Monday, August 26, 2019

The Carousel VBT

Blurb:
…Like the Wild Geese of Old Ireland, five boys grew to manhood despite hunger, war, and the mean streets of New York...

The War had left him blind to beauty…

Kieran Donnelly is a gifted artist who has sworn never to paint again. He saw and did too many things during the war to extinguish the ugliness that lies in his heart. But a chance to work with some of the most magnificent paintings brings him close to the world he still loves…and an extraordinary woman who sees his true heart.

Darkness couldn’t extinguish the light in her heart.

Blind from the age of four, Emily Lawrence yearns to experience the outside world. When she hires Kieran Donnelly to catalogue her father’s paintings, he offers her a glimpse at life outside her exquisite home…and a chance for a future.

Can Kieran and Emily emerge from the darkness to find happiness and love?


Excerpt:
Queenstown Harbor, Cork, Ireland, 1847

“Take your fill of it, lad. Remember it all.”

Ten-year-old Kieran Donnelly clutched the icy metal of the ship’s railing, his gaze locked on the wild, rocky coast as the Sally Malone moved slowly out of the harbor.

The long voyage to America had begun.

He heard Gran’s keening wail, filled with grief as she lamented the loss of their homeland. Da’s hand rested on her shoulder, his silent grief palpable. His brother’s spirit, full of anger and despair, reached out to him.

None of it touched his heart.

His eager gaze sought the mist-shrouded green hills, distant, dotted with tiny white cottages. Empty cottages, no sign of the ever-present gray turf smoke rising from their rich, dark thatched roofs.  The fields were black with the stinking slime of the blight, but hawthorn and gorse and wild strawberries still dotted the landscape with bright splotches of white, yellow, and scarlet.

The water bucked and spat white-capped waves, gray-green with angry sorrow under the cloud-smudged sky. A single bright ray of sunlight broke through the clouds, as if to bid the desperate refugees a fond farewell. A patch of sky, so pure a blue it made his throat ache, brought a rush of tears to Kieran’s eyes.

Oh, to capture the image that would forever be in his mind on paper before the ship sailed! The colors, the hues, the light and shadow. The crowds of skeletal people scurrying about, weeping as they waved good-bye, the lone fiddler playing them away with a desolate lament of parting and grief.

One day. He struggled against the harsh sob that clawed at his throat. One day I’ll paint this scene and the whole world will know the sorrow that gripped Ireland in its cruel fist.

I’ll call it The Parting.



 A Heroine to Be Proud Of

Hello, and thanks so much for having me as your guest today! I’m thrilled to be able to share The Carousel with your readers!

As a romance novelists, I’ve created many a fictional hero and heroine. And I’ve been lucky enough to have real ones in my own family. The Carousel, Book 7 of my Wild Geese Series, is dedicated to the memory of my paternal grandmother. She was a heroine any girl would be proud of.

Her name was Emma Laflamme, and she died when she was 88 years old. She raised a family of nine children in a tiny farmhouse on the wind-swept Gaspé Peninsula in the province of Quebec, Canada.

She was also blind from the age of 40.

It must have been difficult for her to look after her children and take care of the house on her own. I only had two children, and well I remember the merry dance they led me at times!

Yet it never seemed to bother her. I remember watching with utter fascination as she kneaded a loaf of bread (made from scratch, no less!), and marveling at how easily she did it. It was even more fun to devour the wonderful results. To this day, whenever I smell bread baking, I think of her.

One of my most tender memories of my grandmother was the way she greeted us when we’d arrive each summer. She would smile and run her toil-worn hands over each of our faces, “seeing” in her own way how we’d changed since the previous year.

I can’t remember ever seeing her stumble, although I know she must have. She never shuffled, but stepped proudly across a room. I even remember coming into the living room, where I was ensconced in the big, comfy chair with a book, and handing me a glass of chocolate milk. How did she know where I was, or who I was? I wondered. I believed it was a sort of magic that only my grandmother possessed.

My heroine, Emily Lawrence, is also blind, and has been since she was four. I based her on my grandmother in many ways.

I hope she’s proud of both Emily and me.

