Comes the Winter By Samantha St. Claire -Book Blast and $50 Giveaway

Comes the Winter by Samantha St. Claire 

 Avalanches, isolation and snow blindness were stark realities for those daring to remain in Idaho’s Sawtooth Range through the harsh winter months. For city dweller, Lena Sommer, the warnings seemed exaggerated. In the fall of 1886, Lena leaves behind a life fraught with disappointments and loss only to arrive in Sawtooth City and find the man she’d pledged to marry has been killed. To return east is unthinkable; to stay is ill-advised, but she resolves to remain and manage the man’s lodging house despite the warnings. More than her stubborn nature influences her decision. From her first glimpse of this mountain valley, she falls captive to its wild beauty. Feeling she has at last found a hearth to call her own, she eagerly puts down roots. Sharing her love of literature with her lodgers before a warming fire, she builds a family of lonesome souls, where dreams awaken. However, one man stands apart, disturbing her peace with ominous warnings to leave before winter comes. Evan Hartmann knows from personal loss that winter snows bring to these mountains both unimaginable beauty and death. He is also a man conflicted, because as much as he’d like for Lena to leave the mountains, his heart longs for her to stay.  

  Praise for Comes the Winter 

"This story has a surprise ending which will delight fans of romance/adventure novels who have read too many scripted endings. This is a terrific read, a great novel!" ~Readers' Favorite five-star review 

"St. Claire has a wonderful ability to make the characters, the history and the scenery come alive. She is an enchanting writer! Romances normally would not be my genre of choice, and yet I find myself totally engrossed in her stories. I have actually found it difficult to put the book down. Wonderful job! I look forward to more of her writing." ~Amazon customer 

 "A most emphatic 5 stars. I've already bought the first two now that I finished this one, and will bookmark this author as one to follow. I will recommend this book to anyone - wonderful!" ~Amazon customer 

  Excerpt- She recalled the small photo Mr. Nash had sent her, so little to explain the man who'd penned the letters. How strange, apprehending the essence of the man without ever having really known him. She wouldn't even be haunted by his ghost because nothing bound them in this world aside from an agreement to marry. This was a grief of sorts, she supposed, not for herself, but for a future that might have been. Perhaps their relationship might have become more than one of business. The unlikely event that love might grow from such a relationship had not even tempted her. She was a realist, honestly born to it by two very pragmatic parents. A sudden rise in men's voices from the room below was followed by a whispered hush, as though someone had remembered the women were asleep in the room above them. That act of consideration she found endearing. Strangers can be kind. Somehow the kindness of these strangers touched her as the news of Mr. Nash's passing had not. A single tear rolled from her eye to drop upon the pile of papers atop the desk. She brought her hand to her cheek and wiped it away. No more need fall. One was enough. For a long while she sat in the oversized chair, his chair, with her feet tucked up beneath her. From here she had a view of the shadowy form of the mountains. The voice of her father whispered in her memory. Beware the dangers of making decisions after the sun sets. Best to tuck your worries under your pillow and sleep on them till morning. Sometimes in the night the worries will be ironed out by your sleeping head. So, she resolved not to decide what to do tonight. That decision would wait until the clear light of day. But sleep refused to come. When all sounds in the room below had ceased, she wrapped a quilt around her shoulders, slid her feet into her slippers and tiptoed down the stairs. Opening the front door, a cacophony of night music met her. Gently closing the door behind her, she padded to the west end of the porch, settling herself in a generous chair with a view of the western sky where the ragged edge of the mountains made a darker shade of night. Stars danced above the distant peaks, and the moon cast a pale light upon the mountain’s craggy face. A calm that should not have been her companion after a day of upheaval took a seat beside her. She had no idea when her weary body succumbed to its need for rest and her eyes closed in sleep.   

Author Samantha St. Claire 
Samantha St. Claire was born in 2016, the alter-ego and pen name of an author of historical fiction born a few decades earlier. She may have found her niche in western historical fiction, served up sweet. Never faint of heart, her signature female protagonists face the hazards of the frontier with courage, wit, and a healthy pinch of humor. The road from college graduation led due west where teaching in a small Arizona town fulfilled childhood fantasies on multiple levels. Hiking and backpacking the canyons and desert fed her imagination with the landscapes she would use later in life as an author. A few years passed before a change in jobs took her to California where her love of western history was further fed and her first novel of Russia's Fort Ross Colony came to life. But Idaho sparked her interest in the history of the magnificent central mountain ranges and Samantha St.Claire began her first series, The Sawtooth Range. Follow www.samanthastclaire.net to read more about the research that has helped develop the characters, towns and stories of the Sawtooth Range Series and now Whitcomb Creek, Montana.

