A Fool's Circle VBT

Blurb:

Kate Sanders has suffered many years of physical and mental abuse at the hands of her abusive husband Alan, and convinces herself that she is only holding the family together for the sake of her eight-year-old daughter. If it wasn’t for her best friend Jill Reynolds, she would have taken the suicide option a long time ago.

As she desperately seeks a way to escape, she is contacted by a solicitor. Kate’s old aunt has died and she has been left a small fortune.

For the first time, she sees the light at the end of the tunnel. She dreams of a fresh start, a new home, a new life. What Kate doesn’t know is that Jill and Alan have their own secrets, and are both desperate to get their hands on her money.

Kate soon finds herself falling for the charms of Jonathon Jacobs in what she believes to be fate finally intervening and offering her a second chance, unaware that each move he makes has been directed, orchestrated and well-rehearsed as he begs her to leave her husband Alan.

But is it all too late, as she finds herself in the frame for murder?

Excerpt:

Kate followed her into her room, reached out her arm and pulled the covers back as Sophie bounced into her cosy, warm bed. Kate covered her up tight and kissed her on both cheeks.

As she cuddled her, she heard Sophie’s voice. ‘Wow, Mummy, that was a big hug.’

She loved her daughter. Out of all the misery and pain there had never been something so pure and innocent in her life. How she wished Alan still worked away and had never come back home for good. She yearned for it to be just her and Sophie again.

‘I love you, Mummy. I wish you were happy and Daddy was nicer to you. It’s not fair.’

Kate’s heart ached as the words left Sophie’s lips. She tried to hide her emotions.

‘I love you too, my angel.’ She felt the Catholic guilt that had been pushed upon her as a child, not from her own mother, a legal secretary she never saw, who sent out subpoenas or summonses to poor unsuspecting bastards, but from her dear Aunt Beth.

‘Don’t you worry about me Sophie, or Daddy, okay?’

She could hear Aunt Beth’s voice as clear as day in her head. She had warned Kate to be careful and not to inflict any long term damage on to her child but she had chosen to ignore her advice. Her words had come back to haunt her.

Suzanne, thanks so much for stopping by. So how did you get started writing?

I started writing when I first attended a drama school in Islington, London. They told me I needed to write a twenty-minute play and perform it, about 7-8 years ago.

What was the inspiration for your book?

The domestic violence and mental abuse that I had witnessed first-hand as a child. But having a love of psychological thrillers gave me the idea to combine both.

What’s a genre you haven’t written in yet that you’d like to?

If I had to write something else it would be an autobiography. But I’m not ready for that just yet. Any other genre doesn’t appeal to me. I know what I like to write.

Are there any genres you won’t read or write in? Why?

I don’t like romance novels. I find them really boring, to be honest. I can’t even watch a chick flick movie. I need something to motivate me, as I have a really short attention span.

What are you up to now? Do you have any releases planned, or are you still writing?

Well my debut novel is being released on March 17th this year by Wallace Publishing. So I’m really excited about that.

Alright, now for some random, fun questions. Favorite color?

Orange. Happy, fresh and cheerful.

Favorite movie?    

That’s a difficult one! I have so many. But I often like the directors. Anything by Quentin Tarantino, Ridley Scott, Martin Scorsese. But Francis Ford Coppola is also up there with the Godfather.

Book that inspired you to become an author?

Fulfilling my Mother’s dream to write a book. I enjoyed writing scripts and had never attempted writing a book. But when she passed away unexpectedly, I changed course and wrote A Fool’s Circle as a book.

You have one superpower. What is it?

Mind reader!

 

You can have dinner with any 3 people, dead, alive, fictitious, etc. Who are they?

1. Nikola Tesla

2. David Bowie

3. JFK

Last question: Which of your characters are you most like and how/why?

I’m not like any of my characters. But I can identify with Kate and Sophie.

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Author Bio and Links:

Suzanne Seddon was born in 1968 in Islington, London. After leaving school she had many interesting jobs, from swimming teacher to air hostess, and was able to travel the globe. Now a single mum to her teenage daughter Poppy-willow, Suzanne spends her days writing and has written several articles for magazines and newspapers.

Growing up, Suzanne witnessed mental and physical abuse within her own family which strongly influenced her when she wrote her first play, A Fool’s Circle, when she attended the famous Anna Scher Theatre. Suzanne, however, was not content to leave it there and decided to go ahead and transform her play into a novel. 

Not one to shy away from exciting challenges, she also wrote, acted, directed, cast and produced a trailer for the book around her hometown in Islington with the support of local businesses, who recognised the drive and importance of Suzanne and her work.

