Monster Mash Blitz: Sons of the Sphinx by Cheryl Carpinello

I’m a retired high school English teacher. A devourer of books growing up, my profession introduced me to writings and authors from times long past. 

Through my studies and teaching, I fell in love with the Ancient and Medieval Worlds. Now, I hope to inspire young readers and those Young-at-Heart to read more through my Tales and Legends for Reluctant Readers set in these worlds.

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When 15-year-old Rosa agrees to help the ghost of King Tut find his lost queen Hesena, she doesn't count on falling for him.

Once back in Ancient Egypt, Rosa discovers that finding Hesena if not all she must do and is not as easy as she thought it would be, even though she carries part of the lost queen in her soul. She must also keep out of the reach of the living Horemheb—who crosses mortal boundaries using Seth's evil magic—if she is to stay alive to make it back
 home.

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Q&A With The Author:

1. When did you start writing and was there a specific event or person who influenced you to become as author?

I’ve been writing for a long time; I wrote my first poem in eighth grade. My college years and my teaching career solidified my love of the ancient world and the times of King Arthur. It wasn’t until I retired from teaching literature and writing that I had the time to devote to my own tales which had roamed around in my head for years.

2. Are you currently working on a project, and if so, can you tell us about it?

Yes and yes! I have started a new five book series Feathers of the Phoenix, and the first book The Atlantean Horse. Rose from Sons of the Sphinx will share the spotlight in this series with her cousin Jerome. Both of them have special abilities that they are struggling to live with and still be teenagers. The adventure revolves around an old prophecy that says one day when the five feathers of the Phoenix bird are reunited with a white stallion and one-who-survived—both of which were saved from destruction by Poseidon when he destroyed Atlantis—the lost island will rise again long enough for all three to return to their home. It will then disappear forever. Naturally there are those who want to be at the rising in order to steal the treasures rumored to be in that lost city.

3. What is your favorite writing snack?

Red licorice.

4. If you could have dinner with any of your characters, which ones would you choose and why? What food would you serve?

By default, I would have to say Rosa from Sons of the Sphinx. I would love to sit with young Guinevere from my Guinevere trilogy, but I’m a picky eater. There’s very little food from Medieval times that I would eat. With Rosa, we could have hamburgers, hotdogs, and even KFC!

5. Please share what you learned from writing your book.

The wonders of Egypt are many, and I enjoyed delving deeper into that mysterious land. The injustices aimed at Tutankhamen’s family nearly wiped them from the pages of history. The title of the book came from my research. A stele—a stone tablet carrying messages from Pharoahs—sits between the paws of the Sphinx. It tells the story of the day the Sphinx spoke to Tut’s great-grandfather Tuthmosis IV and called him his son. Since that time, all of the men in that line have been known as Sons of the Sphinx.

6. How do you relax, or what do you enjoy doing when you are not writing?

I love spending time with our grandkids. We two boys, ages 9 & 4, and two girls, ages 2 & 1. They are a lively bunch and keep us running.

7. What’s your largest unfulfilled dream, and what are you doing to reach it?

Traveling. I want to visit those places in the ancient and medieval worlds—whose literature I taught--that I’ve read and written about. We’ve done Egypt, Wales, England, Iceland, but have a lot more to explore. Every other year we pick a destination and plan a 3-week trip. Due for the next one in 2018. Wonder where we’ll go?

8. What do you fear most?

Losing those I care for most. We’ve had a lot of loses in our family in the past, and just in the last nine months, we have said goodbye to three.

9. What advice would you give someone who wants to write a book some day?

Ask yourself these questions:

What type of story do you want to write?

Who are you writing for?

How will your characters/plot appeal to readers?

Why do you want to write?

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Blitz: The Unmistakable Scent of Gardenias by Denise Moncrief

Denise is a Southern girl who has lived in Louisiana all her life, and yes, she has a drawl. She has a wonderful husband and two incredible children, who not only endure her writing moods, but also encourage her to indulge her writing passion. Besides writing romantic suspense, she enjoys traveling, reading, and cooking.

Accounting is a skill she has learned to earn a little money to support her writing habit. She wrote her first story when she was a teen, seventeen handwritten pages on school-ruled paper and an obvious rip-off of the last romance novel she had read. She's been writing off and on ever since, and with more than a few full-length manuscripts already completed, she has no desire to slow down.

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Content with the direction her life takes…

The temptation to earn a sweet payday and collect enough money to start her own interior design business is too much opportunity for Sophia Cannon to ignore, but working for her new client, Les Wakefield, is like working for a creepy stalker. He seems to be everywhere she goes.

