Showing posts with label guest post. Show all posts
Showing posts with label guest post. Show all posts

Release Day Blitz: In The Line of Duty by Carolyn Arnold

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itlofdBLURB He devoted his life to seeking justice. But would she get any for him? It was an ordinary day for police officer Barry Weir. It was the end of shift, he was tired, and he just wanted to get home to his wife and kids. But someone had other plans for him, shooting him down and forcing him to make the ultimate sacrifice. When news of Weir’s murder reaches the department, it leaves Detective Madison Knight and every cop in the Stiles PD itching for revenge. It cuts Madison’s boyfriend, colleague, and Weir’s childhood friend, Troy Matthews, deepest of all, driving him away from everyone he loves just when they need one another the most. With evidence pointing to a gang-related drive-by, Madison and her team investigate the town’s seedy underbelly in search of justice for their fallen brother. But the deeper they dig, the more convoluted the case becomes. Now they need to figure out if this was a random shooting as part of a gang initiation, a straight-up hate crime, or a targeted kill. But with members of the Stiles PD under attack, they have to do it fast…before more officers pay with their lives.    

PURCHASE
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  ABOUT THE DETECTIVE MADISON KNIGHT SERIES 
Murder. Investigation. The pursuit of justice. 
Do you love trying to figure out whodunit? How about investigating alongside police detectives from the crime scene to the forensics lab and everywhere in between? Do you love a strong female lead? Then I invite you to meet Detective Madison Knight as she solves murders with her male partner, utilizing good old-fashioned investigative work aided by modern technology. This is the perfect book series for fans of Law & Order, CSI, Blue Bloods, Rizzoli & Isles, Women’s Murder Club, and Hawaii Five-O. Read in any order or follow the series from the beginning: Ties That Bind, Justified, Sacrifice, Found Innocent, Just Cause, Deadly Impulse, In the Line of Duty, Life Sentence (Bonus Prequel).   
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Author Bio CAROLYN ARNOLD is an international best-selling and award-winning author, as well as a speaker, teacher, and inspirational mentor. She has four continuing fiction series—Detective Madison Knight, Brandon Fisher FBI, McKinley Mysteries, and Matthew Connor Adventures—and has written nearly thirty books. Her genre diversity offers her readers everything from cozy to hard-boiled mysteries, and thrillers to action adventures. Both her female detective and FBI profiler series have been praised by those in law enforcement as being accurate and entertaining, leading her to adopt the trademark: POLICE PROCEDURALS RESPECTED BY LAW ENFORCEMENT™. Carolyn was born in a small town and enjoys spending time outdoors, but she also loves the lights of a big city. Grounded by her roots and lifted by her dreams, her overactive imagination insists that she tell her stories. Her intention is to touch the hearts of millions with her books, to entertain, inspire, and empower. She currently lives just west of Toronto with her husband and beagle and is a member of Crime Writers of Canada and Sisters in Crime.   

Connect with CAROLYN ARNOLD Online: Website - http://carolynarnold.net/ Twitter - https://twitter.com/Carolyn_Arnold Facebook - https://www.facebook.com/AuthorCarolynArnold   And don’t forget to sign up for her newsletter for up-to-date information on release and special offers at http://carolynarnold.net/newsletters.

Blog Tour Including a Guest Post by Eva A. Blaskovic, Author of Beyond the Precipice


About Beyond The Precipice by Eva A. Blaskovic:

A young man with a dark secret must choose between his family and the girl he loves.

For six years Bret Killeen is trapped by the wishes of his dead father, blackmailed by his brother, and rejected by his uncle. Meanwhile, he watches his mother descend into the depths of poverty.

As Bret wrestles with guilt over the death of his father, he is helped by Nicole, a young cello player with big dreams. She stirs the embers of his longing both for music and for her - and ignites a fire he can't extinguish.

But can he brave his past in order to seize his future?
The award-worthy debut novel by Eva A. Blaskovic is a riveting blend of suspense, dark humor, and compelling inter-personal drama. Once you engage this roller coaster read you won't be able to stop.

Purchase The Book:
Amazon Kindle: http://www.amazon.com/Beyond-Precipice-Eva-Blaskovic-ebook/dp/B00C3NZAU2/
Paperback: http://www.amazon.com/Beyond-The-Precipice-Eva-Blaskovic/dp/0988163810/
Ashby-BP Publishing:  https://ashby-bp.com/product/beyond-the-precipice/
KOBO: http://store.kobobooks.com/en-US/ebook/beyond-the-precipice

Guest Blog: In the Eye of the Beholder
by Eva Blaskovic

I grew up believing that you present your attributes to the world, get evaluated objectively, and, based on that evaluation, get assigned the lifestyle you have earned (a.k.a. deserve).