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$50 Amazon Gift Card or Paypal Cash Giveaway Ends 4/18/18 Open only to those who can legally enter, receive and use an Amazon.com Gift Code or Paypal Cash. Winning Entry will be verified prior to prize being awarded. No purchase necessary. You must be 18 or older to enter or have your parent enter for you. The winner will be chosen by rafflecopter and announced here as well as emailed and will have 48 hours to respond or a new winner will be chosen. This giveaway is in no way associated with Facebook, Twitter, Rafflecopter or any other entity unless otherwise specified. The number of eligible entries received determines the odds of winning. Giveaway was organized by Kathy from I Am A Reader and sponsored by the author. VOID WHERE PROHIBITED BY LAW.   a Rafflecopter giveaway

My Sister's Intended By Rachael Anderson: Release Day $50 Giveaway

Happy Release Day to My Sister's Intended 

by Rachael Anderson.

We're celebrating with a $50 Giveaway!

  My Sister's Intended by Rachael Anderson
 For as long as Prudence can remember, it has been understood that her sister will one day wed the eldest son of their nearest neighbor. Such an alliance will benefit both families and bring a great deal of joy to all parents involved. Unfortunately, Prudence has never been able to feel as joyful. She believes her sister is mad to consider marrying a man she hardly knows, even if he will one day make her a countess. Titles and wealth shouldn't factor into matters of the heart, and as an aspiring romance novelist, Prudence cannot fathom how anyone could even think of settling for less than love. She certainly wouldn’t, and she doesn't want her sister to either. Unable to stand by and do nothing, Prudence sets out to help the awkward couple discover the best in each other with the hope that they will eventually find love. What she neglected to foresee, however, was the possibility that she might fall in love with Lord Knave herself.

Excerpt

When Prudence lifted her eyes to his again, they sparkled with a challenge. “I was going to save this question until later so as not to shock you from the get-go, but I really do need to know . . . What does it feel like to kiss a woman?”

A large lump formed in Brand’s throat, and his mouth went dry. What the deuce? She had promised not to ask questions that would make him uncomfortable, but already he wanted to flee like a frightened kitten. How could he possibly explain how it felt to kiss a woman?

Brand searched his mind for a way to avoid answering until he heard a snicker escape her lips. She was laughing at him. Him! Hildebrand Ethan Cannon, Viscount Knave—a man at least eight years her senior and a great deal higher in social standing.

Unbelievable.

“You are teasing me,” he said, hoping it was true. If she’d posed the question to make him squirm—and perhaps make him more inclined to answer her other questions—then she wouldn’t be expecting an answer.

She shook her head, still smiling. “I’m afraid not, my lord, although I did find the look of terror on your face vastly amusing.”

“I’m glad I could entertain you.”

“I hope you will be equally glad to instruct me on a few things as well. The first scene in my book will include a kiss, and I have no idea how to describe the experience. Do a woman’s lips feel warm or soft or even moist? Would your pulse quicken? Aside from touch, what other senses are engaged? How would it make you feel and what would you notice when you held a woman in your arms?”

If she thought he’d appeared terror-stricken before, there would be no word for how he looked now. Did she earnestly expect him to answer such questions? Surely even she knew how inappropriate it would be to discuss such things, her being an innocent.

“I cannot say,” he finally muttered.

Her brow puckered in confusion. “Have you never kissed a woman, my lord?”

Brand was sorely tempted to lie and say he had not, but he couldn’t bring himself to do so. Any man of six-and-twenty who had never experienced a kiss would be laughed out of his manhood. Women were expected to remain innocent until married. Men were not.

“Yes, I have kissed a woman,” he finally admitted, “but I have no intention of discussing any of the details with you.”

“Why not?” she asked, her large brown eyes blinking at him curiously. “Would you rather I invent the information?”

“Yes.”

She obviously didn’t appreciate his retort because she scowled. “Can you not tell me at least a little?”

“No.”

“Why?”

“Because a kiss could never be described with any sort of accuracy, at least not by me. It involves too many feelings and sensations and complexities of thought. If you wish to know what a kiss feels like, you’ll have to experience it for yourself.”

Too late, Brand realized his mistake. Her expression became contemplative, as though she was actually considering doing just that. Good gads, had he really just encouraged an innocent young woman to go hunting for a kiss? Who would she ask? A groom? Stablehand? The next peddler that came to town?

“I think you are right,” she said at last. “I really must experience a kiss for myself if I am to describe it with any sort of accuracy.” She blinked up at him with that innocent expression again. “Will you kiss me Lord Knave? No, how silly of me. You are to marry my sister, so that would never do.” She pursed her lips for a moment before musing, “Perhaps one of the footmen would be kind enough to show me how it’s done.”

