Category Archives: Author Tours

John Daly, Author of From a Dead Sleep: On Tour

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This post was most recently updated on July 16th, 2013

Publisher: BQB Publishing  (June 25, 2013)
Category: Thriller/Suspense
Tour Date: June 24th-July 19th
Available in: eBook,  398 pages

Few residents in the small, secluded mountain town of Winston, Colorado, have kind words to say about Sean Coleman. He’s a bully, a drunk, and a crime‐show–addicted, armchair detective with an overactive imagination. After a night of poor judgment, Sean finds himself the sole witness to the unusual suicide of a mysterious stranger.

With the body whisked away in the chilling rapids of a raging river, no one believes Sean’s account. Tormented over the doubts and mockery of the people of Winston, Sean embarks on a far‐reaching crusade that takes him across the country in search of the dead man’s identity and personal vindication. At the end, he hopes to find redemption and the truth—but sometimes the truth is better left unknown. There are times when the truth invites evil. There are times when the truth can get you killed.

“Some writers are thoughtful. Some have style. John Daly has both. When I read his work, it’s time well spent.” – Bernard Goldberg, New York Times bestselling author of ‘Bias‘.

View the Trailer:

About John Daly:

A lifelong Coloradoan, John Daly graduated from the University of Northern Colorado with a degree in business administration and computer information systems. He spent the next fifteen years developing accounting software and Internet-based workflow collaboration solutions.

With a thirst for creative expression that went beyond the logic and absolutes of computer programming, John developed an interest in writing. His early work included newspaper editorials and film and television reviews for entertainment websites. He later became drawn toward more substantive commentary on world events. He currently writes political, cultural, and media analysis columns for the website of Bernard Goldberg, former CBSNews journalist and The New York Times bestselling author.

John felt compelled to take his writing to the next level after watching a television interview with former NFL football player, Tim Green. Inspired by Green’s career transition from a professional athlete to an accomplished author, John found the motivation to begin work on his first novel, From a Dead Sleep.

From a Dead Sleep is the story of a profoundly flawed man who witnesses a tragic event that no one else believes, and that man’s quest for the truth and redemption. The mystery novel unfolds in the dense mountain ranges of Colorado where John has spent much time camping, hiking, and enjoying the outdoors.

John lives in Greeley, Colorado, with his wife and two children. You can visit John’s website at johndalybooks.com or fromadeadsleep.com.

John on Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/JohnDalyAuthor
John on Twitter: https://twitter.com/JohnDalyBooks

Pre-order From a Dead Sleep:

Amazon
Barnes and Noble
BQB Publishing

Follow the Tour:

So Many Precious books June 21 Spotlight & Giveaway
Recent Reads June 24 Review & Giveaway
Romance & Inspirations June 25 Guest Post
Books, Books & More Books June 26 Review
Ordinary Girlz June 27 Review
My Cozy Corner June 28  Review & Giveaway
Housewife Blues & Chihuahua July 1 Interview
Celtic Lady Reviews July 2 Review & Giveaway
Saving for 6 July 8 Review & Guest Post
Buried Under Books July 9 Interview
Succotash Reviews July 10 Review & Giveaway
Laurie’s Non-Para.Thoughts & Reviews July 11 Interview
A Book & a Lattee July 11 Review & Giveaway (Postponed)
Serendipity July 12 Review
Manic Mama of 2 July 15 Review & Giveaway
Literary Etc. July 16 Review

 

Jame DiBiasio, Author of Gaijin Cowgirl

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This post was most recently updated on June 27th, 2013

Publisher: Crime Wave Press  (March 8, 2013)
Category: Action/Adventure, Mystery/Thriller/Suspense, Crime Thriller
Tour Date: Mid May, 2013
Available in: Print &  eBook, 380 pages

Working Tokyo nightclubs is easy money for beautiful and troubled American Val Benson – until a client with a rather unusual hobby – painting the private parts of his female liaisons – reluctantly gives up a map to a stash of Japanese war loot and tempts his favourite girl into a dangerous treasure hunt.

The Congressman’s daughter is not the only one interested in the map: yakuza, bent cops, human traffickers, rogue CIA agents and her father are hot on her trail, snapping at her high heels.

So begins the dark, epic journey of a new anti-hero of Asian Noir, a protagonist both ambiguous and courageous, and utterly unreliable. From comfort women and tomb-raiding in Japanese-occupied Burma to the murderous echoes of the Vietnam War, long forgotten crimes come roaring back to life, as Val leaves a trail of destruction and chaos in her wake.