Thank you for having me as your guest today, and for sharing The Carousel and my grandmother with me.


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Author Bio and Links:
I believe I was destined to be interested in history. One of my distant ancestors, Thomas Aubert, reportedly sailed up the St. Lawrence River to discover Canada some 26 years before Jacques Cartier’s 1534 voyage. Another relative was a 17thCentury “King’s Girl,” one of a group of young unmarried girls sent to New France (now the province of  Quebec) as brides for the habitants (settlers) there.

My passion for reading made me long to write books like the ones I enjoyed, and I tried penning sequels to my favorite Nancy Drew mysteries. Later, fancying myself a female version of Andrew Lloyd Weber, I drafted a musical set in Paris during WWII.

A former journalist and lifelong Celtophile, I enjoyed a previous career as a reporter/editor for a small chain of community newspapers before returning to my first love, romantic fiction. My stories usually include an Irish setting, hero or heroine, and sometimes all three.

I’m the author of The Claddagh Series, historical romances set in Ireland and beyond, and The Wild Geese Series, in which five Irish heroes return from the American Civil War to find love and adventure.

I’m a member of the Romance Writers of America and Hearts Through History Romance Writers. A lifelong resident of Montreal, Canada, I still live there with my own Celtic hero. I have two adult children.

Friday, August 23, 2019

Alice: A Memoir VBT

Blurb:
Few, if anyone, could have had a life like Alice Gilmore. It was almost unbelievable yet carried on under the cover of a respectable middle-class existence.

You might strongly disapprove of what she did, but Alice was determined. She overcame insurmountable obstacles to keep the love she longed for.

Her single-minded fight to live out her love makes a gripping, riveting story that one eminent literary person called ‘staggeringly readable’. It is shocking. Her methods will upset some, but are you with her or against her? Your decision.

This is no misery memoir. It’s a story told with joy, wit and fervour – the astonishing story of the overwhelming love Alice Gilmour was determined to live out.


Excerpt:
I am going to tell you our story, my darlings. It is really only for you three and one other (you know who) but I can’t help hoping that the world will read it, which is why I shall probably publish it. But not for some years. When you’re fully grown up and have flown the nest. God knows what they will make of it, the world I mean, whoever they are, but I am not suggesting that any rules or taboos should be changed by our story, or new rules made. Leave all that alone. Our story, perhaps I should say my story, just is. You could tritely call it the exception that proves the rule. Perhaps that is just what it is: unique. I doubt that but it is certainly extraordinary. I have carefully chosen those words. Any old event of yawning banality is called ‘amazing’, ‘fantastic’, ‘unbelievable’, ‘fabulous’ in our current jargon. Whatever else people may call my story it is certainly extraordinary.

It is, above all, a love story, an all-consuming love story, though I have never felt consumed by love, rather continually renewed. But isn’t that what love should do to you? Consume you and renew you constantly like the phoenix. And it brought with it another constant emotion: fear. And pain. The fear of pain. The fear of the pain of losing it, this wonderful state. The word love doesn’t fully express what I/we felt. Another word that is more or less totally debased.




What would we find under your bed?
Dust and anything that needed storing that I didn’t have room for elsewhere.


What was the scariest moment of your life?
I was driving a car in the USA when I first went to live there and in a rural situation a school bus pulled up in front of me, red light flashing. I pulled out to overtake, not realising that the school bus red light meant that I must stop to  let children cross the road. As I passed the bus a boy ran out from behind it. He was quick witted and stopped dead as I just swished past his nose missing him by nothing. There were shouts from behind and I looked in the mirror. The boy was clearly all right, staring after me, and the bus driver was furious so I just kept going. There was no point in my stopping to explain I was a foreigner. I said it was a rural setting so I was going at more than the urban speed limit. I still wake up at nights, or am brought to a dead halt every time I see a US school bus stopping, lights flashing. I was 100% in the wrong and my life would have been wracked with guilt and completely different if I had hit him, probably killing him, to say nothing of the effect on him and his family had he been so unjustly killed.


