often daydreams of the shore and frequently uses water as settings in her stories.






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