Suzanne is a passionate writer and she is determined to be heard so that the issue of domestic abuse is raised amongst the public's consciousness, empowering others to speak out. She wants those who suffer at the hands of another to have their voices heard, loud and clear.

Publisher’s Author Page

https://www.wallacepublishing.co.uk/suzanne-seddon.html

Amazon Link:

https://www.amazon.co.uk/Fools-Circle-Suzanne-Seddon/dp/1999613635/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1548460249&sr=8-1&keywords=Suzanne+Seddon

Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/afoolscircle

Twitter: https://twitter.com/afoolscircle

Instagram: https://insta-stalker.com/profile/suzseddon/

Twitter (Personal) https://twitter.com/suzseddon?lang=en

One for the Price of Two Blurb Blitz

Blurb:

Fraternal twins are raised by an ambivalent aunt who provides an unusual childhood experience. One twin leaves home to join the armed forces and is ultimately assigned to a Special Forces unit conducting clandestine operations in North Korea. The death of one his unit members produces an introduction to an organized crime family specializing in murder for hire. The funeral for the family's son and an interest in their daughter brings new blood and methods to the family business.

Excerpt:

Bell hadn’t given the matter substantial thought beforehand. He expected to be greeted by an undertaker and a funeral hearse. That’s what the briefing packet stated. Instead, the hangar held only a recent model pickup truck—badly in need of a wash and wax. The truck belonged to the sister, not Uncle Seb. Yet another oddity.

The airport personnel maneuvered the cargo lift to the rear door of the plane. The metal casket glided across the bed of rollers in the plane’s cargo hold and onto the lift platform’s roller mat. A single member of the ground crew completed the task, and the cargo lift pivoted toward the pickup truck where two ground crew slid the casket onto the bed of the truck and closed the truck’s lift gate.

Carrullo’s sister and uncle moved to the truck. At the last moment, the sister looked in Bell’s direction and motioned for him to join them. Bell grabbed his army issued duffle and hustled across the expanse of oil stained concrete for his trip to meet the rest of the Carrullo clan.

The ride from the airport to the family home in North Hills was uncomfortable. The sister said nothing. Not a single word. By contrast, Uncle Seb continued the outward signs of shock and grief.

The truck emerged from the Fort Pitt Tunnel, crossed Three Rivers at the Point, and continued north on I-79 to the Wexford exit. Carrullo regaled Bell with stories about the area’s frequent snowfall and how the cinders spread on the roadways turned the white snow into a dirty palette of brown. Carrullo hadn’t exaggerated. They drove past mile after mile of dirty snow.

Bell wore only his uniform, having forgotten to take an overcoat, muffler, or gloves. He wanted to ask if the truck’s heating system worked. It was a newer model after all, but the prospect of interrupting the uncle’s wailing and the sister’s quiet resolve seemed inappropriate. That and the empty coffee cups, crushed bakery boxes, and discarded fast food wrappers on the floor suggested comfort wasn’t a high priority. By the time the truck turned onto the family homestead’s driveway, Bell lost all feeling in his feet and hands.

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Author Bio and Links:

Howard Weiner is a recent addition to the literary genre of fiction. Writing mysteries, thrillers, crimes—with a touch of romance—an approach described by one reader as “one bubble off.” Many authors sharing the genre have characters whose fortune is determined by others. They literally have dodged the bullet that otherwise would have killed them. Weiner’s characters make their own fortune—good or bad—and they live with the results.

A survivor of rich, nuanced bureaucracies in the public and private sector, Weiner writes about characters whose career choices and decisions are morally questionable. A student of personal behavior in complex circumstances, Weiner brings these often cringe-worthy characters to life. Some are amoral, others immoral in a narrow slice of their lives, yet they otherwise look and act like people we all know from work or even childhood. Like one of the female leads in his novel, "Serendipity Opportunity", an out-of-the-box thinker who flunks most of life’s basic relationship tests, yet she is someone you never want pursuing you in the cause of justice. There’s a former foreign security official who uses his protected status as a witness for federal prosecutors to provide cover for his own mayhem and murder in Weiner’s third novel, "Bad Money".

Many of Weiner’s stories are born out of real life events: The mix-up in luggage claim at the airport in, "Bad Money", the chronic high school slacker in "Serendipity Opportunity" whose one stroke of good fortune creates his opportunity to perpetrate a complex series of frauds, or the brilliant student in "It Is Las Vegas After All" who uses his prodigious talents toward an evil end.

