Friday, January 23, 2015

Book Tour ~ Book Excerpt: Weclome to HELL by Demelza Carlton

About The Author

Demelza Carlton has always loved the ocean, but on her first snorkelling trip she found she was afraid of fish. She has since swum with sea lions, sharks and sea cucumbers and stood on spray-drenched cliffs over a seething sea as a seven-metre cyclonic swell surged in, shattering a shipwreck below. Sensationalist spin? No - Demelza tends to take a camera with her so she can capture and share the moment later; shipwrecks, sharks and all. Demelza now lives in Perth, Western Australia, the shark attack capital of the world. The Ocean's Gift series was her first foray into fiction, followed by her suspense thriller Nightmares trilogy. She swears the Mel Goes to Hell series ambushed her on a crowded train and wouldn't leave her alone.

About The Book

  Welcome To Hell

"Good morning. Welcome to HELL."


Mel hates job interviews - and this one's shaping up to be the interview from Hell.


From the grumpy receptionist to the disturbingly demonic interview panel and the sleazy CEO, it seems landing her first job is the least of Mel's worries.


Can she make it out of the office alive without selling her soul?

Book Excerpt

"Good afternoon, welcome to Hell-"
Did she really just say that? Mel wondered, staring at the receptionist.
"-lth, Environment, Life and Lands Corporation. How can I help you?"
"Ah, I'm here for a job interview?" Mel left the statement hanging as a question – half hoping she'd be told that there was no interview or vacancy, so she wouldn't have to undergo this ordeal.
"Oh, you're the girl from the agency? Take a seat and I'll let them know you're here," the girl said, waving toward the uncomfortable-looking bucket chairs. She picked up the phone receiver and stared at her until Mel's nervous knees folded, dropping her onto one of the seats.
"Hi, it's reception. I have an agency girl here who says she has an interview." The receptionist sniffed as if she felt the accuracy of this information was questionable. A pause. "No." The girl's chin pointed at Mel.
"What's your name, agency girl?"
"I'm Mel," said Mel.
The receptionist's shoulders slumped as her eyes implored Heaven for something she evidently lacked. Mel wondered if it was patience, good manners or the ability to smile, as the girl seemed to lack all three. "She says her name is Mel. Just…Mel," the girl said.
Mel summoned a smile. She could be both patient and polite – evidently it was a rarity in this office, if the receptionist was anything to go by. Perhaps the girl was only a teenager, too young to know better, or maybe she'd just had a bad morning…
"She's on her way," the receptionist said as she clicked the phone into its cradle.
Mel considered asking who the girl was referring to, but decided not to bother. She didn't expect any answer from her anyway, but if she was patient she'd soon see.
The door beside the reception desk opened and a red-suited woman emerged, scowling. She propped the door open with one shiny, red stiletto.
"Melody Angel?" she asked, squinting at the sheet of paper in her hands.
Mel winced. "I'm Mel," she repeated, extending her hand to shake the red woman's.
She ignored it. "Follow me."
She turned to her right and entered a small meeting room. No, an interview room, Mel told herself, looking at the office chairs circling the table. The furniture was occupied by two men, a jug of water and some empty glasses.
Oh Hell. I hope all my practise questions with Raphael were worth it – and that I don't forget anything, Mel thought, attempting to keep calm. Please, don't let me stuff this up.
The door clicked shut behind her with a terrible finality as Mel took her indicated seat.
 

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Book Tour {Guest Post & Giveaway} Prosecco pink by Traci Andrighetti

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Prosecco pink by Traci Andrighetti

Prosecco Pink is a quick and entertaining read that will keep you on the edge of your seat wanting to know where each clue or plot thread was going to lead. The entire book is engaging without a dull moment. The murderer is cleverly kept under wraps, ramping up the suspense in a great way. ~Sapphyria's Book Reviews

The story is funny and easy to read it definitely keeps you turning the pages for sure, so don’t make my mistake and start it in the evening. :D You should also have some sort of deep fried pastry covered in powdered sugar on hand when you start. I guarantee you will be craving them. ~Tea and A Book

With a murder that will keep you on the edge of your seat, this whodunit with sweep you way reading into the night . What a great read. ~Shelley's Book Case