Until trouble walks around the corner and into her life again…

Dylan Hunter almost turns down the Wakefield Manor restoration job until Les Wakefield tells him Sophia is the interior designer hired to oversee furnishing the old plantation house. Sophia has been the ghost in his life since the day she left him, haunting his heart with her memory every day and every night.

Stirring up more than just the spirits of the dead…

Sophia and Dylan fight with each other until a much bigger threat puts both their lives in danger. Discovering that generations of Wakefields have restored the plantation only to disappear months after moving in to the manor house stirs up spirits that would rather remain undisturbed.

Can love survive the long nights at Wakefield Manor with the unmistakable scent of gardenias hanging so heavily in the air?

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Q&A With the Author:

1.   When did you start writing, and was there a specific event or person who influenced you to become an author?

My desire to write began in high school. I wrote my first “story” when I was a teen. It was seventeen pages on school-ruled paper and an obvious rip-off of the last Harlequin I’d read. I think I’ve always had the urge to write, but when I was younger, I never had the time or the motivation to follow through and finish anything. Many years after I wrote my first romance, I was telling my husband about a story idea I had. He was so encouraging about the idea and so supportive of me trying to get it published, that I followed through and wrote the book. Purgatory wasn’t the first book that I published, but it was my first concept for a book that made it all the way to publication.

2.   Are you currently working on a project, and if so, can you tell us anything about it?

I’m currently working on three projects. One of them is the final and fifth installment of the River Road set of the Haunted Hearts Series, The Sweet Madness of Honeysuckle. Today’s highlighted book, The Unmistakable Scent of Gardenias is the first book in the set.

In Honeysuckle, Tricia is a woman who has had a run in with one of the crime families in New Orleans. She escaped from them once but is afraid they will find her again. She’s hiding out in a small town, working in a bar on the edge of the swamp. The new bouncer at the bar is a has-been ex-cop with a sketchy past and a bum leg. Together they become entangled in the ghost story that has been the story arc for the whole River Road set.

3.   What is your favorite writing snack?

Coffee. All I need is coffee.

4.   If you could have dinner with any of your characters, which ones would you choose? Why? What food would you serve?

The River Road series is set in south Louisiana, a part of the world that I am somewhat familiar with. I’ve always been fond of the culture and flavor of the area. I would want to get the ensemble of characters from the River Road set together and have a crawfish boil. That is very Louisiana.

5.   Did you learn anything from writing your book and what was it?

My husband and I took a few trips to south Louisiana while I was writing this series. I’ve always loved the culture and flavor of the area. I took a lot of pictures and took some time to absorb the feel of the area. Hopefully, I’ve been able to describe some of what I absorbed. I think any little bit of authenticity that can be added to a setting or a plot point makes a story richer. The time a time for an author to use her imagination, and there are other times when the scene being described should be realistic.

6.   How do you relax, or what do you enjoy doing when you are not writing?

More than anything, I enjoy being with my family. That’s become especially important to me since I’ve become an empty nester. I confess I have a terrible Netflix and Hulu bingeing habit. My husband did a good thing for me for my last birthday and bought me a new guitar. So lately, I’ve shifted some of spare time to getting back into playing the guitar again.

7.   What is your largest unfulfilled dream, and what are you doing to reach it?

I had to think about this question for a long time. There have been a few dreams of mine that have come and gone. Sometimes, you have to let a dream go so a bigger or better dream can take its place. I always wanted to sing for an audience. That didn’t happen the way I wanted it to. So I set that dream aside and concentrated on something else. Writing took its place with a different set of goals. I’m living the dream. I feel like my writing career is already successful. So I don’t think I hold any dreams that haven’t been fulfilled.

8.   What do you fear most?

Nothing gets to me more than being forgotten, unheard, or overlooked. So all of my fears center around being abandoned.

9. What advice would you give someone who wants to write a book some day?

Two pieces of advice that I read over and over are only good advice if you go beyond the surface of their basic meaning.

Write what you know – This means that you should be familiar with your subject. If you want to write about something you don’t know much about, expand what you know on the subject. Don’t let a lack of knowledge stop you from exploring new interests in your writing.

Write every day – This means that you should practice writing every day. Like anything done well, you have to keep doing it or you’ll lose your edge. But this doesn’t just mean accumulating words in a manuscript. Let everything you experience in your life become part of your writing process. Write even when you aren’t writing words. 

