Blog Tour and Giveaway: Frostfire by Ethan Avery

I am thrilled to be hosting a spot on the FROSTFIRE by Ethan Avery Blog Tour hosted by Rockstar Book Tours. Check out my post and make sure to enter the giveaway!

 

About The Book:

Title: FROSTFIRE (Sword and Sorcery #1)

Author: Ethan Avery

Pub. Date: April 22, 2022

Publisher: Stories by Storytellers

Formats: Hardcover, eBook

Pages: 454

Find it: Goodreads, Amazon, Kindle, B&N, TBD, Bookshop.org

Read for FREE with a Kindle Unlimited Membership!

If you could change your life by trusting in a stranger… would you?

Erevan has a problem. He grew up on the unforgiving streets of Bogudos and has the scars to prove it. His friend, however, is stuck in jail because of his mistake. But when a suspicious courier offers him a chance to fix things, should he lift his sword and journey across treacherous lands to aid her cause?

Meanwhile, Aireyal has been accepted into the wealthiest and most prestigious magical school in all the land. There’s just one problem. She can’t do magic. But that’s far from the only secret within the walls of Darr-Kamo. And what she discovers might just change the world.

Swordsman & Sorcerer
Scholar & Spiritualist

All four have enemies. And all four need help to get what they want. But help is never free.
What would you sacrifice to get what you most desire? 

Reviews:

"An intricate and enjoyable adventure with a striking cast." —Kirkus Reviews

"Buoyant, character-driven debut." —Publishers Weekly's BookLife Reviews

"The systems of magic are elaborate, immersive, and vibrant." —Foreword Clarion Reviews

"Readers will find...thought-provoking insights about growth and opportunity and a vivid adventure." —Midwest Book Review

 

My Review: 

Frostfire begins the Sword and Sorcery series by Ethan Avery. I loved reading this book. I thought it was a fun, entertaining, and quite adventurous read and could not put it down until I was completely done reading it. The characters were ones that made me feel as though I was part of their circle and the plot made me intrigued all throughout. 

I am giving Frostfire four and a half stars. I believe teens who enjoy reading Sci-fi and fantasy fiction will want to pick this one up. I look forward to reading more books from the Sword and Sorcery series. 

I received a hard cover copy of Frostfire from the publisher, but was not required to write a positive review. This review is one hundred percent my own honest opinion.

 

About Ethan Avery:

Ethan Avery believes in the power of stories. As a child growing up in Ohio, they gave him a chance to see a bigger world, and to hear what life was like for people that didn’t look like him or believe what he did. And now, years later, he hopes to do the same for others. When he's not writing novels, directing movies, or wasting other people's time with his YouTube channel, Ethan plays video games (poorly), basketball (painfully), and D&D (problematically with praiseworthy peers). Send him a tweet @StoriesByEthan, he loves nerding out!

Website | Twitter | YouTube | Goodreads | Amazon | BookBub

 

Giveaway Details:

1 winner will receive a finished copy of FROSTFIRE, US Only.

Ends August 9^th, midnight EST.

a Rafflecopter giveaway

Tour Schedule:

Week One:

7/25/2022	Ya Books Central	Excerpt
7/25/2022	BookHounds YA	Excerpt/IG Post
7/26/2022	#BRVL Book Review Virginia Lee Blog	Excerpt
7/26/2022	Author Z. Knight’s Guild	Excerpt
7/27/2022	Eye-Rolling Demigod's Book Blog	Review/IG Post
7/27/2022	@allyluvsbooksalatte	IG Spotlight
7/28/2022	FictionalFey	Review/IG Post
7/28/2022	Two Chicks on Books	Excerpt
7/29/2022	GryffindorBookishNerd	IG Review
7/29/2022	One More Exclamation	Review/IG Post

Week Two:

8/1/2022	Locks, Hooks and Books	Review
8/1/2022	_popreads_	IG Review
8/2/2022	@ReadsReaders	YouTube Review/IG Post
8/2/2022	@jaimerockstarbooktours	IG Spotlight
8/3/2022	@thebookishfoxwitch	IG Review
8/3/2022	Two Points of Interest	Review
8/4/2022	travelersguidetobooks	IG Review
8/4/2022	The Chatty Bookworm	TikTok Review/IG Post
8/5/2022	More Books Please blog	Review
8/5/2022	Rajiv's Reviews	Review/IG Post

Book Blast and Giveaway: Potion by Dorlana Vann

This post is part of a virtual book tour organized by Goddess Fish Promotions. Dorlana Vann will be awarding a $25 Amazon or B/N GC to a randomly drawn winner via rafflecopter during the tour. Click on the tour banner to see the other stops on the tour.

#WitchesBeBitches

A Contemporary Retelling.

Eight years ago, the wicked witch held Hansel Lucas Jaeger and his sister, Melrose, captive. They barely escaped with their lives. Now, with high school, a garage band, and a part time job, Lucas finally feels normal.

But everything changes when Lucas sees his awkward, loner sister, hanging out with Star, one of the hot and hated popular girls known as The Bitches. At first, he’s just confused, but when he sees the tarot cards between them, he’s reminded of the curse the witch cast on Melrose.

His fears escalate when Star warns him about two witches from school who plan on using his sister for a ritual. Lucas wants to trust Star; he needs someone to confide in since Melrose thinks his fear of witchcraft is irrational. But Star is unpredictable and has toyed with his emotions before.

As Lucas searches for answers, more mysteries begin to unravel about Melrose’s childhood, Star’s motives, and his own family legacy. Lucas will have to make life and death decisions; but whom can he trust, and how do you rescue someone who doesn’t want to be saved?

Read an Excerpt

“You might have something I want.”

Her voice was definitely flirty, but Lucas had no idea what Star was all about. “Oh, really. And what is that?”

“Did you happen to find my tarot card?”

Uh-oh. The easiest answer would be “no,” however, Melrose would probably rat him out anyway. “It’s hard to explain, but I needed to get it out of the house.”

“So, it’s in the garbage?”

“Not exactly.” He stared at the dancing flames. “I burnt it.”

After a long silence, he looked at Star. Where she had been overly relaxed earlier, she now sat up straight with her arms crossed. Even in the dimly lit room, he could see that she thought he was crazy. Fair. In retrospect, his actions did seem a bit extreme.

“You burnt my card?” she finally asked as a breeze came through the open window and blew out the candles. “Why the hell would you do that?”

“Melrose can’t be around that sort of thing,” he mumbled

“Allergies?”

Lucas took the sarcasm he deserved and walked to the window. “Sorry. Just tell me how much I owe you.” He was going to shut the window before relighting the candles, but suddenly, Star’s hand was on his arm.

“You don’t owe me anything,” she said.

“No?” He turned around, and Star was standing right there, the curves of her body enhanced by the shadows.

About the Author:

Dorlana Vann loves taking elements from fairy tales (characters, mood, moral, plot) and mixing them with a paranormal element and then dropping them in a contemporary setting.

She has several supernatural fairy tale inspired stories, including novels, a short story collection, and Kindle Vella series. Her latest adventure is A Witchy Fairy Tale series; book 1: Potion.

Besides writing, life is all about family, food, book-club, BBQ team, festivals, trivia (even though she's horrible at it), and drinking on patios – All of which she shares on Instagram

Website
Instagram
Twitter
Facebook
Goodreads
Amazon Author Page

a Rafflecopter giveaway

Blog Tour and Giveaway: Byway to Danger by Sandra Merville Hart

About the Book

Book: Byway to Danger

Author: Sandra Merville Hart

Genre: Christian Historical Romance

Release date: July 19, 2022

Everyone in Richmond has secrets. Especially the spies.

Meg Brooks, widow, didn’t stop spying for the Union when her job at the Pinkerton National Detective Agency ended, especially now that she lives in the Confederate capital. Her job at the Yancey bakery provides many opportunities to discover vital information about the Confederacy to pass on to her Union contact. She prefers to work alone, yet the strong, silent baker earns her respect and tugs at her heart.

Cade Yancey knows the beautiful widow is a spy when he hires her only because his fellow Unionist spies know of her activities. Meg sure didn’t tell him. He’s glad she knows how to keep her mouth shut, for he has hidden his dangerous activities from even his closest friends. The more his feelings for the courageous woman grow, the greater his determination to protect her by guarding his secrets. Her own investigations place her in enough peril.

As danger escalates, Meg realizes her choice to work alone isn’t a wise one. Can she trust Cade with details from her past not even her family knows?

 

Click here to get your copy!

 

About the Author

Sandra Merville Hart, award-winning and Amazon bestselling author of inspirational historical romances, loves to discover little-known yet fascinating facts from American history to include in her stories. Her desire is to transport her readers back in time. She is also a blogger, speaker, and conference teacher. Connect with Sandra on her blog, https://sandramervillehart.wordpress.com/.

 

More from Sandra

In Byway to Danger, Book 3 of my “Spies of the Civil War” series, both Cade and Meg—our hero and heroine—are Union spies living in Richmond, the Confederate capital in 1862. As if this isn’t dangerous enough, Meg is also a former Pinkerton spy. One Pinkerton spy was hanged in the spring and three others now sit in Richmond jails.

 

Meg works as an assistant in Cade’s bakery. The strong, quiet man keeps a secret from Meg to protect her, for he’s a conductor on the Underground Railroad. He provides food, clothing, and a safe place to stay until he’s able to take them on to the next stop several miles outside the city. Cade has done this for years before the Civil War and continues as the war rages, a perilous mission.

Historically, early in the war on May 23, 1861, three men escaped slavery and fled to Fort Monroe. Frank Baker, Shepard Mallory, and James Townsend had worked on Confederate fortifications before escaping on a rowboat. They sought the safety of Union soldiers at the fort. The men informed Union Major General Benjamin F. Butler that they escaped from Confederate Colonel Charles K. Mallory of the 115^th Virginia Militia.

 

The next day, Confederate Major John B. Cary arrived at Fort Monroe under a flag of truce. Cary met with Butler and requested he return the enslaved men to Mallory as required by the Fugitive Slave Act.

 

Butler did some fast thinking. Since the three men had been building fortifications for war, they could be seized as “contraband of war” and didn’t have to be returned. His refusal to return the men was a pivotal decision and sparked a future law that protected fugitives who sought the protection of Union camps.

Dozens of fugitive men, women, and children had joined Baker, Mallory, and Townsend at Fort Monroe within three days. Many others fled to the fort in the following months. “Grand Contraband Camp” was established about three miles from Fort Monroe on the charred remains of Hampton to accommodate the hundreds of fugitives.  It was the nation’s first self-contained black community. By 1865, thousands lived in this camp.

 

Part of my research for this novel involved a trip to Virginia’s Fort Monroe. (If you love history and have never visited Fort Monroe, I recommend it!) Though I wasn’t certain of my story at the time of my visit, I was so inspired by the fort’s history that I knew it had to be part of my story. And it is!

 

Avenue of Betrayal, Book 1, is set in the Union capital of Washington City (Washington DC) in 1861, where a surprising number of Confederate sympathizers and spies lived. Boulevard of Confusion and Byway to Danger are set in Richmond, the Confederate capital in 1862. Actual historical spies touch the lives of our fictional family.

 

Through both real and fictional characters, this series highlights activities spies were involved in and some of the motives behind their decisions.

 

I invite you to read the whole “Spies of the Civil War” series beginning with Book 1 Avenue of Betrayal, Book 2 Boulevard of Confusion, and Book 3 Byway to Danger!

Blog Stops

Babbling Becky L’s Book Impressions, July 21

Debbie’s Dusty Deliberations, July 22

Spoken from the Heart, July 22

Bizwings Blog, July 23

Inklings and notions, July 24

Betti Mace, July 25

Book Looks by Lisa, July 25

Texas Book-aholic, July 26

For Him and My Family, July 27

Connie’s History Classroom, July 28

Truth and Grace Homeschool Academy, July 29

deb’s Book Review, July 30

Ashley’s Clean Book Reviews, July 31

Vicarious Living, July 31

Locks, Hooks and Books, August 1

Happily Managing a Household of Boys, August 2

Blossoms and Blessings, August 3

Giveaway

To celebrate her tour, Sandra is giving away the grand prize of a $50 Amazon gift card!!

Be sure to comment on the blog stops for nine extra entries into the giveaway! Click the link below to enter.

 https://promosimple.com/ps/1f7f8/byway-to-danger-celebration-tour-giveaway

My Review

Byway to Danger is the third installment from the Spies of the Civil War series by Sandra Merville Hart. I enjoyed the previous two books and this one is by far my favorite of the series. It is full of historical details that made me feel as though I had been transported back in time to the trials of the American Civil War. I had no problem reading the whole book in one sitting. I enjoyed getting to know Meg and Cade. The story is intriguing with history, mystery, action, danger and romance. I loved it.

I am giving Byway to Danger a very well deserved five plus stars. I highly recommend it for readers who enjoy reading clean historical fiction, particularly the American Civil War era. I hope to read more books like this one and series by Sandra Merville Hart in the future. 

I received a digital copy of Byway to Danger from the publisher, but was not required to write a positive review. This review is one hundred percent my own honest opinion.

Blog Tour and Giveaway: Off the Chain by Janice Thompson

About the Book

Book: Off the Chain

Author: Janice Thompson

Genre: Christian Fiction / Mystery

Release date: July 1, 2022

The Town of Brenham, Texas, Has Gone to the Dogs!

Curl up with your pup and sink into a delightful small-town mystery as riddles and rescues stack up in book one of a new cozy mystery series.

Marigold Evans’ first attempt at rescuing an abandoned pooch lands her in a drainage pipe in Brenham Texas. . .and almost in jail, until Parker Jenson comes to her rescue. Then a bad day only gets worse as the Lone Star Vet Clinic, where they both work, is vandalized and the list of suspects starts to climb. With the help of her fellow employees, Marigold sets out to simultaneously solve the crime, rehab the rescued dog, and help more dogs in crisis. But why would anyone continue to work against all their good efforts?

 

Click here to get your copy!

 

About the Author

Janice Thompson, who lives in the Houston area, writes romantic comedies, cozy mysteries, nonfiction devotionals, and musical comedies for the stage. She is the mother of four daughters and nine feisty grandchildren. When she’s not writing books or taking care of foster dogs you’ll find her in the kitchen, baking up specialty cakes and cookies.

 

More from Janice

Dogs, dogs, and more dogs! My world is full of dogs. If you follow me on social media you’re probably overwhelmed with dog photos, but I simply can’t help myself. I’m in love with pooches of all shapes and sizes.

My fascination with dogs began when I was six years old and I got my first pup, Spunky. He was a mixed breed terrier. From that day until now I’ve had the pleasure of owning many, many pups—some purebreds, some street dogs that needed a safe place to stay, some elderly with chronic or acute health issues. I can’t get enough. They offer unconditional love, after all!

A few years back I was asked to foster for a local rescue, My Chi and Me. The rest, as they say, is history. For a quick glimpse at some photos, follow this link. You’ll see that I’m mostly enamored with small dogs. (Hey, I live in a tiny townhome and have limited space!) That said, I’m always willing to take on one more.

My most recent rescue ventures landed me squarely in the middle of a book idea: Why not use a dog story as the basis for a cozy mystery? My editor at Barbour Publishing wanted something dog-themed and I was happy to oblige. That’s where the idea for Off the Chain (and the whole Gone with the Dogs series) came from—a simple idea involving dogs and crime.