As a former federal official, Weiner can neither confirm nor deny having the highest security clearances in classified security programs. Yet, his knowledge of the dark web, criminal organizations, and security organizations takes stories from the popular press to the next level.

The book will be $0.99 during the tour.

Buy Link

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Emily Stone Thriller Series Book Trailer Blitz

Blurb:

Vigilante detective Emily Stone hunts serial killers and child abductors, covertly and under the law enforcement radar. She uses her fine-tuned skills of criminal profiling and forensic perceptiveness to locate predators that cops cannot or will not find. She is trained, she is tough, she is serious, and she gets results.

With Stone’s toughest cases yet, the killer immediately crosses her radar and sends her into the dark territory of a serial killer’s mind—to the point of no return.

Take your pick of any of the award-winning, stand-alone books and tag along with a serial killer hunter.

ORDER YOUR COPY:

Amazon

Book Trailer:

About the Author:

Jennifer Chase is a multi award-winning crime fiction author and consulting criminologist. Jennifer holds a bachelor degree in police forensics and a master's degree in criminology & criminal justice. These academic pursuits developed out of her curiosity about the criminal mind as well as from her own experience with a violent sociopath, providing Jennifer with deep personal investment in every story she tells. In addition, she holds certifications in serial crime and criminal profiling.  She is an affiliate member of the International Association of Forensic Criminologists.

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The Gun Review Tour

Blurb:

Garda Detective Tadhg Sullivan leads a special unit that investigates politically motivated crime. A man known only as The Deerstalker is a cancer who has infected the Irish political system.

Sullivan teams up with journalist Helen Carty, and together they try tracking down the mysterious killer. Carty adds to Sullivan’s problems, when he finds himself falling in love with her. And further complicating things, he starts losing trust in his partner, Detective Pat Carter, who appears to be on the side of the Garda Commissioner, who Sullivan is rapidly falling out with.

Sullivan’s case is further thrown into confusion when a copycat killer, Tommy Walsh, is shot dead by the CIA. When the CIA discovers that they've killed the wrong person, the two agents involved--Simon, who has become disillusioned by his time stationed in the Middle East, and Joey, a psychopath who confuses zealotry with patriotism--are also in pursuit of The Deerstalker.

Sullivan finds himself in a race against time, if he is to arrest The Deerstalker before the CIA take him out, and use his death as a pawn in a political game of chess. Who will win out in the end?

Excerpt:

He stared at the gun lying on the bed.  It was in his possession for nearly half his life and he’d never known what to do with it.  The funny thing was, he’d always hated guns and yet, here he was.

He heard his wife moving around downstairs and knew that very soon she would call him for a cup of tea.  He had to get the gun back into its hiding place. 

He thought back to the first time he’d seen it.  A late night knock at the door and a man from down the street had handed the gun and ammunition to him, wrapped in fertiliser bags. 

  “What the hell is this?” he’d blurted out.

         

  “It’s a gun,” the man had said showing no expression.

  “What are you giving it to me for?” he’d whispered, not wanting his family to hear them.”

  “Because I trust you,” he’d replied.

  “What the hell do you mean, you trust me? You hardly know me! And all I know about you is that you’re mixed up in the IRA.  I have a family and I don’t give a damn about the North.  Now please get away from my door and take that thing with you.”

My Review:

3.5 stars

I have mixed feelings regarding this book. To start, it was an interesting thriller. I loved the details the author put into the story: the police work, the in-depth character studies (especially with the bad guy, not just making him some mysterious crazy person shooting up the place), the political struggles, the scenery…everything was detailed and really helped me get a feel for the environment and helped pull me into the story. Unfortunately, this eye for detail also bogged down the story at times. For example, I was confused behind why we were getting so much information about a character that I knew from the beginning was going to be a throw away character, a red herring. If something he mentioned or did would be relevant later, I could see why the author would include this, but it just seemed irrelevant and dragged down the story for me. On top of this, some conversations and scenes dragged on at times, to the point where I skipped ahead a bit just to speed the story along. While I don’t mind in-depth and highly detailed scenes and conversations, I don’t really expect them too much in thrillers, just because they can often drag down the pace that is very important to a good thriller, IMO.

Second, I enjoyed the plot twists introduced, though I wasn’t as surprised at the biggest ones because I already knew about them going in. So they lost some of their surprise since I was expecting them. The romance was okay, not too over the top, which I appreciated, yet it did feel a bit forced at times. Nevertheless, I thought the romance overall worked out well in the story. As for the rest of the writing, while there was room for improvement, I still thought it was a good job for a debut novel.

