Chatting with PJ Gray

I'm excited to be chatting with PJ Gray, author of low comprehension fiction for emerging and reluctant readers of all ages. These books are perfect for mystery fans!

Please help me welcome PJ.

What inspired you to write this book?

The essence of the main character (Luna Garza) came to me in a dream. That had never occurred in my writing career. Once I began to develop her personality, the rest followed.


What are you working on now?

The first seven books in the series are being released this spring. I am currently working on number 10.


How did you come up with the concept and/or characters for the book?

I knew I wanted to write a mystery with supernatural elements. Once I realized that the main character was going to be a Nancy Drew, I knew the best setting would be a historical place/town. That kind of history is a wellspring for creativity.


Tell us about your main character.
Luna Garza, a tween growing up in small-town Ohio. Mysteries seem to find Luna and she can’t help but get pulled into solving them.


Tell us about the research you did before writing this book.

Research varies with each book in the series. Once the story is captured in outline form, I devote research time any historic elements that require accuracy.


Tell us three things we’d find if we looked under your heroine’s bed?

--a pair of new slippers
--her older and much-worn favorite slippers that she can’t seem let go
--a cookbook titled “Best Meatballs from Around the World” that she needs to return to the library


What are you reading?

Keep the Aspidistra Flying by George Orwell

Tell us about a book that stayed with you long after you finished reading it.

The Botany of Desire by Michael Pollan


Did anyone’s writing inspire you to become an author?
Too many to count


Guilt pleasure… books you can’t get enough of?

Cookbooks

About the series

Series Title: Luna Garza: Accidental Detective (book series)

Author: PJ Gray

Genre: Supernatural Mystery

Blurb: Mysteries seem to find Luna Garza, a tween growing up in small-town Ohio. Luna can’t help but get pulled into solving them. Middle school readers will love following Luna as she digs into the puzzling occurrences that arise during her everyday life in an all-American town.

Learn more and buy links

Saddleback Educational Publishing

About the author: PJ Gray is an author of low comprehension fiction for emerging and reluctant readers of all ages. His writing career has included television writing, magazine editing, ghost writing, blogging, research, food writing and editing, cookbook publishing as well as storytelling. He currently resides in Chicago, Illinois.

Connect with PJ Gray

Book Tour & Review: Green Go, Red Stop! by Tara Hill-Starks

I'm delighted to be a host for the Green Go, Red Stop! book tour hosted by Goddess Fish Tours. Tara Hill-Starks will be awarding a $10 Amazon or Barnes and Noble GC to a randomly drawn winner via rafflecopter during the tour!

Green GO, Red STOP!

by Tara Hill-Starks

GENRE: Children's

BLURB:

JJ and his friend CC venture out into the neighborhood on their bikes. They meet friends and encounter life challenges that make them think about their choices. JJ and CC must make decisions based on kindness, helping others, and honesty. JJ is guided by his fascination of traffic lights and the valuable life lessons his adoring and wise grandmother taught him. Along the way, JJ remembers what he has learned. Will JJ and CC make good choices?

Green GO, Red STOP! is an interactive and fun read for children to learn and understand the concepts of character traits and how important they are in life. The question to the young reader is Green GO, Red STOP! What YOU gonna do off top?

GRAB YOUR COPY OF GREEN GO, RED STOP!

AMAZON.COM - AMAZON.CA - AMAZON KINDLE - 

BOOKSHOP - BARNES & NOBLE - BOOK DEPOSITORY -

Peek between the pages

We see my elderly neighbor unloading groceries from his car.
He drops the bag and his groceries go everywhere.
He is unable to pick up all the groceries from the ground.
He looks sad. He needs help.

Green GO, Red STOP!


What YOU gonna do off top?

CC and I jump off our bikes to help him.
We gather all the groceries and put everything back in the grocery bag.
My neighbor gives each of us a big red apple to thank us for helping him. “Yummy!”

My Thoughts

Green Go, Red Stop! is infused with friendship and kindness. JJ's grandmother has taught him the importance of caring and affection and he shares these lessons with his friend CC. Together, they show readers how rewarding it can be to choose kindness. The prose and illustrations in this beautiful picture book are delightful.  