Together with her best friend, the equally unreliable nightclub hostess Suki, Val travels through Tokyo, Hong Kong and Bangkok to the Thai-Burmese borderlands for a dramatic showdown with her pursuers. Finding the treasure before everyone else does is her only hope for survival, and perhaps redemption.

Praise for Gaijin Cowgirl:

“Val Benson – a rich kid with a few family secrets in her locker winds up in a Japanese hostess bar before entangling herself in a treasure hunt for lost gold in the Thai / Burmese jungle. Along for the ride are Suki (great name) her Japanese hostess friend, Muddy (again great name choice) a gritty Australian treasure hunter, and Simon- a sarf Londan kick boxer.

Reminiscent of Karin Slaughter’s Tokyo the beginning opens with Val arriving in Tokyo, finding her feet in a hostess bar, and meeting an old flame who happens to be a lawyer working on busting former Japanese war criminals. One of whom is also Val’s number one customer, painter of female genitals, and holder of a lost treasure map. Val goes to the client’s home, takes the treasure map along with a bag of cash, battles C.I.A agents, watches the old war criminal nearly die, and escapes with her life, the cash, and the map. Her diplomat father gets her out of the country to Hong Kong where she meets up with Muddy and then onto Bangkok where the search for treasure starts proper.

Gaijin Cowgirl is a high-octane chase thriller; the action level only drops when the author fills us in with historical details – all of which are probably not a hundred percent essential to the plot – interesting nonetheless. The cast is wide and colorful and the backdrop always illuminating. This is a fine first novel by author Jame DiBiasio who moved to Hong Kong from New York in 1997. DiBiasio has researched and structured his novel well, tension rises and lowers, the plot is strong and well resolved. Val finds out something about herself, her family and her place in the world during this adventure. And that, my fellow readers, is what writing character adventure fiction is all about.”-J. Newman, Amazon.com Reviewer

About Jame DiBiasio:

Author photo by Kelvin Fok

Author photo by Kelvin Fok

Jame DiBiasio is an award-winning financial journalist and editor. He is author of the non-fiction The Story of Angkor (published by Silkworm Books in 2013) and blogs at http://asiahacks.com. He lives in Hong Kong.

Jame on Twitter: https://twitter.com/JameDiBiasio
Jame on Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/jamedibiasio.author

About the publisher:

All info can be found on the website of Crime Wave Press: www.crimewavepress.com
Crime Wave Press on Facebook: http://www.facebook.com/CrimeWavePress

Buy Gaijin Cowgirl at:

Amazon

Follow the Tour:

So Many Precious Books May 29 Review & Giveaway
Books, Books & More Books May 30 Review & Interview
In This World of Books May 31 Review & Giveaway
Dab of Darkness June 3 Review
Dab of Darkness June 4 Guest Post
Ordinary Girls June 4 Review & Giveaway
Book Dilettante  June 5 Review
DWED Blog June 7 Review & Interview
From L.A. to LA June 10 Review
Ohana Day Academy June 11 Review
VVb32 Reads June 12 Review & Giveaway
Books & Tales June 13 Interview
Carole Rae’s Random Ramblings June 17 Review
I Feel So Unnecessary June 18 Review & Giveaway
My Cozy Corner June 19 Guest Post & Giveaway
Indie Writer’s Review June 20 Review & Guest Post
Romance & Inspirations June 21 Review
Book Lover’s Library June 24 Spotlight
Book Lover’s Library June 24 Review
Book Lover’s Library June 24 Interview
Romance & Inspirations June 25 Interview
Alive on the Shelves June 25 Guest Post

Lisa D. Ellis, Author of Finding Lily: On Tour

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This post was most recently updated on June 12th, 2013

Publisher: Soul Mate Publishing  (January 22, 2013)
Category: Women’s Fiction, Literary Fiction, Relationships, Touching on supernatural
Tour Date: Mid May, 2013
Available in: eBook, 180 pages

Sometimes the ties that bind people together can also tear them apart. In FINDING LILY, first-time novelist Lisa D. Ellis explores that delicate balance that exists in all relationships and tries to find meaning in a world that is sometimes kind and sometimes harsh.

Her narrator Claire, who is reeling after the unexpected loss of a newborn baby Lily, walks the fine line between love, loss, heartache and healing. Unable to cope with her grief, which seems magnified by her husband Jim’s colder coping style, Claire leaves Jim behind and runs away to live in a lighthouse she had fallen in love with as a child.