Kind enough? Brand could think of a great many reasons a footman would comply with such a request, and kindness did not factor into any of them. Brand would kiss her himself before he allowed a footman near her.

He rubbed the bridge of his nose, feeling a headache coming on. “Perhaps I can try to explain what it feels like after all.” Better that than having her chase after a footman.

“But you only just said you couldn’t do it justice,” she pointed out. “I realize I sound dreadfully forward, but I really must know, and experience is the best teacher, is it not?”

“No, it isn’t,” he lied. “And you are not going to kiss a footman.”

“Then who? Felix or Lionel, perhaps? I’m fairly certain I can convince one of them to do it, if given the opportunity. The question is how to go about it?”

It was plain to see by the firm set of her jaw that she would not rest until she had experienced a kiss of her own. She didn’t seem to care who did the deed, only that the man did a thorough job of it. A quick peck on the lips wouldn’t satisfy her curiosities.

“Perhaps I could send a note to Felix and ask him to call on me,” she continued to muse. “We could take a stroll through the maze in the gardens. There is a hidden alcove on the south side, which could be quite perfect. We would have to evade Ruth, obviously, but—”

“Devil take it,” Brand growled as he pulled her to him. Her quick intake of breath was the only sound she made before his mouth covered hers.

  Author Rachael Anderson
 A USA Today bestselling author, Rachael Anderson is the mother of four and is pretty good at breaking up fights, or at least sending guilty parties to their rooms. She can’t sing, doesn’t dance, and despises tragedies. But she recently figured out how yeast works and can now make homemade bread, which she is really good at eating.  

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Blog Tour March 28th to April 12th

 

  Release Day Giveaway $50 Amazon Gift Code 

or $50 in Paypal Cash 

 Ends 4/13/18 Open only to those who can legally enter, receive and use an Amazon.com Gift Code or Paypal Cash. Winning Entry will be verified prior to prize being awarded. No purchase necessary. You must be 18 or older to enter or have your parent enter for you. The winner will be chosen by rafflecopter and announced here as well as emailed and will have 48 hours to respond or a new winner will be chosen. This giveaway is in no way associated with Facebook, Twitter, Rafflecopter or any other entity unless otherwise specified. The number of eligible entries received determines the odds of winning. Giveaway was organized by Kathy from I Am A Reader and sponsored by the author. VOID WHERE PROHIBITED BY LAW.   a Rafflecopter giveaway

Duck, Duck, Moose By Joy Heyer- Blog Tour and Giveaway

Duck's best friend Goose is gone for winter and Duck is lonely. The animals try to cheer Duck, but Duck, Duck, Pig is too messy, and Duck, Duck, Moose is too scary. 

Will Duck be alone until Goose gets back? Or can Duck come up with a game they all can play?

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Joy Heyer lives in Virginia with her loving husband and three of her four crazy children. Her oldest child now has a child of her own, making Joy a grandma. 

Her family recently convinced her to get a dog. What was she thinking? The dog now follows Joy everywhere, waits loyally at the front window every time she leaves the house, and goes berserk when she comes back, even if she was only gone for 10 seconds to get the mail. 

In her spare time….wait, what spare time? Whenever her children and dog permit, she loves to read, write, paint, and dream up home improvement projects.

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Official Cover Reveal & Giveaway for:Tarragon: Dragon Bane(Book 3 in the Tarragon Series) By: Karlie Lucas

Karlie Lucas is a preschool teacher by day and a writer/artist by night.

A graduate of Southern Utah University, Karlie received a B.A. in Creative Writing, with a minor in art. She is a member of Sigma Tau Delta, The International English Honor Society, as well as ANWA, the American Night Writers Association.

Karlie is interested in all things magical and mysterious, especially elves and dragons. She is an avid fan of J.R.R. Tolkien and J.K. Rowling.

When not writing, Karlie can often be found drawing, baking, watching her favorite old school shows, or just spending time with her family.

She currently resides in Dallas, Texas with her husband and a cat named Kally

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Synopsis:

The Revenants are coming. Only recently woken from their centuries' long slumber, the dragons are unprepared to face them. But when a legend is uncovered, revealing the existence of a lost tribe of mages, hope flickers to life. The race is on as Tyler Durand and Anwen Kaida rush to find this missing tribe while the others prepare for their last stand. But time and numbers are against them, and Anwen fears that even if they find the lost mages, it will be too late. 