Colorful characters, antebellum mansions and life in the Big Easy take center stage in Prosecco Pink, Traci Andrighetti’s newest addition to the Franki Amato Mystery series. ~Queen of All She Reads

Pageflex Persona [document: PRS0000031_00001]
File Size: 1520 KB
Print Length: 274 pages
Publisher: Gemma Halliday Publishing (October 29, 2014)
Paperback: 274 pages ISBN-13: 978-1502974945
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Synopsis

**Now in development for a TV movie!**

For Franki Amato, life in New Orleans is anything but “The Big Easy.” When she met handsome bank executive Bradley Hartmann, she knew she’d finally found a man she could trust. But she can’t say the same for his sexy new secretary, who is about as trustworthy as Mata Hari and every bit as seductive. Meanwhile, Franki’s best friend and employer, Veronica Maggio, has named her the lead investigator in the murder of a gorgeous cosmetics CEO who was found lying dead in the master bedroom of a historic plantation home.

Now the pressure is on Franki to figure out what a bottle of pink lip gloss and the legend of a pink diamond have to do with the bizarre killing. The problem is that the plantation is notorious for being haunted, and Franki is less than enthusiastic about the prospect of meeting a ghost. Adding to her stress, her Sicilian grandma is up to her usual meddling antics—this time planning Franki’s engagement to Bradley before he’s even considered popping the question. As Bradley grows distant and plantation employees begin dropping like Southern belles during a sweltering summer, Franki turns to a psychic with a phobia of ghosts to solve the mysterious murders and her own relationship fears.

Franki Amato Mysteries:
Limoncello Yellow (book #1)
Prosecco Pink (book #2)

Guest Post

It is so appropriate for me to be on Kelly P’s blog to talk about the release of Prosecco Pink, the second novel in the Franki Amato mysteries. Why? Because my book involves so many p’s!

PROSECCO PINK
For starters, there’s the title. I always feature an Italian liqueur or wine and its color when I come up with a name for a book, and both are an integral part of the mystery. Since Prosecco is so popular right now, it seemed like an obvious choice for one of my titles. It comes in two colors, clear or pink, and there was no way I was going to call the book Prosecco Clear. Ugh!

PLANTATIONS
When I was creating the plot for Prosecco Pink, I decided to draw on the rich history of New Orleans and the surrounding area. The first thing that came to mind was all the fabulous plantation homes on Great River Road. I named my fictitious sugar cane plantation Oleander Place, and I set the murder in “the pink room,” which was inspired by Oak Alley Plantation’s gorgeous “lavender room.”

POISON
For my victim, I conjured up a beautiful cosmetics CEO named Ivanna Jones, who is found in a bed in the pink room laying like Sleeping Beauty and clutching a bottle of pink lip gloss. When I selected the manner of death, I was indirectly inspired by a true story from Myrtles Plantation involving a house slave named Chloe and oleander poison. But before you jump to conclusions about how and why Ivanna died, remember that I said “indirectly.”

PIRATES
To add some history to Ivanna’s murder, and to throw Franki and the cops off track, I made it appear similar to the murder of the original owner of Oleander House’s wife, Evangeline Lacour. Back in the 1800s, she was found in her bed in the pink room clutching an oleander flower. What happened to her? All I can tell you is that she was romantically involved with her husband’s brother, a notorious pirate who was the right-hand man of none other than Jean Lafitte. Blimey!

To find out more about my plot (and a few of its other p’s), be sure to get your copy of Prosecco Pink!
Traci Andrighetti-11b

About This Author

Traci Andrighetti is the author of the Franki Amato Mysteries. In her previous life, she was an award-winning literary translator and a Lecturer of Italian at the University of Texas at Austin, where she earned a PhD in Applied Linguistics. But then she got wise and ditched that academic stuff for a life of crime--writing, that is. If she's not hard at work on her next novel, Traci is probably watching her favorite Italian soap opera, eating Tex Mex or sampling fruity cocktails, and maybe all at the same time. She lives in Austin with her husband, young son (who desperately wants to be in one of her books) and three treat-addicted dogs.