Instead, this wisdom should be applied: Do not present yourself to the world to be evaluated. Assign yourself a value and then present yourself to the world.

When you allow the world to evaluate you, you are empowering other mortals to assess you, with the assumption that they will be objective and have your best interests in mind. In reality, your judges are subjective people with a sphere of life experiences that may be vastly different from your own, are emotional, and have their own interests, problems, prejudices, values, and beliefs through which their perception of you is filtered.

Evaluation is what happens in school, for example. If the subject is math, which isn't subjective and can’t be contested, you’ll likely get an objective assessment in the form of a grade. Tests are capable of evaluating some knowledge, but it is well known today that they do not asses a person’s multiple intelligences accurately. In high school English and social studies, you have to utilize talents and attributes—if you’re lucky to already have them—to the tune of insight, maturity, worldly knowledge, inference, persuasion, written language ability, and the ability to read your teacher and understand the rubric, in addition to knowing essay structure and textbook facts, to get your good marks. It doesn't stop there. Students are evaluated, assessed, and have their futures determined in arts (including music and theatre), athletics, and sciences. People are also evaluated later in life through careers and activities.

But here’s the thing. How do you explain all those who, at some point in their lives (usually early on) had been written off, and yet today they are well-known names—people respected for their abilities, insights, inventions, or other contributions to society?

Thomas Edison: assessed by an elementary schoolteacher as “addled,” when he was, in fact, partially deaf. Thankfully, his mother knew better, homeschooled him, and gave him the chance to reach his potential, which was to become the greatest inventor of the twentieth century, opening a series of companies, some of which are still in existence today.
Lucille Ball: “Too shy.”
The Beatles: “Their guitar music is on the way out.”
Michael Jordan: Cut from the school’s basketball team.
Walt Disney: “No original ideas.”

In this motivational video, who is the real problem? The person? Or the judge(s)?
Thus, the whole rationale many of us live by is backwards.

Why does the reverse work? One thing I've noticed to be ubiquitous—whether in the playground or throughout incidences in history—is that people always respond to confidence. Confidence translates as knowledge and ability, which translates as desirable leadership and good decision-making.
History and the schoolyard have, however, shown us that this is not always true. Confident people do not always have the best answers and frequently muddle things up worse than the non-confident, too shy to speak up but more knowledgeable people. Yet confident people who are good leaders continue to draw willing followers because they are convincing. Since people insist on responding in this way, we can work with it.
If you track successful people, whether they became successful at a young age or have taken a lifetime to figure it out, they all have something in common that they've applied and that works. They evaluate themselves first (or a significant adult believes in them), which makes them confident, gives them purpose, and makes them feel that they have something to offer the world (which they do). Because they have made their own evaluation first, they do not indiscriminately accept everyone else’s judgment along the way, are not as easily discouraged or sidetracked, and thus are not shaken from their cause—or their course—which is to make a living on their own terms. This living is simply an exchange of goods and/or services: they offer something to others that is considered valuable, and others reward them in a way that gives them a satisfying lifestyle.
The more they believe in themselves and persevere, the more others believe in them. When others believe in them, they find their income niche, creating that satisfying lifestyle—on their terms—doing things they want to do, which simultaneously allow them to make a living and thrive. They have convinced others of their value, and hence others have valued (and paid) them.
Thus, the more you believe you can—the more you know you can—the more others believe you can, until it becomes a self-fulfilling prophecy. And that is why you have to assign yourself a value first and then present yourself to the world.


AUTHOR BIO
Eva Blaskovic was born in the Czech Republic, grew up in Ontario, Canada, and moved to Alberta in 1988, where she raised four children. Eva has worked in science labs and has taught literacy, writing, math, and science. She is both an accomplished writer and editor of non-fiction articles on business, education, how-to, parenting, and travel. She is also an author of short fiction. Beyond the Precipice is Eva Blaskovic's first full length novel, but it has already received rave reviews from literary professionals and aficionados the world over. When Eva hasn't buried herself in writing or editing, she may be found taking her teenagers to Taekwondo, exploring the Farmers' Market, listening to Celtic music, or sipping a latte.