First, let's take a look inside the book with this 

Excerpt:

Anwen felt her heart palpitate painfully. It squeezed the breath from her lungs as fire coursed through her veins. She gasped out loud as pain similar to her soul scars flared with white-hot agony. But instead of centering on her limbs, the pain hit her side and chest. "No," she exclaimed as she doubled over, realizing what it meant. "Tyler!" she screamed. The crystal sword fell from her hand, leaving her unarmed.

An image came to her mind as she lay on the ground, her whole body trembling. She could see Tyler wreathing on the ground like an agitated snake. Dark steam issued from a gaping wound across his side and middle. The wound frothed like an angry tide.

And now for the Cover

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To view our blog schedule and follow along with this tour visit our Official Event page 

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Seventh Born By Rachel Rossano-Book Blitz and Giveaway

Rachel Rossano lives with her husband and three children in the northeastern part of the United States. Homeschooled through high school, she began writing her early teens. She didn't become serious about pursuing a career as an author until after she had graduated from college and happily married. Then the children came.

Now she spends her days being a wife, mother, teacher, and household manager. Her evenings and free moments are devoted to her other loves, writing and book cover design. Drawing on a lifelong fascination with reading and history, she spends hours creating historical feeling fantasy worlds and populating them with characters who live and breathe on the page. 

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In a world where seventh born sons are valued for their strength and power, she is born a daughter.

Zezilia Ilar is the disappointment. Born after six brothers, she was supposed to be the son to restore her family's prestige. She intends to remedy her shortcomings by being a dutiful daughter, marrying well and producing children, preferably a set of seven sons. But when someone offers her an alternative, she begins to dream of more.

In a society that worships a goddess, he follows the Almighty.

Hadrian Aleron, as a seventh son of a seventh son, stands to take up the second highest position in government, Sept Son. His main qualification for office is his birth. Despite preparing for this role from childhood, he does not desire what is to come. As a follower of the Almighty, he knows he will be the target of many, and his faith might eventually lead to death.

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Snippet:

For the first three hours of our trip, Master Silas slept. He climbed in, settled on the floor at his wife's feet, put a square of fabric over his face and fell asleep. I was astonished that he could repose so deeply with the bouncing and jostling of the wagon, but he snored away.

His wife apparently thought nothing of this strange behavior and proceeded to tell me about her daughters. Galatea, Eloine, and Candra were interesting girls if I were to judge them only on their mother's opinion.

Galatea, the eldest, was about my age, fair and sweet, though taken to posturing and striking poses. Despite this I was repeatedly assured that we would be the best of friends. Eloine, it seemed, took after her father's tendencies toward studying. She spent most of her time with a nose in a book. Candra was the most interesting to me of the three.

Her mother introduced her by saying, "She is a garden child. I have never known a little one to spend so much time among bushes and plants. I can hardly get her to come in for meals. And the grass stains…" She lifted her hands in mock horror. "I have given up on keeping that child clean. I don't know what Errol was thinking asking Ilias for his willow farm to stay at."

"I was thinking of you, my dear," Errol commented from beneath his square of cloth.

"However do you mean?"

Master Silas removed the fabric square and looked up at his wife. "Don't you remember the trouble that we had with training Ilias? You kept complaining that the house was too small."

"You kept insisting that everything be completely silent while he practiced concentrating, a bit difficult with small ones crawling, toddling, and capering about."

"Exactly, my love." Easing himself up into a sitting position with the help of the bench, Master Silas smiled at his wife. "Now we shall have enough room. The house has five bedrooms, a kitchen, dining room, parlor, workroom, and acres of land. Plenty of room for you to run the household, Gatatea to posture, Eloine to read, Candra to disappear into nature, and Zezilia and I to work. We would not be able to do all that on our small estate in the north. Besides, I want Zezilia as far south as I can get her. I don't want to take the chance of her father changing his mind."

To view our blog schedule and follow along with this tour visit our Official Event page 

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Ready Player One By Ernest Cline- Book Review(Audio CD) Read by Wil Wheaton

Product Details

• Title: Ready Player One
• Author: Ernest Cline
• Read By: Wil Wheaton
• Audio CD: 13 Discs (15 hours)
• Publisher: Random House Audio; Unabridged edition (August 16, 2011)
• Genres: Science Fiction, Utopian and dystopian fiction
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0307913147
• Borrowed from Public Library
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Book Synopsis

At once wildly original and stuffed with irresistible nostalgia, READY PLAYER ONE is a spectacularly genre-busting, ambitious, and charming debut—part quest novel, part love story, and part virtual space opera set in a universe where spell-slinging mages battle giant Japanese robots, entire planets are inspired by Blade Runner, and flying DeLoreans achieve light speed.

It’s the year 2044, and the real world is an ugly place.

