Showing posts with label Egg-cerpt. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Egg-cerpt. Show all posts

Friday, March 9, 2012

Egg-cerpt Exchange with Jana Chantel


Into My Mind
Blurb:
Everyone has a story to tell. In this case, Jana` tells her's through prose and essays written to reflect her pain, family tragedies, and the love and support she received from others.

At age one-year old, Jana` witnessed her mother being shot to death. At age nine, she experienced her father's death as a result of cancer. Everyone has tragedy in their lives, but how we deal with our circumstances determines our life paths. Triumph and perseverance, are reflected throughout these poignant, yet strong writings. Written from the deep place that only one who has suffered can find, these essays can lend voice to anyone who might not have the words to express their own feelings, but need to release. Go into your mind, through the essays of Jana` Chantel.

A selection of personal essays written to reflect perseverance and triumph.
Excerpt:

When I was thirteen, my brother accidentally shot me.
**
“I was standing in the living room…,” I say to the police as I lay in my bed. With the help from my cousin Javon, I was able to get from the floor of the living room to my bed. A few minutes ago I was trying to go to sleep and wishing that it all was just a dream.
“Ma’am,” one of the officers says which I find kind of ironic since I’m thirteen. “What happened?”
“I was standing in the living room…,” I repeat, but again I stop right there. The lie my cousin Noland wanted me to tell the police couldn’t pass my lips, only the truthful part could come out.
“There are no bullet holes coming into the house indicating a drive by,” another officer says as he walks into my bedroom. A hole has just been punched into the lie that Noland wanted me to tell.
“Ma’am what happened?” the officer asks again.
“Please,” for the first time tears fall. “I just want to go to the hospital.” The bullet that ripped through my body several minutes ago is still a huge concern to me. “I’ll tell you everything after I go to the hospital.”
“No,” the officer says casually, as if my life wasn’t depending on it. “We need to know what happened first.”
I lay in my bed crying torn with a difficult decision: dying or giving up my brother.
“I was standing in the living room…”
Surprisingly enough, the officer just sighs and allows the paramedics to put me on the stretcher and wheel me out to the ambulance. I shut my eyes tightly, not wanting to see my gawking neighbors.

“I was in my house,” I hear a neighbor say. “When I heard just onegunshot.”
The paramedics load me in the back of the ambulance and I begin to think that everything is going to be ok, until I realize that we are not moving.
“Jana` sweetie,” I hear a female voice say, which is a little strange since I know that both of the paramedics are male. “I’m detective…” I kind of block out her name from there. “Sweetie we need to know what happened.”
“Please,” I cry again. “I just want to go to the hospital.”
“I know sweetie, but we can’t let you go until you tell us what happened.”
Time is of the essence and it is slowly slipping away from me as I continue to stay here.
I give in. “My brother was playing with a gun and it went off…he didn’t mean it.”
As the sirens begin to sound and the ambulance speeds off all I could think is, “James I hope you forgive me.”
FindInto My Mind on:

Amazon:
Check out Jana` Chantel and her other work on:

Facebook : http://www.facebook.com/pages/Jana-Chantel/262969840388674

Twitter https://twitter.com/#!/JanaChantel
And her blog http://janachantel.com/   Journey to My Dream
Thanks Jana, for stopping by

Tuesday, March 6, 2012

Egg-cerpt Exchange with Keta Diablo

About Where The Rain Is Made:
Nominated for Bookie Award by Authors After Dark.
Nominated for Best Romance of the Year by Deep In The Heart of Romance.
A decadent-looking savage has captured Francesca DuVall and her brother Marsh. Now she spends every waking moment planning an escape from the camp of the brutal Dog Soldiers.
Ethan Gray is a curator at a national museum . . . until he travels through time to help his beloved People. In the Cheyenne world he’s known as Meko, leader of the most revered tribe of the plains.
Cultures and hearts battle, violence and death haunt the road ahead, but when kindred souls collide, anything is possible. From the windswept plains of Colorado to the placid life of a curator, their love is fueled by passion and kindled by destiny.

Keta has a number of excerpts on her site - visit her to read them

http://ketaskeep.blogspot.com/p/excerpts.html
and
FOLLOW KETA'S KEEP: http://ketaskeep.blogspot.com

Wednesday, February 29, 2012

Egg-cerpt from Jeff Gafford

In a small townlike Summertown, it’s hard to do anything without just about everyone else knowing about it. Yet despite this fishbowl atmosphere, there is a secret being kept that will destroy lives and ultimately change the town forever.



Blurb:
Summertown is a little hamlet in Northern Arizona that accountant Jimmy Stone, a refugee from the big city of Phoenix, has called home for the last nine years. In that time, the biggest things to happen have been the day his first wife did him the favor of leaving him for another man and the day, two years later, when he married his current wife, Tara. He’s looking forward to giving his only daughter, Jessica the biggest wedding the town has ever seen, while at the same time helping Tara play matchmaker to the deputy marshal and the school principal. But the simple pleasures of living in a small vacation town will soon to be overshadowed by the airing of a shocking secret that has been kept by the family of a man everyone in town knows to avoid. By the end of the story, people will die, relationships will be ruined and the homey veneer of Summertown will be torn away to reveal the ugly prejudice that infests it.

Excerpts:
I started sprinting full-out, but that only lasted about ten paces or so. A bullet hit me in mid-stride that struck with such jarring force that it felt as if my entire body had been hit. I tumbled forward, unable to catch myself as I slammed face-first onto the forest floor. It was strange; I couldn’t feel anything and I found myself thinking about that, almost dispassionately, like an outside observer would. I felt the impact on my face when I fell, but nothing else. I couldn’t move or make a sound, but other than a kind of fuzzy headache that went from the base of my skull to the top of my head, I was thinking very clearly, trying to piece together what had just happened. The gritty pain of broken teeth and a smashed nose faded to nothing, and as I became enveloped in a feeling of disembodiment, I asked myself, Is this what dying is like? Am I already dead? Then I started thinking about my daughter Jessie and how I wanted to make sure she had everything she needed. I wanted to see my yet-to-be-born grandchildren. I wanted to tell my wife I was sorry for being a fool, that I loved her; so many things left unsaid, undone.
How did I get here? I asked whoever was out there. I’m just a small-town accountant. I don’t have an enemy in the world that I know of. This wasn’t my fight. How did I get pulled into this?
Life had been so quiet and simple for so many years in Summertown that it was hard to imagine things could ever go this wrong. As my mind hovered within the limp shell that had been my body, I looked back through recent memories to piece together where the craziness started.
---------------------------------------------------------------------------*******************************************
 
“I KNEW IT!” She screamed, half in victory, half in bloodlust. She looked ready to kill me, along with whomever the voices in her head were telling her I was fooling around with. This was the perfect ending to a glorious day, and I had had enough.
'You knew what?” I spat. It caught her off guard, but just for a split second. She came back as hard-nosed as ever.
“I knew you had something going on the side,” she said. She was starting to tear up, but she forced herself to continue. She wasn’t going to give me the satisfaction of making her cry. “These past few weeks you’ve been distant, your mind somewhere else every time I tried to talk to you. When I came in from that lingerie shop you asked about Gina,” she said this last like a little girl taunting someone in the playground, “and didn’t say anything about what I bought or if you could see it on me or anything!” I tried to get a word in but she kept going, building up steam all the while.
“And you keep hanging out at the cafĂ©, flirting with Min right in front of her husband. How sick is that!?” She was expending so much energy spewing her venom that she had to pause to take in a deep breath. I took this opportunity to respond while I could.
“Are you insane, or menopausal or both?” Perhaps not the best way of defusing a volatile situation, but I couldn’t help it, it just came out of my mouth before I could stop myself.
“Don’t you dare try to make this about me, you bastard!”
I was speechless; she had never cursed before, at least not in front of me.
I started out trying to reason with her. “What on earth has you thinking I would ever play around on you?” Then I just had to throw more gas on the fire, “Do you actually think I’d want to take on more crapby hooking up with another lunatic like you? And how on earth can you possibly think that I flirt with Min? If I was looking for something on the side, I wouldn’t be chasing my best friend’s wife, especially when she’s every bit as nuts as the wack-job I’m married to!”
“Oh, you son-of-a—“
“And don’t cuss at me!”
“Don’t try that ‘righteous indignation’ act with me!” she screamed so loud I was sure the neighbors could hear every word. “You were seen in Payson today, with a girl half your age in your arms, and I know who it was, so don’t try to tell me you were with Jessie!” Oh, my Lord. I couldn’t even go out of town without the rumor mill grinding out lies. My anger subsided as I looked at Tara, seeing the look of betrayal on her face. If our roles were reversed, I would feel the same way she did right now.
I sighed, then in a lower voice I replied, “Yes, I was with Pam Chapman, but we weren’t in a lovers’ embrace, no matter what you may have heard.”
“Liar,” she accused again, this time with a little less conviction.
“You’re the liar!” I countered. “You claim I don’t notice you when you know full well I can’t take my eyes off of you! You claim I flirt with other women when you know I can’t keep my hands off of you! What on earth has given you the ridiculous idea that I could ever want anyone but you, when you’re all I ever wanted?” Risking a swift knee to the pills, I walked over and put a hand on each of her shoulders and pulled her towards me. She resisted by placing her hands on my chest and pushing, but she resisted less and less until she wrapped her arms around me and buried her face against me.
When she finally spoke, her voice was so small that I almost didn’t hear. “Did you mean that?”
“Which part? That you’re insane or that I’m hopelessly in love with you?”
She mulled that one over. “The second one.”
“Every word.” That was close. I meant the first part, too.
She looked up at me, challenging. “Prove it.”
Well, a man’s got to do what a man’s got to do. Now, if she could just keep from changing personalities until morning…
------------------------------------------------*******************************
Thanks Jeff, for sharing.

Tina

Tuesday, February 28, 2012

Egg-cerpt from Kathy Reinhart


Kathy Reinhart, author of Lily White Lies


Blurb:
Meg Embry has finally faced up to the fact that the shine has worn off her engagement ring, her family members are the equivalent of comfortable strangers and her dreams are running faster than she is. Change is imminent, but where does she begin?
With the support of her two closest friends, one who’ll make her laugh and one who’ll let her cry, Meg faces life head on and learns that sometimes, love, family and betrayal are bound together by lily white lies.
Excerpt:
I bit down on my lip as the door handle slowly turned. The door opened and a big-bosomed woman in a simple gray dress squealed with delight. “Connor, my boy. Come here and give me a hug. Why do you wait so long between visits?”
Con wrapped his arms around the woman’s waist, giving her what she requested. Turning to me, he said, “Meg, this is Ivory…” the affection in his eyes was apparent as he continued, “She’s been like a second mother to me and the only person—other than my grandmother—who could put up with Joker for any length of time.”
Ivory let out a belly laugh. “The ornery one. Yes, well, he’s an acquired taste.” She extended her hand. “Ivory Steck, I’m the housekeeper here, and you are?”
Taking her hand, I replied, “Meg. Meg Embry.”
“Embry?” Turning her attention to Con, she asked, “Is your grandfather expecting you… better yet, is your grandfather expecting her?”
Offering a mischievous smile, Con answered, “I thought we’d surprise him.”
Ivory shook her head and motioned us in. “Oh, you will. The man’s over seventy-years-old, you may just be dishing up his last surprise.”
I found her remark disturbing and turned to Con for reassurance. He smiled and shook his head at Ivory.
“Mom used to say there wasn’t enough arsenic in the world to kill him off so I wouldn’t worry about this fazing him.”
Ivory let out another full belly laugh causing her large chest to vibrate, and then led us from the foyer, down a long hall.
The house was enormous with pressed tin ceilings that had to be at least twelve feet high, an open staircase that was a solid sex feet wide and plank flooring covered with enough lacquer to reflect the light that streamed through the floor to ceiling windows. Carved in intricate detail, the woodwork was commonplace in a house built over a century ago. Antique furniture filled every corner of every room and framed artwork hung on the walls.
The hallway ended at a set of French doors, the glass panes covered by white lace curtains. Ivory stopped I n front of the doors, turned toward us, and said, “Good luck,” as she knocked twice.
I heard, “What is it?” barked out from behind the door.
Ivory appeared unaffected by his rudeness. “Your grandson is here to visit. Shall I send him in?”
“Grandson? It’s been so damn long since I’ve seen the boy; I almost forgot I had one. Yeah, get him on in here.”
Ivory opened the door, offering a sympathetic smile.
Con patted her arm and whispered, “Don’t worry Ivory. I’ll get her out before he hurts her.”
I felt my breath catch in my throat. What had I gotten myself in to? I looked up in time to catch Con wink at Ivory and let out the breath I’d been holding.
About the author:
Kathy Reinhart, restauranteur turned author of 3 novels, including the award-winning ‘Lily White Lies’ lives in southern Pennsylvania where aside from writing, she enjoys interacting with other authors on her blog ‘Ink Drop Interviews’, cooking, horses, travel, but most of all, spending time with her granddaughters, Joonie & the Little One.
Visit Kathy at
Website: www.kathyreinhart.com (Under ‘heavy’ construction)

Sunday, February 26, 2012

Egg-cerpt with Sherry Gloag



His Chosen Bride

Blurb:

        Prince Henri Gasquet is happy to let his father, the king, choose his bride for him until he meets Monica Latimer.

Monica Latimer is not prepared to risk letting any man close enough to learn about her Gift. A gift that normally has men running for the hills when they find out about it.





Excerpt:



She lost track of time until the flames caught her attention once more. They flickered from orange to gold, to silver, to white.

A flurry of snowflakes masked the flames and for a second Monica watched the most beautiful, pristine snow-scene she’d ever seen. Her lips curved in longing. How she’d love to get a toboggan and slide down that slope. She knew where it was, and had done just that many times in her childhood, first with her parents and then, in clandestine manner, with her brother. Sneaking an old tin tray from the back of her mother’s walk-in pantry, she’d then grabbed Billy’s hand and they’d rushed out the back gate, heading for the lakeside track that led up into the hills.

Darkness, dense and thick with grief dropped over the scene. Startled and disconcerted by the strength of emotion emanating from the vision Monica shifted to her knees, ready to stand, when a voice, a deep male voice, sharp with fear called out her name.
“Monica!”

She knew she’d never heard the voice before, and yet—it was as familiar to her as the image she saw in her mirror each morning.

“Help me, Monica.”

Desperate for more clues, she searched the darkness within the flames until it sputtered and faded. With a curse she jumped up and ran for the phone. With her outstretched hand hovering over it she halted and let her hand drop to her side once more. What could she say? What would the police or rescue team think of her if she called them and told them she’d seen a vision of a man in distress?

They’d laugh in her face and classify her as a lunatic. Well, maybe not. It wouldn’t be the first time she’d contacted them with positive information but something—an instinctive gut reaction told her what she’d seen this time hadn’t happened yet.



Saturday, February 25, 2012

Egg-cerpt Exchange by Penelope Rivers


In high school, Farrell was cruel toward Toyo Hayashi, the transfer student. Ten years later Farrell is in an abusive relationship with a man named Allen that cheats and lies, and he works a dead-end job with a terrible boss. All that is about to change, however, when he gets hired on at a new wing of his company. Unfortunately, the last thing that he expects is that his new boss is none other than Toyo Hayashi, the boy that he used to bully. Farrell is determined to prove that he's changed, but will Toyo give him the chance?

http://peneloperiversreleases.weebly.com/
http://www.amirapress.com/index.php?main_page=index&cPath=66

Friday, February 24, 2012

Egg-cerpt Exchange with Susan Wingate

Susan Wingate’s DROWNING
Nabs #1 Amazon Bestseller spot AND wins first place!
In the category of drama in the 2011 Forward National Literature Award.
Earlier this year, DROWNING, had won an award as a finalist in the 2011 International Book Awards.
Description: cid:2.1691523292@web37101.mail.mud.yahoo.com
What people have said about Wingate’s writing & “Drowning”–
“Simply put, Susan Wingate is a master of the written word.” -Joshua Graham, bestselling, award-winning author of “Darkroom” and “Beyond Justice”
“A vivid voice”
-Jennifer (St. Martin’s Press)

“…a character of memorable proportions emerges, and we have a new heroine to cheer on and to embrace.”
-Phyllis Schieber
“At turns lyrical and touching, you’ll find this an exercise in emotion and intimacy. Highly recommended.” - Michael Angel (author of bestselling fantasy novel, “The Detective & The Unicorn”)
“a powerful novel that is designed to show the conflicts as well as the complex inner workings of human nature.” - author, Veronica Esagui
“A sensitive tale of love struggling to unwind Taut narrative Crisp dialogue” -Michelle James (author)

“A very insightful and moving book it’s a page-turner.”
-Michael Conrad

“A staff pick and a favorite.” -Roberts Press

Available in paperback at: Roberts Press, 324 pages, ISBN: 9780615448121
Available on in eBook format AND paperback through:
Amazon.com,
Barnes&Noble.com, &
Smashwords.com
Susan Wingate is the Author/Instructor of the very popular writing workshop, “Muscle-up the Gut of Your Story: How to Write the Novel”
This award-winning novel is written in picaresque of or relating to a type of fiction in which the hero, a rogue, goes through a series of episodic adventures. [The picaresque] originated in Spain in the 16th century. “Even with her mother’s death days away, even as her marriage is falling apart, Euly Winger leaves home, returning to the place she grew up in order to uncover a dark secret about her family’s past.” A suspenseful and inspirational read, DROWNING, is a story of love and redemption, loss and forgiveness. Categorized as mainstream contemporary women’s fiction.
DROWNING
by Susan Wingate
Prologue – Child’s Play
I took my last breath on a blistering hot day but it felt cool. The second my brother pushed me in, when my feet left the deck, I reacted – my body curving and twisting into correct formation and diving with my fingertips first into the sweet welcome contrast of the pool’s frigid water. Young bodies are like that – supple and quick to respond.
He didn’t get away with it. He didn’t win. See, I decided to play a trick on him for pushing me.
Each millimeter, every dry molecule of my skin became drenched as I dove beneath the surface, deep, deeper to the bottom. I stayed down longer than necessary and the funny thing was? It made me happy down there.
A beating drum pounded my chest with music
from the party above and voices sounding like Charlie Brown’s cartoon mother saying wah wah wah, swallowed up their words and muffled through a filter of water.
After deciding my time spent below had been long enough, I pushed off the scratchy surface of the pool but there were so many people floating, dog- paddling, coursing the length of the pool, re- surfacing, it reminded me of a fantastical dance, maybe one performed only in heaven, hanging over my head. But, I knew I could hold my breath a long time. We had breath-holding-contests in the shallow end of our pool, at home, all the time.

To read more of Susan’s “Drowning,” go to her website at: www.susanwingate.com.
“Drowning” and all of Susan’s books are available at the following online bookstores:

Thursday, February 23, 2012

Egg-cerpt Exchange with Zrinka Jelic


Thank you for having me here today as your Egg-cerpt exchanger. My debut novel “Bonded by Crimson” has been released on January 28th, and it is available in all formats at Black Opal Books, Amazon, Smashwords, Barnes & Noble




AUTHOR’S BIO - Zrinka Jelic lives in Ontario, Canada, with her husband and two children. A member of the Romance Writers of America and its chapter Fantasy Futuristic &Paranormal, as well as Savvy Authors, she writes contemporary fiction—which leans toward the paranormal—and adds a pinch of history. Her characters come from all walks of life, and although she prefers red, romance comes in many colors. Given Jelic’s love for her native Croatia and the Adriatic Sea, her characters usually find themselves dealing with a fair amount of sunshine, but that’s about the only break they get. “Alas,” Jelic says, with a grin. “Some rain must fall in everyone’s life.”

BLURB

Love isn’t in the cards for her…

After her short failed marriage, Kate tries to rebuild her life and takes a position as a nanny to three small boys. She quickly grows to love them, but their father, terrifies her, while igniting a passion she didn’t know she possessed. Disturbed by his distant manner with his sons, Kate struggles to make him more involved in the boys’ daily lives. Her efforts are mysteriously supported by an entity that cannot really exist. Or can she? And if she does exist, is she really trying to help Kate, or just take over her body?

But when he deals the hand, all bets are off…

Six years after his beloved wife passed away, Matthias is still trying to become the father she wanted him to be. Not an easy task for a three-centuries-old immortal. His search for the ultimate nanny ends when Kate Rokov stumbles to his home and into his arms. The immediate attraction he feels for her seems like a betrayal of his dead wife, a love he’s harboured for over three hundred years. But when Kate is stalked by a deadly stranger, life he clung to in the past begins to crumble and break down. Can Matthias learn to trust and to love again in time to save his family from disaster, or will his stubborn pride destroy everything worth living for?

EXCERPT

He claimed to be immortal, but that was ridiculous...wasn’t it?

Kate’s heart hammered. The experience seemed so real. A low moan escaped her and she bit her lip. Soon warmth surged through her, causing her body to go limp. Her legs gave way underneath her, but Matthias—or whoever this man claimed to be now—wrapped his arm around her waist. His sweet, musky scent clung to her. Ecstasy filled her and she felt as if she hovered in the air. If he intended to kill her like this, she could imagine no better way to die. A voice echoed through her mind, speaking of undying love in centuries old Croatian.

“Wake up,” he whispered close to her ear, his strong arms still locked around her.

“I don’t want to.” Her head wobbled, exuberant with sheer happiness, a kind she had never experienced before.

“You must.” He stroked her hair with tender fingers. “Wake up now.”

“No. I want to stay like this. Forever.” She focused on his handsome face staring at her through her haze.

His smooth cheek brushed against hers. “Me too, but you must wake.”

The fog lifted and his image appeared, clearly now. She blinked once. Twice. What had happened? She pushed away from him and flattened her back against the wall.

“You, you—”

“You,” he said, pointing at her, “asked for proof.”

Places to find Zrinka

http://zrinkajelicromanceauthor.wordpress.com/


Wednesday, February 22, 2012

First Egg-cerpt from Shannon Donnelly


PATHS OF DESIRE
ISBN: 978-0-9831423-9-3





With too many secrets in her past, and too little future as an actress, Theodosia Newell wants one thing more than all else—security. She’s seen her mother abandoned, her younger brother die, and she’s vowed never to be poor. But then her path crosses that of a man who tempts her to abandon caution and all thought for the future for a passionate affair. Can she find the courage to break from her deepest fears? And will her love prove enough to save them both?

Born with a soul for adventure, David Llewellyn cannot resist a challenge—and his enthusiasm for life is as magnetic as his personality. But two women share his life, and only one can be his. Will his stubborn refusal to make a choice between them lead him to lose everything? Or will he find, in the journey to the lost city he dreams of discovering, a path to a deeper love than he thought possible?

For ten years, the affair between David and Thea goes from passion to love. Lives are changed.  Secrets come out. Marriages end. And new ones begin. Through it all, the desire of two strong-willed people lead them to clash, and to eventually find their own path--to each other and to facing the need and love they share.  From London to Italy to Syria, the Paths of Desire lead them on a journey they must make together.


EXCERPT

            Leaning forward, he cupped her face and kissed her, hard and deep. She held still under his touch, but her lips parted, her tongue met his. Her hand stole up to clutch at his coat collar. He moved his hand from her face to her breast. Kissed her until he had no breath. He pulled away while he still could and leaned his forehead against hers, breath mingling in matching ragged gasps.

            “I don’t know what you do to me—I’ve not looked at any woman in months. Not had one for longer. I’d convinced myself I’d had no need for this.”

            “I’m not doing anything!”

            “You are—just by existing. I’d forgotten the joy of bringing a woman pleasure. I’d forgotten too much.”

            She turned away and pulled her cloak tight. “I’m not looking for pleasure—I’m looking for a husband.” He gave a laugh, and she turned to him. “You wouldn’t laugh at a lady who said as much—and you wouldn’t handle a lady as you have me!”

            “No—thank merciful heaven for that. But I want more than to touch you.”

            “Go away—and stay away! You...you’re a distraction! An arrogant, conceited distraction. And—”

            He caught her wrist. “Don’t lie to me. Don’t lie to yourself. This doesn’t end here between us.”


Tuesday, February 21, 2012

Come on Along and Do the Egg-cerpt Exchange


Two authors agree to exchange information about their books. Each post the information on their blogsite with picture of the book, blurb, excerpt, links to other author's site and buy links to the book.

Arrange the dates ahead of time and exchange information via email.
I then put it on my blogspot site which is then feed into Facebook and Google +. In exchange you do the same for me by putting my information on your blog sites. It’s a great way to promote your book.

The one thing to remember is these are general access sites so the excerpts have to be less graphic.

Contact me today to reserve your date -- tina9561(at)yahoo.com

( I only post one book a day and I have a list on my blogsite of the authors participating with a link to their site.)

Check out my awesome guest on the right hand side of my blog.


Tina
http://www.tinagayle.net/