At first all Claire wants is an escape but slowly, the lighthouse sheds new light on her situation and helps her reimagine her life in a new way, sometimes with her feet on the ground and sometimes lifting up beyond the boundaries of reality to help her reconnect with Lily. Claire’s memorable journey to the lighthouse — and back again — is a story of hope and of possibility.

Readers will fall in love with Claire and with the rich images and rhythmic tones that Ellis masterfully weaves from the very first page through to the satisfying conclusion of FINDING LILY.

Praise for Finding Lily:

“In Finding Lily, Lisa D. Ellis offers up a lyrical–yet practical–first novel that so accurately depicts not only a woman’s first love, but her first loss as well.  As the narrator grapples with the death of her infant daughter, Claire slips between the surreal gossamer world of devastating grief and the unknown turf of the inevitable marital discord that accompanies the death of a child–as represented by that  “invisible line in the bed” between Claire and Jim.

Her husband is an attorney, she knows that–but she is still horrified that, even while her “arms still felt the shape of Lily in them,” Jim tells her to be “reasonable,” saying between forkfuls of homemade cake, “We can have another child soon.”

Although she is aware of what she calls “the grateful way he looks at me when he thinks I am asleep,” Claire’s anger incites her to retreat–alone–to the  lighthouse in the cold of winter.

Her thoughts and feelings about Jim are further clouded when she sees an image of Lily “suspended inches above the frozen sand in the cold air, like a dancer caught at the end of a leap from which she can never land.” The real question here is whether Claire’s grief–and the apparition of her daughter–will create another loss:  the loss of her marriage.         

In the end, Claire must decide whether her ethereal child is more real and permanent than the foundation of her marriage.  In so doing, Claire’s journey to the lighthouse resonates with the voices of women everywhere who simply want to love, and to be loved, even within the cold grasp of tragedy.  Like Virginia Woolf’s To the Lighthouse, a novel more concerned with lyrical introspection than predictable plot points, Finding Lily is a must-read for anyone who has ever pondered the vagaries of human existence–as defined by both men and women”. –Karen E. Peterson, Ph.D., author of WRITE:  10 Days to Overcome Writer’s Block 

About Lisa Ellis:

Lisa Ellis is a writer whose short fiction has appeared in a number of literary journals and magazines. FINDING LILY is her first novel. She has a master’s degree in journalism from Boston University and provides health content regularly for hospitals and websites in New England and the tri-state area.

Lisa’s Website

Lisa D. Ellis on Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/lisadellisauthor
Lisa D. Ellis on Twitter: https://twitter.com/LisaEllisauthor

Buy Finding Lily at:

Amazon
Barnes and Noble
SoulMatePublishing

Follow the Tour:

So Many Precious Books May 15 Review & Giveaway
My Life One Story At a Time May 16 Review
My Life One Story At a Time May 16 Guest Post & Giveaway
Mom in Love with Fiction May 16 Review & Giveaway
Peeking Between Pages May 17 Review
JoyStory May 21 Review & Giveaway
Bookworm  Brandee May 22 Review & Giveaway
A Booklover’s Library May 24 Guest Post
Reading With Tea May 24 Review & Giveaway
From Isi May 28 Review
Rainy Days & Mondays May 30 Review
A Booklover’s Library May 31 Review
Rainy Days & Mondays May 31 Guest Post
Wall to Wall Books June 3 Review
DWED Blog June 4 Review
The Book Diva’s Reads June 4 Interview
I’d Rather Be At the Beach  June 5 Review & Giveaway
Midnight Musings June 6 Review
Books, Books & More Books June 7 Review
Every Free Chance June 7 Interview & Giveaway
Of Books & Reading June 10 Review
Reviewing Novels on Line  June 11 Review
Raging Bibliomanania June 12 Review

Jenn Flaa, Author of The Happiness Workbook: On Tour

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This post was most recently updated on May 7th, 2013

Publisher: Bush Street Press (May, 2012)
Category: Self Help, Non-Fiction, Self Discovery, Happiness
Tour Dates: Mid April, 2013
Available in: Print and ebook 158 pages

#1 on Amazon Hot New Releases!

We arrive on this planet naked and without operating instructions. We live our lives and learn from trial and error (lots of errors) what works, what doesn’t work, what makes us happy and what pisses us off.

Each new person that comes into our lives gets no user’s manual and has to figure us out the hard way.  But what if we changed the rules?  What if we wrote our own user’s manual, The Happiness Handbook, about what makes us tick and gave it to the people we love most?