Do you listen to music while writing? If so what?
Now that I’m back in the UK I often have Radio 3 on in an adjoining room so that it is background. In the USA I would have in the kitchen a player or an appropriate radio station that played serious music of many sorts. Occasional jazz and popular music OK but never rock ‘n’ roll or contemporary pop of any sort.


What is something you'd like to accomplish in your writing career next year?
A novel that is widely praised and widely read, in that order. Prizes? Yes, I don’t really care and don’t think a first novel from a middle-aged should win any prizes, except New Writer ones of course. Come to think of it leave those for younger, needier, more ambitious writers than me (I? Me? Me, I think).


How long did it take you to write this book?
Years for the first part, as I lived it. Then in a rush, only weeks, after my husband was murdered and I needed to have it done before events blew my cover.


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Author Bio and Links:
If you want to know about my life and background read this book. I can scarcely add to what I have written about myself in there. I earnestly hope that the rest of my life is too uneventful to even consider writing anything else, I am no novelist. The life I have described was full enough and rich enough for me. God knows what I would come out with if I had to invent. If you find you need a good chef I shall consider anything not too energetic – which rules out most jobs in the kitchen.

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Thursday, August 22, 2019

13 Steps to the Cellar Blurb Blitz

Blurb:
There were thirteen steps to the cellar. They were steep and they were narrow—but was a fall down them enough to have caused the twenty-seven deep lacerations to her aunt’s head?

Callie Harris travels from her home in Alabama to her aunt’s former mansion in Maine to unravel the haunting forty-year-old mystery of Dr. Laverne Harris Doss’ brutal death.

Why wasn’t a murder weapon found? Was her uncle justly convicted of the killing? Was his mistress involved? Or was the murderer the bearded stranger rumored to have arrived by train that night?

In the charming town of Richmond, located on the banks of Maine’s historic Kennebec River, Callie uncovers the community’s darkest secrets—a botched police investigation, a betrayed widow’s lie, a dead woman’s blackmail, and a wealthy philanthropist’s shame. The web of intrigue extends far beyond Callie's suspicions and its connection to her personal story pierces her to the core.


Excerpt:
In passing, she leaned and straightened the flowers in the urn on her aunt’s grave. Squatting, she ran her fingers across the dates on the headstone, calculating her aunt had only been thirty-six years old when she died. She inched closer and studied the inscription, Dr. Laverne Harris Doss. Beloved doctor, daughter, and sister.

“My father’s beloved sister,” Callie whispered. “Oh, how he grieved for you, Aunt Laverne.”



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About the Author:
Teresa Mathews is a graduate of The University of South Alabama. She’s a member of the Mobile Writers Guild and serves on the Board of Directors for the Alabama Nursery and Landscape Association.

An avid gardener and artist, she has multiple book covers to her credit. Several years ago after visiting the site of her real-life aunt’s murder, Teresa discovered another passion–storytelling. Although inspired by an actual tragedy, Thirteen Steps to the Cellar is fiction.

Raised on the Gulf Coast, Teresa, her husband, and son now live on a farm with a second home on the sparkling white sands of Fort Morgan, Alabama.

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Wednesday, August 21, 2019

Total Blueprint for World Domination Illustrated VBT

Blurb:
Total Blueprint for World Domination is a motivational non-fiction book for young adults. Design your dream world and make it happen! Bursting with full-color superheroes, boosted with online learning, the new edition of Total Blueprint for World Domination - illustrated takes you from this very second to your greatest dreams. So, are you ready?


Excerpt:




The Big Why

When you write, you put pieces of yourself out into the world. It can be so freeing. It can be so scary. You are vulnerable and exposed, you are showing people who you are, and opening yourself up to judgement. And that is always a risk. Here’s me in 2015, an intermittent blogger, figuring it out:

“Today’s post theme is – why do I blog? I guess the short answer is; I don’t. Ha. Don’t get me wrong – I want to, I know it’s fun, I know it’s smart, but I guess I haven’t quite figured out my reason to blog. The awesome thing about the internet is that everyone has a voice, everyone has the opportunity to explain and connect, and that makes me hesitate – am I here to share what I know? Vent? Explore? Or treat it as a kick-start to change gears from my “day-job” writing to my “play-job” writing? I know the answer to this one: a writer writes. I don’t have to know why. Sometimes feeling your way is as valuable as having a plan. So, write on!”