I took the opportunity to focus solely on rescue dogs as the idea developed. These days (especially post-Covid) the need for homes for these pups is great. I linked arms with my BFF, Kathleen Y’Barbo, and together we set our series in Brenham Texas, not far from our stomping ground in the Woodlands. I felt strongly that we should merge two separate dog worlds: rescue and veterinary. (Hey, Brenham is close to A&M and they know a thing or two about veterinary training!)

Thus, the Gone with the Dogs series was born. And writing the first book, (Off the Chain), was a blast! I hyper-focused on one primary point of view character, a vet tech. (As the owner of three dogs I feel like I’m always in the vet’s office!) My stories, which is written in first person, took me back to my writing roots. I love, love, love writing in first person because I “become” the character. Fun, right?

My editors loved the book and it got some fun endorsements, so I’m excited to see what my readers think. I can’t wait to get their feedback. I hope it’s not too “Ruff!”

But, seriously. . .I’m hyped! And I’m feeling so blessed to merge my worlds—dogs and writing!

Blog Stops

Book Reviews From an Avid Reader, July 26

Debbie’s Dusty Deliberations, July 26

Texas Book-aholic, July 27

The Book Club Network, July 27

An Author’s Take, July 28

Remembrancy, July 28

deb’s Book Review, July 29

Pause for Tales, July 29

The Avid Reader, July 30

For Him and My Family, July 30

Christina’s Corner, July 31

Locks, Hooks and Books, July 31

Inklings and notions, August 1

Ashley’s Clean Book Reviews, August 2

Happily Managing a Household of Boys, August 2

Babbling Becky L’s Book Impressions, August 3

She Lives To Read, August 3

Because I said so — and other adventures in Parenting, August 4

Blogging With Carol, August 4

Truth and Grace Homeschool Academy, August 5

Tell Tale Book Reviews, August 6

Gina Holder, Author and Blogger, August 7 (Author Interview)

Mary Hake, August 7

Labor Not in Vain, August 8

Books I’ve Read, August 8

Giveaway

To celebrate her tour, Janice is giving away the grand prize package of a $25 Amazon e-gift card and a paper copy of the book!!

Be sure to comment on the blog stops for nine extra entries into the giveaway! Click the link below to enter.

https://promosimple.com/ps/1ffe2/off-the-chain-celebration-tour-giveaway

My Review

Off the Chain begins Janice Thompson’s Gone to the Dogs series. I adored this fun and entertaining little mystery. I loved the duo Marigold and Parker as a team. Of course, the delightfully cute pups was a great addition. There are a few twists and turns that kept me reading. The story includes some good life lessons that we could learn from. I found this to be was a great tale to spend a rainy and cool afternoon. 

Off the Chain will be getting a very well deserved five plus stars from me. I highly recommend it for readers who enjoy reading clean cozy mysteries. I look forward the next installment from the Gone to the Dogs series. 

I received a digital copy of Off the Chain from the publisher, but was not required to write a positive review. This review is one hundred percent my own honest opinion.

Excerpt Tour and Giveaway: Within by Peter Gribble

 

Within

by Peter Gribble

 

~~~~~~~~~~~~~ 

GENRE: Fantasy

~~~~~~~~~~~~~

BLURB:

Purdu, the barbarian invader, has arrived! How can the pacifist, nonviolent City of the Magicians contain him when one faction appeals to his heart, the other to his ambitions?

Sas and Lalya are envoys of opposing camps, but Purdu throws them together to isolate them from their enclaves and assert his own authority. Yet two others decide to oppose him their way. Hyur, foremost metallurgist, secretly forges a magical weapon to tempt and subvert him. Gleswea, an astronomer, flees south to view skies she has never seen, but is swept into a culture that judges women of ability as necromancing witches deserving death.

 

Shoan, City strategist, reconstructing his wrecked plans, is unaware these four have slipped his calculations. Sas, Lalya, Hyur and Gleswea are unknowingly inching the City toward an unseen, perilous fate. Will anyone catch it in time?