Enter the Giveaway

a Rafflecopter giveaway

About the author:
Tara Hill-Starks is an education professional with a flair for all things business. A North Carolina native, she has a master’s degree in business administration and is a proud member of Delta Sigma Theta Sorority, Inc. Tara shows her grateful and compassionate heart by helping and giving to others. She enjoys living at the beach with her husband and son.

Her first book, Grandma, I Got This! is inspired by teachings she received from her maternal grandmother as a young child. Her second book, Green GO, Red STOP! is enthused by her young son and his love for the outdoors. Both works capture valuable life lessons young children can learn.

Joseph Starks III, the son of the author, is portrayed by the character JJ in Green GO, Red STOP! As an energetic boy, he finds enjoyment in nature and exploring the outdoors by riding his bike through the neighborhood. On the way to and from school each day, JJ shouts “Green GO, Mommy!” when the light is green and “Red STOP, Mommy!” when the light turns red. His joy and enthusiasm are delightful, inspiring the author to create the title and adventures in the book.

Connect with Tara Hill-Starks

Website - Tara Hill-Starks – Author (authortarahillstarks.com)

Facebook - Author Tara Hill-Starks | Facebook

Instagram - Tara Hill-Starks (@tarahillstarks) • Instagram photos and videos

Twiter - Tara Hill-Starks (@tarahillstarks) / Twitter

Goodreads - Tara Hill-Starks (Author of Grandma, I Got This!) | Goodreads

Chatting with author Colleen L Donnelly

I'm delighted to have Colleen Donnelly with me today. She shared the inspiration behind The Lady's Arrangement, a book that stayed with her, and what makes her laugh out loud. Plus there's an excerpt from her latest book.

What inspired you to write this book?

In my younger and more agile days, I took on the project of restoring an old, one-room schoolhouse in Kansas. Located on one acre and surrounded by fields and prairie, I was surprised at the amount of history I discovered regarding that small parcel of land. Its deed read like a novel with names and stories of people who had owned the property long before I came along, some transactions carrying the signature of Abraham Lincoln even. But the one that caught my eye was of the wife and children of a man who bought it and then unfortunately died. She appealed to Kansas to keep the property, but state law forbade widows any rights to land left behind by their deceased husbands. This woman made more than one appeal to keep the property, but Kansas awarded it to another man in the end, and she and her children were forced to leave.

Tell us about a book that stayed with you long after you finished reading it.

“The Monk” written by Matthew Lewis in 1796. Lewis was only nineteen when he wrote this book, and some deem it the first Gothic Horror story. If it was true horror as we think of it today, I wouldn’t have been able to read it, but this story is about the inner horror of a man believed and aspiring to be the epitome of good, when inside he is tormented by lust and evil.


What makes you laugh out loud?

I’m sorry. This is awful, but I laugh when someone, even myself, trips and falls. Without hurting anything other than their pride, of course. My husband holds the record for the longest fall, and therefore my longest giggle, when he tried unsuccessfully to keep his balance for innumerable yards before he tumbled into the dirt. It has been deemed the 90-Yard Fall in our family as we often recount his cartoonish efforts to keep upright and defy gravity.

Just reading the story had me laughing out loud! Thanks so much for being here!  

About the Book

The Lady’s Arrangement

Author: Colleen L Donnelly

Genre: Historical Romance

Blurb

Neither Rex nor Regina wants a spouse, but they do have needs.

Ranger Rex Duncan needs a false identity—just long enough to uncover a ring of Kansas ranch thieves. Answering Regina’s ad for a temporary husband, he leaves his beloved red dirt of Oklahoma to assume that disguise. But the most obstinate woman he’s ever known confounds his assignment, and with hair the red color that has always made his heart beat a little faster.