So much has happened since then! Not only with blogging, but also with understanding who I am and the kind of sharing I’m okay to do. Being diagnosed as autistic was a huge turning point. Part of accepting and understanding what the diagnosis meant, was deciding what that meant about me. Would it change me? Would it change the way other people see me? Would it change the way I see myself? I had a choice: keep it to myself and keep things the same, or choose to “come out”, tell everyone, and own it. Guess which one I went with? I gave a TEDx Talk, a full-on one, a go there one, a spill-my-guts one. People called me brave, and it’s still hard not to flinch at that. I revealed for the first time publicly that I’m takiwātanga – autistic, but it never felt brave. It felt like telling the truth.

When we write, when we blog, when we put thoughts out into the world; we change things. We tell people who we are, and what is okay in the world. Because normal is whatever we decide. And yes, I’m Jolene. I’m known for talking fast, being ultra-enthusiastic, and writing books that get people excited about their life. I’m also fit-out with all kinds of exciting diagnoses (Autism! Major Depressive Disorder! Generalized Anxiety! Overall Awesomeness!) It seems counterintuitive, that someone known for optimism and positivity can be just as well-versed in the darkness, but I like to think they go together. Contrast makes light more precious, the work to achieve it more embedded. And doing this work with yourself, being okay with the light and the dark, this is what frees you. Not from caring what other people think, but from knowing that all that matters? Is what you think.

And I promise, once the first few reviews come in, the first comments, the feedback, you let your breath out: it’s going to be okay. Because this is when you realize that you were using everyone elses reactions as a mirror, but it never mattered what anyone else thought. You decide who you are, and what is okay to share. You can put pieces of you out into the world, and wait for the outside to tell you who you are. Or you can make the choice for yourself. Speak your truth, and let that truth determine our new world. The world where we belong exactly as we are – each with our own strengths and challenges, and our own dreams to head towards.

Jolene Stockman


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Author Bio and Links:
Jolene Stockman is a multi-award winning author, speaker, and business owner. She is also tangata whaitakiwātanga; an autistic person. Since her adult diagnosis, she has gone public with her experience - its challenges and superpowers as a TEDx Talk. Her books let you uncover your superpowers to design (and dominate!) your dream world.


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Tuesday, August 20, 2019

Raspberry Chocolate Murder Blurb Blitz

Blurb:
Brand new cozy mystery series from the creator of Pelican Cove

**Enraged Baseball Star Murders College Sweetheart**

The past two years have been tough for Anna Butler. Widowed at fifty five and diagnosed with a dreaded illness soon after, she is struggling to keep it all together. Then the license for her dream café is rejected. Anna feels she can’t get a break.

Cassie Butler dropped a glitzy Hollywood life and came home to nurse her mother. Penniless after being duped by her crooked manager, she isn’t striving too hard to rebuild her flagging career. Living with her estranged mother after twenty years is proving to be a challenge.

When a young college girl is found dead in the woods, her boyfriend becomes the top suspect.

Anna agrees to go sleuthing to help her friend’s son, a bright young kid she has watched grow up. As Anna uncovers one clue after another, her faith in the boy begins to waver. Is he really as innocent as he claims to be?

Raspberry Chocolate Murder is the first juicy mystery in a brand new cozy mystery series from international Amazon bestselling author Leena Clover. Set in the small seaside town of Dolphin Bay on the California coast, this is a fast pageturner with plenty of twists and turns and luscious food.

If you love strong heroines, small town life, friendships that endure and yummy food that makes your mouth water, you will love Dolphin Bay.

Grab this beach cozy today and start reading.


Excerpt:
Lara Crawford’s mouth was set in a sneer. Her crooked nose did nothing to soften her appearance. Nor did her power suit or the strand of expensive pearls she wore around her neck.

“Is it my lucky day?” she crooned. “Dolphin Bay’s famous husband killer is here to see me.”

“Stop that nonsense,” Julie snapped. She turned to Anna and tipped her head. “Go on, Anna.”

Anna placed the letter she had received before Lara.

“Why was my application rejected?”

Lara rolled her eyes.

“Vendor licensing is not in my purview.”

“This is your signature, Lara,” Anna pointed out. “Do you deny that?”

“I sign dozens of documents in a day,” Lara drawled. “But I am not always the decision maker.”

“You know what Anna has been through, Lara,” Mary said softly. “Have a heart.”

“You mean how she’s roaming scot free after killing her husband?” Lara asked with relish. “I wouldn’t know.”

“You are crossing the line, Lara,” Julie warned. She took Anna’s hand in hers and gave it a squeeze. “The police could never establish what happened to John.”

“But I know,” Lara pounced, flinging a finger at Anna. “She killed him in cold blood.”



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About the Author: 
Leena Clover is the international bestselling author of the popular Pelican Cove cozy mystery series.

An avid reader herself, Leena grew up reading mystery books. Some of her favorite authors are Agatha Christie and M C Beaton. Now she is trying her hand at writing whodunnits, making them as nail biting as possible while keeping them cozy.

Her love for food is evident in all her books. Readers can find yummy treats in the pages of her books, along with friends that last a lifetime.

Get bonus chapters and exciting offers when you join Leena's newsletter.

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Monday, August 19, 2019

Julian Fox: The Dream Guardian Book Blast

Blurb:
It is said that dreams are just that: only dreams. But believe me, this is not always true. Some dreams are as real as the dreamer.

Thanks to their dreams, dreamers can receive the special visit of eternal wisdom that has inspired the creativity of great inventors, scientists, musicians, and even writers throughout the ages.

This creative wisdom is not always the type that appears to the eager conscience. Sometimes, a Defiler, a destroyer of dreams, is the one who tries to appear before the dreamer. These creatures were once humans, but they allowed their pain and desire for revenge to take over and seek the same miserable fate for the one who dreams.

You must not fear — Dream Guardians, also known as Kelsdrant, will always protect the one who dreams, even with their own life. They are people of flesh and bone, just like you and me, or at least they are on Earth.

The following story is dedicated to the fun, extravagant, and enlightening life of Julian Fox, the Dream Guardian.

Be prepared, dear reader. It is time to dream, laugh, reflect, and even maybe cry.

Welcome to the Land of the Wise Dreams.


Excerpt:
Chapter 8: The Fate of the Carrier

That night, he locked his door to protect himself from Nicholas’s intentions. He knew his brother was very patient and would wait for the opportune moment to execute the perfect prank.

The occasion was presented that night when the unsuspecting victim, Julian, was asleep since he had to get up earlier than usual. Nicholas could finally do something to torture his brother to compensate for the terrible sushi experience. He dressed in black, wanting to be mysterious like in the movies. He glided silently through the house unseen, even by the discreet service staff. He went to the kitchen where Julian had forgotten to remove the duplicate key to his door from the keychain that contained all the copies of the house’s keys.

Taking it, he went quietly to his brother's room with a small flashlight in his hand. He opened the door quietly, knowing that if he was discovered he would be in trouble. However, his evil desire forced him to move forward. This audacity cheered him on:

“Bah! So what if Mom rips my ears off? At least it is for a good cause.”

His evil plan was to move forward all the clocks in the house by two hours. Thus, the innocent Julian would get up early, sleepy and most importantly, in a bad mood. Julian would need those two hours, just like he had needed the indigestion medicine that his mother had given him to prevent further damage to his body and mind.

One by one, Julian’s watches joined the conspiracy. His own cell phone, all the watches, and the alarm clocks surrendered to Nicholas, the defiler of time.