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Sunday, January 18, 2015

Book Tour {Guest Post & Giveaway} One Garish Ghost & Blueberry Peach Jam by Jennifer Fischetto

Paperback: 218 pages
Publisher: CreateSpace Independent Publishing Platform (October 24, 2014)
ISBN-13: 978-1502961587



Synopsis

From National Bestselling author Jennifer Fischetto comes a hauntingly humorous new series…

Gianna Mancini has chatted with ghosts most of her life. It’s never affected her much. Until now. The latest ghost in Gianna’s family-centric, boy-complicated, job-depleted world is Emma Tinsdale, a woman Gianna despises. Wanting Emma out of her apartment and her orbit, Gianna chooses to help her move on, but she doesn’t expect to come across poisonous jam, a vengeful cop, or a group of friendly clowns. When a relative is framed for Emma’s death, Gianna must dig deeper and faster to find out what really happened that fatal night on the beach. With help from her sister, her cop brother, and her ex-boyfriend, Julian, she gets close to figuring out the truth. But when the killer closes in, Gianna better watch her step unless she wants to become the latest member of the dearly departed.

Guest Post

Ghosts, or the idea of them, has always interested me.

As far back as I can remember, I’ve believed in the supernatural. I’m sure that comes from my mother and the rest of her family, but while some of them only believe in a few aspects of the paranormal world, my mom’s mind has always been widely open. It made ghost stories all the more fun. We never viewed it, or at least I didn’t, as something to fear. The unknown is simply unknown, which also makes it interesting and the possibilities exhilarating.

But, unfortunately, for someone who believes anything is possible, I only had a couple of experiences I consider to be supernatural.

One was the night my brother and I believed we saw a UFO flying past our apartment on Long Island. This was in the late 70s, my mother was vacuuming the living room. It was nighttime, and we were in my bedroom staring out the window, although I don’t remember why. Maybe it was just our thing, or we were bored. I’m betting on bored. There weren’t a lot of kids in the neighborhood who were my age, and I remember being bored a lot. :)

Anyway, this object, in typical saucer shape, slowly flew across the sky. My brother and I stared at it. Then we discussed the shape and its comparison to an airplane, the speed, and the probability. I was a young teenager. But we weren’t so young that we didn’t know what a plane looked like. We wondered if we were seeing things…for a few seconds. Then we screamed for Mom, but due to her cleaning she didn’t hear us, and neither of us wanted to get her and miss the action.

She eventually turned off the vacuum cleaner just as it passed. She didn’t doubt what we were told her. She just wished she’d seen it too. And I truly believed we saw a UFO for many years later. Now, I’m not so sure if that was one. Due to the shape and slow speed, I don’t think it was an airplane, but it could’ve been something else from our world. I wasn’t well versed in military aircraft. I’m still not, so who knows what we saw.

My very first brush with the supernatural went differently though. Rewind a decade.

Before my brother arrived, Mom and I lived in a smaller apartment. I had a toy box with a hinged lid. The sides of the box had some sort of nylon basket weave on it, and the top had an inch or so of foam covered in thick plastic.

I was lying on top of it, on my back, and my left arm dangled over the side, between the toy box and the wall. Granted, I was a toddler/pre-schooler, so my arm couldn't dangle that much.

All I remember is that I felt another hand, and it gripped mine. The actual memory is hazy, but I recall the feeling of the fingers gripping mine, of the bolt of fear that ran through me and made me jump up and cry to my mom.

She told me it was just a doll. And I was plenty of them. I was quite spoiled. ;) She said I must've grabbed a doll’s hand and thought it grabbed mine back. Despite my age, I knew that wasn’t true, and I never considered otherwise. I always knew and still know what I felt. :)

Years later, when I called Mom on it, she told me she only said that to calm me down, but she had believed me. Yay! ;)

When it came time to start a new book series, I knew I wanted it to have a paranormal slant. Dead by the Numbers deals with ghosts—just the souls of people who are now dead. Nothing dark or demonic. It’s all pretty straight forward. And fun. Who says the unknown can’t be hilariously fun? :)


About This Author

Jennifer Fischetto is the National Bestselling Author of the Jamie Bond Mysteries. Unbreakable Bond, her adult debut novel, has received a National Reader’s Choice award nomination. She writes dead bodies for ages 13 to six-feet-under. When not writing, she enjoys reading, cooking, singing (off-key), and watching an obscene amount of TV. She also adores trees, thunderstorms, and horror movies—the scarier the better. She lives in Western Mass with her family and is currently working on her next project.

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