Regina Howard needs a new Mrs. in front of her name—just long enough to reclaim her deceased husband’s ranch, since Kansas law won’t allow women to own property. When Rex answers her ad for a husband who can take orders as part of a brief business arrangement, she finds this stubborn man ignores her every command. Yet a good man is far more than just a name…

Grab your copy

Amazon   |  Goodreads  |  BookBub

Peek between the pages

Ben was tall, and he felt even taller as he took a step closer and leaned my way. “It takes two to bind a contract, and since I’ve just withdrawn, your arrangement is null and void. And just so you know, you can thank your lucky stars I’m not staying to marry you, because I take surprises a lot better than I take orders.” His eyes stayed on mine until his gaze traveled from my face down to my boots. “And wearing trousers doesn’t make you any more suited to giving orders than wearing a skirt would make me fit for giving birth.”

My nails dug into my palms as I rolled my hands into fists. A word I’d heard Ted say when a pail slid off his bad arm came to mind. The word was immoral, but probably not too immoral for Ben Miller. “Just so you know, Mr. Miller, I’ve been running this ranch for three weeks now, in pants. I find skirts get in the way of things you’d probably be surprised I can do.”

The half-smile returned. “I won’t argue that. Skirts surely do get in the way.” Ben straightened and slapped his hat tighter on his head. “Been my experience, too. Fortunately, neither one of us has to put up with one, since you can keep right on doing things the way you have been. I’m giving you an early parting. I’m leaving.”

About the author:
Born and raised in the Midwest, Colleen studied and worked in science, using that career to travel and explore other parts of the country. An avid fan of literature, both reading and writing, she loves tales involving moral dilemmas and the choices people come up against. A lover of the outdoors as well as a comfy living room, Colleen is always searching inside and out for the next good story.

Connect with Colleen

Website  |  Facebook  |  Goodreads  |  Amazon

Book Blitz & Giveaway: Zealot by C. Vonzale Lewis

I'm thrilled to be a part of Zealot by C. Vonzale Lewis Book Blitz organized by Xpresso Book Tours. C. Vonzale Lewis will be awarding a $25 Amazon gift card plus an ebook copy of Lineage to a randomly drawn winner.

Zealot

C. Vonzale Lewis
(Blood and Sacrifice Chronicles, #2)
Published by: Parliament House
Publication date: March 22nd 2022
Genres: Adult, Fantasy

Nicole Fontane thought her demons were buried deep enough. She was wrong.

After barely escaping the blood bath of the Harvest ritual, Nicole and her vigilante compatriots learn that there are others practicing blood magick on Tulare Island.

Hired to rid the island of the remaining blood magick users, Nicole and her allies come face to face with The Better Day Church and the mysterious Young Family, whose nefarious behavior is well known on the island. The murky organization stirs old memories of a cult buried deep in the Louisiana bayou—flickers of Nicole’s traumatic past and the altar she barely escaped.

But when Nicole receives an invitation to the Young family’s private residence to attend a secret meeting with The Daughters of the Vine—an elusive sect of women led by Gavina Young—she knows there is no escaping her fraught history with cults.

The invite is clearly a trap, but it’s also an opportunity to take down the church. Nicole soon learns that the sickness lurking behind the walls of the Young family’s manor runs far deeper than the banal allure of blood magick. The church’s matriarch harbors a predatory interest in Nicole’s power—barely disguising her desire to harness it.

Nicole must unravel the mysteries of her newfound abilities, or her first job may be her last. Worst of all, she may end up on the altar again.

Goodreads / Amazon

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PRAISE FOR ZEALOT:

“For those who read Lineage, be prepared for Zealot’s wild ride…The twists were great, the writing fabulous…It’s a sequel not to be missed!”
– Candace Robinson, Best Selling Author of the Faeries from Oz series.

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“Ms. Lewis kept us on a fast track with everything that was happening.”

–Rita Smith, Goodreads Reviewer

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“Could. NOT. Put. It. DOWN!!!”
–Kelli Lea, Goodreads Reviewer

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“This story is full of exciting twists, turns and mystery sure to suck in many avid readers.”
–Elizabeth Chapson, Goodreads reviewer

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“A definite must read.”
–Thomas Lake, Goodreads reviewer

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“I love this series.”
–Shell Moore, Goodreads reviewer

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“Lacing magic and demons, the author takes us on a freefall ride of terror and violence as Nicole and her friends take on the monsters that hide and feed on the innocent.”
– Dave Wickenden, Author of Homegrown

—

MEET SOME OF THE CHARACTERS!