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About the Author: 
E. J. Miranda is an avid reader, an enthusiastic traveler, and a passionate author. Her great sense of humor and love for nature have granted her a rebellious writing style: Her approach describes the adventures of life but in such a way that each reader can have an individual take on the matter. Her inspiration comes from her curiosity about other countries’ cultures and peculiarities. A few countries in particular that spark her curiosity are Colombia, Italy, Costa Rica, England, Belgium, Mexico, Spain, and the United States. Her favorite places to visit are historical sites and museums, locations that allow her to explore important and even overlooked details. She currently lives with her husband in Colombia but frequently travels to Houston to visit her daughter and son. E.J. Miranda has a degree in tax accounting, but she prefers interacting with people to calculating their taxes. To learn more about her life and work, visit http://www.ejmiranda.com.

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Thursday, August 15, 2019

The Ghost Hunter's Daughter Review Tour

Blurb:
Sixteen-year-old Anna sees things from another world, the spiritual world, a skill that isn’t exactly useful in high school. It’s bad enough that her mother, possessed by a demon, took her own life when Anna was a child, a loss she remains tortured by. Now her father makes his living “clearing” haunted objects, and Anna’s job as his assistant makes her a social misfit. Most kids in her suburban New Jersey town refer to her just as “Goblin Girl.”

Only Freddy and Dor remain loyal friends. But Anna’s so focused on her own problems, she’s missed that her connection with Freddy is moving beyond the friend zone.

As junior year approaches, a rare solar storm lights up the night skies and the citizens of Bloomtown begin to act strangely: Anna’s teachers lash out, her best friends withdraw, and the school bullies go from mean to murderous. When Anna realizes she can harness this evil power, she sets out to save Bloomtown and the only family she has left.

But to do so, she must keep her own increasingly dark urges at bay.


Excerpt:
Anna continued the staring contest with herself until the current of connection
became so strong that she couldn’t look away from the mirror even if she wanted to. And then the details of the yellow flecks around her pupil—the golden starbursts in the hazel of her irises—suddenly grew sharper in the glass, crystallizing. Every muscle in her body tightened. Something was going to happen.

At first Anna thought she was shaking with fear, and then she was sure that a bee had flown into her mouth. Her jaw clenched instinctually, biting down. She braced for the soft crunch and searing sting that was sure to follow, but her teeth met without resistance. There wasn’t a bee, but her teeth continued to rattle as an electric thrumming spread throughout her body. Was this another portal attack? Anna wasn’t sure, but it was a vastly different sensation from the river rage—a much faster and higher-pitched vibration. She waited with dread for the shaking to slow and deepen, for the waves of hatred and misery to roll through her. But the vibration inside her increased in tempo, intensity and pressure.

It was like being in an airplane right before the wheels lifted off the ground—all that power. She was vibrating at a body-numbing, incredibly high rate, but was somehow still at the same time, like a tuning fork. It had been a mistake to try this in her room. What if the mirror gazing had opened her up even more to the destructive power of the portal spew? There was something familiar about it, the growing roar in her ears, but she braced herself and resisted with all her strength. No.

                 
My Review:
3 stars

The plot was well-executed and thought-out. I loved the paranormal/magic rules, as they were detailed and, for a Supernatural show fan like myself, familiar. I also loved the different twists on what I’d seen previously (having to cleanse a spirit according to his/her beliefs was particularly interesting). The characters were interesting, and even though I had a hard time connecting with Anna, it was interesting seeing her develop throughout the story.

The biggest downside is that I was not expecting this book to be as dark or heavy as it was. For example, some of the issues raised in the book are huge societal issues in our world today, yet in the end, some were resolved quickly. I felt like so much was thrown into the story that it became hard to read enjoyment-wise and there was too much to focus on to satisfactorily wrap up all the introduced issues. All of this also felt a bit much for a YA novel, but then again, Hunger Games is considered YA.


Overall, if you’re into darker reads that address real-life issues with a paranormal twist thrown in, I’d give TGHD a try.

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




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Author Bio and Links:
Caroline Flarity is a web content producer living in NYC. Her fascination with fringe topics and love of scary movies led her to begin her writing journey penning creepy screenplays. Her debut novel THE GHOST HUNTER'S DAUGHTER started life as a feature script, placing in the finals of the StoryPros Awards and as a semifinalist in Slamdance Film Festival's writing competition. She enjoys pitting her characters against both supernatural and cultural evils.

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Buy The Ghost Hunter’s Daughter here.