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Blitz: Teapots & Treachery by Donna K Weaver

-->Award-winning author, wife, mother, grandmother, Harry Potter geek, Army veteran, karate black belt, and online gamer girl.

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A Savage Ghost
Lia Savage reluctantly puts her dream of opening a dessert boutique on hold to help her dad remodel a castle he’s inherited in Washington State. Soon, a specter targets her younger sister.

Lia enlists the help of strapping Coop Montgomery, the head gardener and her former crush. As they search together for a way to rid the castle of its ghost, the romance she used to dream about with Coop kindles.

But Lia’s gentle giant means to stay in Washington while she’s determined to return to California. She must find the courage to face both the ghost and her future.

With Coop. Or without him.

Waves of Deceit
Twenty-six-year-old Shelby Nash wants to break free of her controlling, billionaire father. With the completion of one more project for his company, she can branch out on her own. However, her ex-boyfriend’s been appointed as the new lead architect. She has to find a way to protect her heart from him while avoiding whoever’s making anonymous threats.

Wade Masters did a poor job handling the news about the identity of his girlfriend’s father. Shelby walked out of his life without another word. Finally, four years later, Wade has a chance to win her back. As long as whoever’s targeted her doesn’t get her first.

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Q&A With The Author:

When did you start writing, and was there a specific event or person who influenced you to become an author?

I've been an avid reader since I was quite young and have always entertained myself making up my own stories. I decided to give writing a full-length novel in a personal NaNoWriMo (National Novel Writing Month) in January of 2010, just to see if I could. I wrote 80,000 words that month and have been hooked ever since.

  Are you currently working on a project, and if so, can you tell us anything about it?

I'm working on a Victorian Time Travel story, Against the Magic, with three other authors. We went to England in the spring for research. It was so much fun! 

  What is your favorite writing snack?

Light cheesesticks and Cherry Coke Zero.

  If you could have dinner with any of your characters, which ones would you choose? Why? What food would you serve?

I'd go to a family reunion at Randolph Ranch in Montana (from my Safe Harbors series) when their American Samoa rescuers join the family and friends. With the large front lawn with great shade trees, Jack Randolphs smoker barbeque, horses to ride, and the comfortable camaraderie of people who really like each other, I would be one happy girl.

  Did you learn anything from writing your book and what was it?

I did some research on Williamsburg for A Savage Ghost and would love to visit that historic venue someday. 

  How do you relax, or what do you enjoy doing when you are not writing?

I'm an online gamer, and my favorite game right now is League of Legends. I use it as the "carrot" (reward) for when I accomplish certain tasks, writing related. I also play while I walk on the treadmill. Fastest 30-45 minutes ever!

  What is your largest unfulfilled dream, and what are you doing to reach it?

I'm a Navy brat and spend a lot of my youth growing up in Asia. I would love to travel to some of the countries I visited to see how much they've changed. South Korea, for example, is incredibly sophisticated and technologically advanced now.

  What do you fear most?

Losing loved ones. My mother died when I was fourteen, and I was widowed at twenty-six. I have a belief in an afterlife, so I don't fear for them being wiped from existence, but I know from sad experience how hard it is to be left behind.

  What advice would you give someone who wants to write a book some day?

Just do it! Consider signing up for NaNoWriMo this November and just see if they can do.

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Cover Reveal: Christmas Secrets by Donna Hatch

Donna Hatch is the author of the best-selling “Rogue Hearts Series,” and a winner of writing awards such as The Golden Quill and the International Digital Award. A hopeless romantic and adventurer at heart, she discovered her writing passion at the tender age of 8 and has been listening to those voices ever since. She has become a sought-after workshop presenter, and also juggles freelance editing, multiple volunteer positions, and most of all, her six children (seven, counting her husband). A native of Arizona who recently transplanted to the Pacific Northwest, she and her husband of over twenty years are living proof that there really is a happily ever after.

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Holly's two Christmas wishes this year are to finally win her mother's approval by gaining the notice of a handsome earl, and discovering the identity of the stranger who gave her a heart-shattering kiss...even if that mystery kisser is the resident Christmas ghost.

And now for the Cover

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Loving this cover and now I can't wait to read the book!!!

Find All Of Donna Hatch's Book HERE!

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Monster Mash: Riptide by Claudette Melanson

Claudette Melanson writes & edits in Kitchener, Ontario, with her husband Ron and four bun babies: Tegan, Pepper, Butters & Beckett. She graduated from Indiana University of Pennsylvania with a BA in English and an MA in Literature. She's wished to be a Vampire since age five. She hopes to one day work full time as an author, since there are many, many books living inside her head.