Author Bio:

My name is Carla Vonzale Lewis and I like my martinis shaken… never stirred.

Carla was born in Georgia, but please don’t mistake her for a Georgia peach. She’s more like a prickly pear. Speaking of being born, someone asked her recently if she remembered her birth. And she had to say, “Yes, I do remember that handsy doctor pulling me out into the cold. Right Bastard!!!”

Despite being born in the South, she grew up in California. Every once in a great while she gets to experience all four seasons. But mostly, it’s just heat.

When not writing, Carla enjoys reading, binge watching shows on Netflix, and trying to convince her husband that getting a dog is a wonderful idea.

And one day, she will discover how many licks it actually takes to get to the center of a Tootsie Pop.

Website / Goodreads / Facebook / Instagram / Twitter / Bookbub / Pinterest / TikTok

GIVEAWAY!
a Rafflecopter giveaway

Hosted by:

Chatting with author Roxanne Dunn

I'm delighted to welcome author Roxanne Dunn to my blog and to tell you about her latest book Murder Undetected. Let's start with a speed round, which is always a fun way to get to know someone. 

Speed round

Morning or night? Night owl, definitely

Favorite food? Chocolate croissants

Favorite movie? African Queen

Favorite book? Citizen Vince

Last book read? Hotel Pastis

Black or white? Black AND white

Stilettos or flipflops or sneakers? Flipflops in Maui

Favorite song? Unchained Melody

Cake, cookies, or pie? Chocolate chip cookies

Favorite thing to do to relax? Read

Roxanne shared a couple of photos with us. She took these photos while doing research in Provence. The hilltop town in Murder Undetected is fictional, but it resembles these photos. They are stunning! And I can already see Brittany Thornton looking out over the town and strolling through the cobblestone streets wearing that big floppy hat on the cover.

Gordes

St. Paul de Vance

About the Book

Murder Undetected

Author: Roxanne Dunn

Genre: Suspense

Blurb

This fast-paced mystery spans the globe with suspense, action, and thrills. Newly minted psychologist Brittany Thornton thinks she has her life all dialed in, but when her husband is arrested for fraud and the FBI seizes all her assets, she loses everything, including her confidence.

Troubles follow her from Seattle to a village in the south of France, where the town’s darling is getting away with murder, and only Brittany suspects her. Will she trust her instincts and put herself in danger to stop her?

Grab your copy!

Amazon  |  Barnes & Noble  |  Wild Rose Press  |  Author's Works

Peek between the pages

“The rumor flying around Chevalier is that you tried to blackmail Viane. I know you’re a little crazy.” Arielle winked. “But not that nuts.”

“Actually, I did.”

Arielle’s eyebrows shot up. “Seriously?”

“Seriously. I hoped if I could get hush money from her it would be tantamount to an admission of guilt, something I could take to the gendarmes.”

“That’s brilliant. So, now the whole town thinks you pushed her down the stairs because she refused to pay you.”

“They’re wrong. I didn’t push her. I kicked her.”

“Brittany Ann Thornton, where are your manners?”

About the author :

The author of Murder Unrehearsed and Murder Undetected, Roxanne Dunn has studied writing in Paris and Seattle and writes the galley column for Pacific Yachting magazine.

She lives on an island in the Pacific Northwest where she volunteers as a writer for Wild Orca, https://www.wildorca.org/, an organization committed to saving the endangered Southern Resident killer whales, and leads weekly beach cleanups.

Roxanne is a retired physical therapist, a foodie, a fanatic about good chocolate, and a private pilot. She lived aboard an old wood motor yacht for seventeen years, and in her dreams, is a pianist of renown, an acceptable water color artist, and a globe-trotting yogini.

Connect with Roxanne Dunn

Facebook  |  Twitter  |  Instagram