Overall, this was a good debut novel, an intriguing thriller with an interesting set of characters, several of whom I cannot wait to see again. I was drawn into the story and enjoyed it, and I will definitely be reading the sequel to see how the author improves and where the story goes from here.  

*I received this a copy of this book in exchange for an honest review.*

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Author Bio and Links:

Daithi Kavanagh lives in Trinity, County Wexford with his wife and two teenage children.

He has worked for several years as a musician.

In the last couple of years, after taking up adult education, he began writing.

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When the Serpent Bites Excerpt Tour

Blurb:

Frederick Starks has it all—a gorgeous wife who was his high school sweetheart, three beautiful children, a mansion and cars others envy, millions in the bank, respected in his community, admired by his employees, loved and respected by loyal friends. He revels in the hard-earned power and control he’s acquired. As the saying goes, “All that glitters is not gold,” which Starks discovers when gut-wrenching betrayal by his wife sends him over the edge and into a maximum security prison. There, Starks is a new “fish,” stripped of nearly everything he’s always relied on. In that place, where inmates and guards have their own rules and codes of conduct, Starks is forced to face the darker side of life, and his own darker side, especially when the betrayals, both inside and outside the prison, don’t stop. He must choose which path to follow when the line between right and wrong becomes blurred: one that leads to getting out of the physical and emotional hellhole he finds himself in or one that keeps him alive.

Exclusive Excerpt:

Ozy’s SUV was parked in the driveway at the top of the slope. The inside of the house was dark. A quick glance at the digital clock on the dashboard showed it was after midnight. He hadn’t intended to go there this late; he hadn’t intended to go by there ever again. But his thoughts ate at him, until he had to do something to make them stop. To make all of it stop. Seeing Kayla with Bret had pushed him to this edge. In the dark interior of the car he slammed his hands on the steering wheel.

“Fuck all of them. I’m taking back control of my life.”

He parked at the foot of the driveway and got out. The temperature was dropping fast. Gusts of icy wind whipped at his face; treetops swayed and groaned. He leaned against the Bentley for several moments, shivering from cold and raw energy.

The grass crackled as he made his way toward the house, counting twenty-five steps as he dodged several children’s toys that had been left out. He approached the front door where hay bales, pumpkins, and gourds had been arranged. He ignored the doorbell and pulled open the outer glass door to access the solid wooden one, noting there was no peephole, its absence an indication that Ozy wasn’t afraid of what or who might come to his house. He raised a fist then held it back. There was still time to drive off, to just leave it all alone. Forcing an image of his children into his mind gave him courage. He swallowed hard then beat on the door without pause, until he heard someone turn the deadbolt on the other side.

Ozy wore his robe tied at his waist. His wife, also wrapped in a robe, and with hair flat on one side, stood behind him but to the right, eyes wide in fright at this disturbance.

Starks locked his gaze with Margaret’s. “I’m here to let your wife know what you’ve been doing. That you slept with Kayla, my wife, for three years. Of course, slept isn’t the right word.”

Slurred voices of children disturbed from sleep came from behind the couple. Ozy yelled for them to get back to bed. He told his wife to wait inside then stepped over the threshold, closing the glass door behind him. Loud enough for his wife to hear, he said, “You have the wrong house, buddy. I don’t know you or anyone named Kayla. Now get off my property, before I force you off.”

Starks’s expression darkened. His elbows pressed into his sides, his hands knotted into fists. The speech of well chosen words he’d practiced in his mind as he’d driven over vaporized.

“Liar! You’ve been screwing my wife in your car and anywhere else handy.” He pointed at Margaret. “Who knows what you told your wife you were doing—going to the store, working late, and God knows what else. You think you can destroy my family, all I’ve worked for, and get away with it? I want your wife to know what a two-timing loser she’s married to.”

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Author Bio and Links:

Nesly Clerge received his bachelor’s degree in physiology and neurobiology at the University of Maryland, and later pursued a doctoral degree in the field of chiropractic medicine. Although his background is primarily science-based, he has finally embraced his lifelong passion for writing. Clerge’s debut novel, When the Serpent Bites, will be available in 2015, with the sequel to follow in 2016. His debut novel explores choices, consequences, and the complexities of human emotions, especially when we are placed in a less-than-desirable setting. When he is not writing, Clerge manages several multidisciplinary clinics. He enjoys reading, chess, traveling, exploring the outdoors, and spending time with his significant other and his sons.

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