In her spare time she enjoys watching Japanese Anime and reading vampire stories....along with other great fiction. She is also very interested in good health and is an advocate of Ketogenic eating, using whole and natural foods. Her favorite foods are bulletproof coffee, cashew flour crust pizza and treats made with xylitol and almond, coconut or cashew flours.

Future dreams include writing many more books and spending more time with her son Jacob. Her biggest dream is to make Universal Halloween Horror Nights a yearly event with hubby and son. A Rabbit Rescue fanatic, she also hopes to help rescues all over the world save many innocent lives.

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The 3rd book in the 1st of several trilogies featuring Maura & her family! 

Maura has never felt so alone in her life…nor has her existence ever been so overshadowed by peril… 

Not only do both her parents—her distant but loving mother and recently- returned father—remain absent from her life, but due to the hideous error in judgement executed in collusion with her best friend, Valdamir, and adoptive sister, Susie, Maura has been cut off from the pair’s friendship and support, forbidden by both her father and the fallout from the dire outcome to see either of them. The heartbreak she suffers, brought on by the weight of these estrangements, is only intensified by the continued mysterious absence of her supernaturally-destined mate, Ron…whose disappearance delivers grave consequences Maura would have never dreamed possible…

Despised by her vampire cousin, Aldiva, for reasons Maura cannot yet comprehend, the young changeling will be forced to guard her back with every step, as she comes to realize this member of her vampire family would love nothing more than to bring about her demise. Aldiva’s wrath calls forth other members from both Vancouver covens, forcing them to rush to Maura’s aid—even though her father, their king, has expressly forbidden the other vampires to initiate contact with his daughter. Will her extended family on Vancouver Island obey, abandoning Maura to her doom, or will they instead rebel against Maxwell’s wishes in order to save her life? 

In addition to the menace personified in her unsolicited enemy, the unlikely vampire princess will find herself drowning as she is pulled down into the depths of a far more devastating crisis…one which may condemn her to a fate she considers much more undesirable than death. But in order to tear herself free from the deadly pull which is drawing her under, Maura must enlist the help of her preternatural family, exposing her newfound friends to a danger none of them have ever had the misfortune to face before. Can she be saved or will the riptide drag Maura under…along with those she loves the most… 

In this third and final book of The Maura DeLuca Trilogy,the first of several trilogies to come, the reader will delve even deeper into the secrets guarded by Maura’s father, the mystery of Ron’s role in her life and the identities of the mysterious Vancouver Island Coven members who have, up until now, remained hidden in the shadows. This trilogy rounds out the segment of Maura’s life during which she discovers she is a member of The Born—a human destined to complete her transformation into a vampire! This series of young adult fantasy novels has been enjoyed by readers of nearly every age and are found by them to be dramatically different from any other vampire books they have read in the past. Discover a magical world filled with fae, angels, elves, pixies and other enchanting creatures in addition to two families made up of some of the most likeable vampires—for the most part—to ever exist.

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Snippet:

“I know what you did to your friend,” she stated, throwing my tenuous hold on my mental axis to the stabbing wintry wind.
My defenses kicked in, brought purely to light by some unfamiliar instinct. “I didn’t… It was Susie…” Shame flooded my entire being.

“You turned her. It was your doing, ultimately,” she articulated with icy absolution.

It hadn’t been I alone who’d turned her, but I wouldn’t have mentioned my lost friend, Valdamir, for a pint of fresh, warm blood. I feared for his life and safety enough already. Still, her words gave pause to the blood in my veins and reminded me of my part in the murder of one of my best friends, Amanda.
Aldiva stalked after me, toppling me over with the smallest push of her slight index finger. Her eyes blazed at me… I’d never known blue could hold such fire.

I scrabbled backward like an upside-downed tortoise—ineffective—my palms scraping over the thorny rocks. The saltwater’s sharp sting was barely registered by my mind. Her gaze was far more cutting.

If there had been anyone around to watch such a ridiculous display, I’m sure they would have been left bewildered—me, scuttling backward like the world’s clumsiest crab—backing away in horrified haste from a young girl of such slight stature, who appeared much more angel than demon from a distance.

“YOU broke our peace. You disrupted the harmony of my family.” She pointed her icicle finger at me as she hissed out her rage. “Maxwell can keep his mate, but I will deny him his daugh…”

The chilled idea of sudden, unavoidable death assaulted me with a cold unlike any I’d ever felt before—even the preternatural touch of my father’s skin—and it permeated me long after the threat had been nullified.

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