 

Within, the second book in The City of the Magicians series, exposes how even as the City's old dream of a rebirth in Magic seems to be happening, traditional institutions are failing. With Purdu spearheading the revival, some Citizens fear the purposes their Magic may soon be turned to.

 

Praise for Threat, the first book in The City of the Magicians series.

 

"An exquisitely crafted, richly textured world of magic and mystery, with settings and mood so exceptionally well visualized that fans of science fiction and fantasy should not pass up the chance to walk inside." – IndieReader

 

"Apart from the beautiful writing, the robustly written characters, and the strong setting, Peter Gribble has the ability to immerse readers in a world that is well-imagined and sculpted. Having enjoyed Threat immensely, I am looking forward to the next installment in the series." - Readers' Favorite 

~~~~~~~~~~~~~

EXCERPT:

Big, expensive job—procurement of materials would devour ingots, exhaust his inventory. Yet there was one item waiting generations for this very endeavor . . .

Long hidden in the inventory of the Hugurneth Family forge was the rarest, most valued item: fallen-star iron.

Along with many Citizens of his day, Hyur’s grandfather had, as a young man, witnessed the spectacular meteor streak across southern skies and fall, but only he made the difficult two-week journey to search for this scarcest of ores. He retrieved two large chunks and lugged them home again, secreting them away to wait for a special project, which never came. They passed to Hyur’s father, who similarly never had occasion to use them. Long had they bided their time waiting for him, clearly destined for this magical act of manifestation.

Augury? Superfluous. The opportunity glowed with calling . . . especially since the Deliberator Council had been incapable of keeping the barbarian out or the 5th School under quarantine.

Only a true Citizen, an authentic Magician of the City could.

Simply by tempting one man with a sword.

But how to convince Mushum . . .

Thinks I’m only good for small work, does he? Hyur’s eye fell on his pattern-welding experiments—his metal play. They were his largest sample pieces—flat, slightly longer than hand-length rectangles of different metals welded into various designs: maiden’s hair, light and dark chevrons, diagonals, cross-grain striations, flowing river, wood grain, ripples and waves, among others. When customers wanted them, he incorporated pattern-welded handles onto the tools and utensils for kitchen, carpentry or farm use. They were expensive, but people wanted them, and some designs were now specific to certain Houses.

He selected the best one each from the chevron, diagonal and hair collections.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~

AUTHOR Bio and Links:

Peter Gribble has written for NUVO and other magazines in British Columbia.

For over ten years he wrote a monthly gardening column for a local Vancouver paper.

The City of the Magicians is his first published series.

CONNECT WITH Peter Gribble 

WEBSITE - Peter Gribble – Author

https://petergribble.com/

GOODREADS - Peter Gribble (Author of Threat) | Goodreads

https://www.goodreads.com/author/show/20904184.Peter_Gribble

PURCHASE LINKS Book One - Threat                   

AMAZON.COM - https://amazon.com/dp/0228812194

AMAZON.CA - https://amazon.ca/dp/0228812194

AMAZON KINDLE - https://amazon.com/dp/B08NTQ69Q7

INDIGO CHAPTERS - https://www.chapters.indigo.ca/en-ca/books/threat/9780228812197-item.html

BARNES & NOBLE - https://www.barnesandnoble.com/w/threat-peter-gribble/1138327338

PURCHASE LINKS Book Two - Within

AMAZON.COM - https://amazon.com/dp/0228826446

AMAZON.CA - https://amazon.ca/dp/0228826446

AMAZON KINDLE - https://amazon.com/dp/B09RLZP7DV

INDIGO CHAPTERS - https://www.chapters.indigo.ca/en-ca/books/within/9780228826446-item.html

BARNES & NOBLE - https://www.barnesandnoble.com/w/within-peter-gribble/1140984426

~~~~~~~~~~~~~

GIVEAWAY:

Peter Gribble will be awarding a $15 Amazon or B/N GC to a randomly drawn winner via rafflecopter during the tour.

a Rafflecopter giveaway