Imagine how that would change our interactions and our lives. People would begin to do what makes us happy and … we would be happy!  If someone received our Happiness Handbook and chose not to follow it, well then, we could choose not to hang out with them more quickly.

The Happiness Handbook is about empowering the reader to discover their own unique ways of being that lead to unlocking their full potential and becomes their guide for leading the extraordinary life they were born to fulfill.

The Happiness Handbook is written in a warm, friendly and informal tone; as if a girl friend were guiding the reader through their process of self discovery. Peppered with humbling, humorous anecdotes and stories; the reader has a practical, seasoned guide and partner in crime as they work the exercises and use the tools to move from unhappy to happy!

Praise for The Happiness Workbook:

“Flaa’s guide aims to send the reader down the path of self-discovery.

After living through a divorce, Flaa finally decided that there was only one thing in the world that was going to make her happy: herself. But who was she? The answer came as she took the time to rediscover what she enjoyed and then tell other people about her findings. Flaa’s book explains how the author found her own fulfillment, and the author’s hope is that her readers will use the handbook to do the same…

Reaching a state of elation may be a process, but the work outlines three steps to get there: Decide what makes you happy, communicate your needs, and do a “happy dance,” i.e., express your joy. Along with this simple strategy, the guide presents plenty of different exercises and activities…

The aim of all these exercises, and the book itself, is to give the reader the tools they need to figure out how to find their bliss. For Flaa, taking an active role in the creation of one’s own joy helps actualize it.”– Kirkus Review

“A witty and revealing journey around many of life’s more friction-filled corners. The challenges described have such a human, almost generic universality that you’ll find wisdom even in the words not on the page, but that flash into mind hours after putting the book down. Ms. Flaa is talented author, intelligent and unafraid to be bold employing a particularly conversational flavor of the written word. Enjoy!”– Matt Maurer, Amazon Reviewer

“To all the women that read this review; buy the book, read it, answer the questions, give it to your man and tell him to read it and learn and then act on what he has learned. To all the guys that read this review, do yourself a HUGE favor buy the book, give it to your lady, ask her to read it and fill it out, then steal it after she has finished it and learn what you’ve been doing wrong all these years and then fix the problem and become that knight in shining armor that you think you’ve been. Trust me I know, I’ve been married for 23 years and thought everything was fine and it is for the most part, but obviously there is always room for improvement and this book help me find out where I needed to improve to make my wife much happier.”-Jeff Black, Amazon Reviewer

“What a marvelous concept – ask for what makes us happy! Such a simple concept, yet so overlooked. Thanks Jenn Flaa for this fun and enlightening read. Doing the happy dance!”– Kd Harris, Amazon Reviewer

“I just finished this book and found it to be the most refreshing no nonsense approach to overcoming the hard knocks that life presents! It provides questions that you need to ask yourself, putting it in writing makes you see it more clearly and work through it. I thought I was happy before, and really I was relatively, but know, I have a whole new perspective. Go get this book and read it, then reread it, you will learn a lot about yourself. I am giving this book to my daughter!”– M. Susan Swchwartz, Amazon Reviewer

About Jenn Flaa:

Serial entrepreneur with deep roots in technology and a passion for music. Jenn merges creativity and tech with fun and energy.

After starting her career as an engineer at NASA and a stint in Silicon Valley as a Quality Assurance Manager, Jenn started her first of four companies.  Vettanna provides high tech resources and communications training on-camera.

Not content to use one side of her brain, Jenn is also the rock vocalist and song writer for the band Urban Fiction, the author of The Happiness Handbook and the Better Boyfriend blog.

You can find out more about Jenn and The Happiness Handbook in her interview on CBS:

The Happiness Handbook Website

Jenn Flaa Twitter
Jenn Flaa Facebook
Jenn Flaa Google+

Buy The Happiness Handbook at:

Amazon
Barnes & Noble

Follow the Tour

So Many Precious Books April 15 Review & Giveaway
Teena in Toronto April 17 Review
Luxury Reading April  18 Review & Giveaway
Live to Read April 19 Review (Postponed)
JoyStory April 24 Review
Saving for 6 April 25 Review
Books a la mode April 25 Excerpt  & Giveaway
Dr. Bill’s Book Bazaar April  26 Review
MN Girl in LA April  29 Review
Love At First Book May 2 Review & Guest Post                                                               Library of Clean Reads May  3 Review
Sincerely Stacie May 6 Review
Library of Clean Reads May 7 I & Giveaway