Visit her:
Website: http://www.siriusword.com/ebblog/beyond-the-precipice




Blog Tour Book Spotlight:Maria Andreu's The Secret Side of Empty

COMING NEXT SPRING… The Secret Side of Empty

**Read about the book and scroll below for details on how to enter to WIN a $250 Amazon gift card just by liking the author’s Facebook page!**

BOOK BLURB for “Secret Side of Empty”
You've heard the news stories.  Now hear the real story.
M.T. is starting her senior year with a lot going for her.  She gets great grades, has a best friend she met in kindergarten and a boyfriend who is sweet and into her.  But life – at least as she knows it – is about to end.
M.T. is what the news calls “illegal” – she came to the U.S. with her parents as a baby and never got the right papers that allowed her to stay.  She lives in fear of her family getting deported, in even more fear that she’ll have to go to the home country she doesn’t even remember, of people finding out her ugly secret and of the increasingly volatile situation at home.  When senior year is over, the protected world she’s found in her small parochial school will disappear.  Without a social security number, she won’t be able to go to college, get a job or, maybe worst of all, get a driver’s license.

But she’ll worry about all that later.  First, she’s got a senior year to take on.




A Note from the Author, Maria Andreu:
The fulfillment of great dreams feels best when shared, which is why I'm inviting people to Like my Facebook page and come along with me on the fabulous and improbable journey of publishing my first novel.  As my thanks, when you like the page by July 31st, you'll be able to enter to win a fan-only sweeps for a $250 Amazon gift card!  
Why does it feel so unlikely to get to fulfill my dream?  Well, like M.T., the main character of my novel, I was once an undocumented immigrant, which means I spent my teenage years in fear of getting deported from the only country I've ever called home.  I grew up feeling totally American but knowing that a choice my parents had made for me when I was too young to have a say made me unwanted in my homeland.  Although I got my papers through amnesty when I was 18, for years I carried the shame and secrecy of that experience.  So going from little girl hiding in a Tijuana shack waiting to cross the border to published author living all my dreams feels incredibly lucky and nearly impossible.  But I am living proof that dreams do come true.

The Secret Side of Empty is a novel about a teen girl whose life, as she knows it, is going to end after senior year.  It's not just run-of-the-mill, end-of-high-school anxiety... it's really going to end.  Her parents brought her to the U.S. undocumented as a baby, so she's what the news calls "illegal," although she's an American teenager through and through. With no social security number, she'll have to watch as her friends go off to college, get after-school jobs and drivers' licenses and travel overseas on the senior trip, while her life goes into the dangerous shadow of the undocumented.  No one knows the big secret she's keeping, not her best friend Chelsea and not her super-cool boyfriend, Nate.  Things have gotten pretty bad at home too, so she can't turn to anyone there.

What's it like when you have nowhere left to turn and are stuck in circumstances you didn't create and which are beyond your control?  The Secret Side of Empty explores the fear, the hope and how the human spirit ultimately prevails.
Be the first to get updates on the cover, new tour stops, and fan-only content (plus enter a sweeps for a $250 Amazon gift card) by liking the author's Facebook page here:  https://www.facebook.com/maria.andreu.books
The book is already getting industry buzz and news coverage, so Like the FB page to get updates on that as well.


AUTHOR BIO

Maria Andreu is an author and immigration rights activist.  She lives in beautiful Bergen County, New Jersey with her two wonderful middle schoolers.  At the age of 12, she wrote in her diary, "Most of all, I want to be a writer."  Growing up undocumented and poor, she never imagined that dream might come true one day.  Her work has been published in Newsweek, The Washington Post and The Star Ledger and her first novel, The Secret Side of Empty, will be published by Running Press in Spring, 2014.

In Case You Missed it..

On Saturday I had my very first guest post. I rambled on about reading series, and the pitfalls and successes that are prevalent in those books. If you are interested in my thoughts, and would like to share your own, please visit Ahmad Darkside's Musings. Here is the first paragraph of that guest post:

I read, and I read a lot. I can find something good and something bad in just about everything I read. This includes my favorite, and least favorite reads. However, one thing that always makes me sad is an idea or series that starts with incredible potential, and then starts to falter. Sometimes this happens early, and you only need to read the first couple books before calling it quits. Other series keep you entertained into double digits before you can finally let go, or simply keep reading because you do not want to miss your big question being answered or the former level of quality returns. There are many series in adult and young adult that have kept me reading well past the point where I was reading more out of obligation than interest, and on rare occasions this has pleasantly surprised me. However, in most cases I either stop reading the series (eventually) or just hope it ends sometime soon.