Like most of humanity, Wade Watts escapes his grim surroundings by spending his waking hours jacked into the OASIS, a sprawling virtual utopia that lets you be anything you want to be, a place where you can live and play and fall in love on any of ten thousand planets.

And like most of humanity, Wade dreams of being the one to discover the ultimate lottery ticket that lies concealed within this virtual world. For somewhere inside this giant networked playground, OASIS creator James Halliday has hidden a series of fiendish puzzles that will yield massive fortune—and remarkable power—to whoever can unlock them.

For years, millions have struggled fruitlessly to attain this prize, knowing only that Halliday’s riddles are based in the pop culture he loved—that of the late twentieth century. And for years, millions have found in this quest another means of escape, retreating into happy, obsessive study of Halliday’s icons. Like many of his contemporaries, Wade is as comfortable debating the finer points of John Hughes’s oeuvre, playing Pac-Man, or reciting Devo lyrics as he is scrounging power to run his OASIS rig.

And then Wade stumbles upon the first puzzle.

Suddenly the whole world is watching, and thousands of competitors join the hunt—among them certain powerful players who are willing to commit very real murder to beat Wade to this prize. Now the only way for Wade to survive and preserve everything he knows is to win. But to do so, he may have to leave behind his oh-so-perfect virtual existence and face up to life—and love—in the real world he’s always been so desperate to escape.

A world at stake.
A quest for the ultimate prize.
Are you ready? 

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My Review

My 15 year old son and I have started listening to audio books together this past year. It's something fun we can do together. The last ones we listened to were the Reckoners Series: Steelheart, Firefight, and Calamity by Brandon Sanderson. 

We both are so excited to see the movie Ready Player One, but in our family it's customary for us to read the book before seeing the movie, primarily because we all know that they will be so different from each other. One thing to say at the first, I wish I'd known before hand that there are some inappropriate sexual talk and swearing in this book. Some of it made it very uncomfortable to sit there and listen with my son, so we skipped a few tracks at times. 

Now on to the great things: I loved listening to this book narrated by Wil Wheaton of Star Trek: The Next Generation fame. 

He does an amazing job reading this novel! I know some readers say they had a hard time getting into the first 100 pages, but this is not a problem when listening to the Audio version. Wheaton's reading is done in such a compelling way it's hard to stop listening. We dedicated a whole weekend to listening to Ready Player One and finished all 15 hours and 13 CD's.{Granted I was still getting things done correcting papers, cooking/baking, folding laundry, and writing blog posts while listening}

I loved the Geek 70 's & 80's culture that is the heart of this novel. This is when I grew up and I was laughing and loving so much of it when mentioned.{War Games was one of my favorite movies!} My son knew quite a bit of the references, but not as much as his mom. I also loved the world building and thought the main character was strong and likable. The second half of the novel was so exciting it was hard to just sit and listen without jumping around with excitement. Overall, this was a great read/listen and I'm glad that I finally was able to experience the adventure found in Ready Player One.

My 15 year old son said: 

Epically awesome, but awkward listening to some scenes with my mom. My favorite part was when Parzival was in the final battle before getting into the third gate. I also liked when Parzival and Art3mis met in real life at the end. 

Interesting Facts Found in/about the Book

-What does IOI stand for in Ready Player One?

Innovative Online Industries, or IOI (pronounced eye-oh-eye) was a global communications conglomerate and the world's largest Internet service provider. A large portion of IOI's business centered around providing access to the OASIS and on selling goods and services inside it.

-What does Oasis stand for in the book Ready Player One?

Ontologically Anthropocentric Sensory Immersive Simulation

Description Edit. OASIS (Ontologically Anthropocentric Sensory Immersive Simulation) is a MMOSG (massively multiplayer online simulation game) created by James Halliday and Ogden Morrow of Gregarious Simulation Systems (GSS), formerly known as Gregarious Games.

-What is the setting of the book Ready Player One?

Transcript of Ready Player One. ~The setting is 2044, when the world is in ruins. ~Wade Owen Watts- Protagonist, poor child from the stacks around inner city Oklahoma, who dedicates his life to finding Hallidays egg, also a big gunter.

-Who is James Halliday?

James Donovan Halliday (1972-2039) is the main character and tech industry businessman in the backstory of Ready Player One. He was the creator of OASIS, a massive online simulation used by billions of people in the story's dystopian future setting.

When the story begins, the late Halliday has just willed a major prize to whosoever finds a unique, hidden easter egg in his VR realm, the OASIS. The terms of the will would give the finder his multi-billion-dollar fortune, along with administrative control over the OASIS itself.

 Movie Trailer for Ready Player One

Audio

Book: