Re-release Spotlight~Spend the Night by Elizabeth Lee

We're celebrating the re-release of SPEND THE NIGHT by Elizabeth Lee! One-Click yours today!

Adult Contemporary Romance/Suspense

Free with Kindle Unlimited!

Amazon US: https://amzn.to/2IKhzmL

Amazon UK: https://amzn.to/2KXTqLa

Amazon AU: https://amzn.to/2vqaZsx

Amazon CA: https://amzn.to/2W3tE9j

BLURB:
Welcome to The Wellesley-Crawford...

Hannah Wellesley has spent her entire life running the halls of her family-owned hotel, the infamous and opulent Wellesley-Crawford. Noted as one of the city's richest, most luxurious hotels in Chicago, the WC is what Hannah has devoted her life and career to.

The hotel’s Annual Masquerade Gala is the event of the year, but this year Hannah’s evening involves more than just handing out masks. After a mysterious rendezvous in a secluded stairwell with an irresistible and unidentifiable man, Hannah becomes consumed with discovering the identity of her masked lover. Just as she’s about to give up the search, two men blow back into her life with drastically different intentions. They both have secrets and uncovering them will lead Hannah down a darkly dangerous path.

Drawn to both of the intriguing bachelors, she’ll have to determine which one is after her heart and which one plans to do her deadly harm before it’s too late.

*Spend the Night is a re-release. It has new bonus content and a new cover.

About the Author

Born and raised in the middle of a Midwestern cornfield (not literally, that would be weird), I’ve spent my entire life imagining stories. Stories where the right guy always gets the right girl, first kisses are as magical as they are on the big screen and anything is completely possible if you believe.

Although this journey began years ago, it recently took on a whole new life. After years of devouring hundreds of Romance, YA and New Adult novels, I had an epiphany... I should write a book. And I did it!

If I’m not reading, writing, enjoying drinks with my amazing group of girlfriends or chasing around a sarcastically funny kid, I’m probably watching television shows that were created for teenagers, while my husband teases that I’m too old to watch them.

Connect with Elizabeth:

Facebook | Twitter | Website

Guest Post ~ Samuel Wardwell on Retribution, Prison, and Adapting to Change

Release date: January 9th 2018
Publisher: MCP Books
Purchase: Amazon

Synopsis via Goodreads:

Marc Ransom is innocent, but after a major misunderstanding he's in prison and making...questionable company. His new cellmate isn't just a cat burglar; she's a woman, and she's ready to leave.

This is America's first co-ed prison. It's a high-tech joint where thugs rule, robot guards roam, and cameras see everything. And now, two complete opposites are trapped there together.

But life in prison isn't an option. Corrupt authorities want Marc gone. Gangs have marked the burglar, Linda, for death. Seeing no other way, the unlikely cellmates become a 'brain and brawn' duo by pairing his strength with her street smarts.

In forcing themselves to cooperate, they might just find freedom, redemption, and romance in the unlikeliest of places.

~GUEST POST~

Technological advancements and societal changes throughout history have always fascinated me. It is my belief that both have a dynamic effect on each other. 

A decade ago, I found myself locked up in a Georgia prison. I started to think about how our culture might handle the imprisonment of its citizens in the future. Because our society is moving to make everything equal, our prisons could soon be co-ed.

One of the major concerns I had during this unfortunate time in my life was being assaulted. I realized that this would become worse if a prison environment was co-educational. How would the authorities keep the men and women apart? It was while thinking about this that I started to develop the idea for the Retribution series.

With advancements in battery and GPS technologies, self-locating devices have become commonplace. In the Retribution series, the use of wrist and ankle bracelets make it possible to locate an inmate. They would create a magnetic field around the prisoner. The battery pack built into the ankle bracelet would allow me to solve the issue of inmate contact. The bracelets would stop the physical assaults that have plagued prisons throughout history. They would also prevent the members of the opposite sex from co-mingling. The wrist bracelet acts as both an I.D. and location device. The larger ankle bracelet would house a taser-like technology. With this, an electrical jolt capable of increasing its voltage would be possible. The longer the two people wearing the devices are in contact, the greater the shock the two would suffer. 

I then thought about what it might be like to live in such an environment. This is when I created the primary characters in Retribution, Linda and Marc.

The character of Marc is loosely based on myself. Many of the incidents that happen to Marc during his incarceration mirror incidents that actually happened to me while I was in prison. I also weave into the story how my arrest happened and why the legal system had completely let me down.

Linda is a different story. Linda is based on a good friend of mine from the past. She was a risk taker, and ended up getting involved in a horrible situation that led to her death. In the book, I dramatized her life; however, I kept her heritage, intellect, and acrobatic abilities as part of Linda’s character. In the story, Linda chooses to use her skills to become a very successful cat-burglar early in life.

The Retribution series is about how Linda and Marc end up meeting in Georgia’s first co-ed prison. The story follows two very different people who inadvertently save the other’s life. They develop a mutual trust and cautiously become friends. They are targets for assassination and marked for death. They choose to do the only thing that can save their lives: escape from one of the most high-tech prisons ever created.

I am an architect by training. An architect's job is to create and manage the work on buildings or structures. Computer technology has grown by leaps and bounds over the years. I believe there will soon be a need for an “architect” of sorts to manage and design complicated technology systems in various companies and organizations. In the Retribution series, this person would be a computer architect. In my story, Marc holds this coveted title.

Marc’s background and Linda’s amazing physical abilities allow them to create a plan to defeat the prison's technology. They figure out a way to trick the system into not realizing that two inmates are about to escape.

My inspiration for Retribution was to take what I already knew about the world we live in and mix it with what I believe the future has planned for us all.

Our society will learn how to the adapt to the changes and inventions that are flooding us almost every day. The challenge I tackle in the series is how our future will affect us and what we will have to do to adapt.

Marc is an idealist who believes that things happen for a reason. Because of her life’s circumstances, Linda has to be a realist by necessity just to survive. These two very different people find themselves in many incredible adventures. Retribution explores how even the most difficult circumstances can be overcome with teamwork, trust, and eventual love.

About the Author

Samuel Wardwell is an American author of crime-thriller novels. His books include themes of crime, redemption, and corruption within the legal system. Wardwell lived a privileged life; he grew up in northern New Jersey, and went to college in New York City. He worked for many years as an architect and historian, but struggled with addiction. Samuel became a functioning alcoholic and made decisions he'd later come to regret. Today, he lives in Roswell, Georgia. He has been sober for over ten years.

WEBSITE | FACEBOOK

CAN'T WAIT TO READ: Hidden Pieces by Paula Stokes

Release date: August 28th 2018
Publisher: HarperTeen
Pre-order: Amazon

Synopsis via Goodreads:

Embry Woods has secrets. Small ones about her past. Bigger ones about her relationship with town hero Luke and her feelings for someone new. But the biggest secret she carries with her is about what happened that night at the Sea Cliff Inn. The fire. The homeless guy. Everyone thinks Embry is a hero, too, but that couldn’t be further from the truth.

Embry thinks she’ll have to take the secret to her grave, until she receives an anonymous note—someone else knows the truth. Next comes a series of threatening messages, asking Embry to make impossible choices, forcing her to put her loved ones at risk. Someone is playing a high stakes game where no one in Embry’s life is safe. And their last move...is murder.

"Hidden Pieces is the dark, twisted, amped up, I Know What You Did Last Summer-esque YA suspense of my dreams! Paula Stokes delivers a modern classic."
-Gretchen McNeil, author of Ten and #MurderTrending

"A character-driven mystery perfect for fans of Sarah Dessen and Deb Caletti.”

-School Library Journal

“Stokes offers a classic whodunit, masterfully played. Characters, even minor ones, are well developed, as are the subplots . . . All become, as the title indicates, pieces of an intricate puzzle.”

-ALA Booklist, starred review

About the Author

Paula Stokes is half writer, half RN, and totally thrilled to be part of the world of YA literature. She started out writing historical fiction under a pen name and is now branching out into other YA genres.

When she's not working (rare), she's kayaking, hiking, reading, or seeking out new adventures in faraway lands. She's petted tigers, snuggled snakes, snorkeled with stingrays, and once enjoyed the suction-cuppy feel of a baby elephant's trunk as it ate peanuts from her palm. Her future goals include diving with Great White sharks, learning Krav Maga, and writing a whole slew of novels, not necessarily in that order.

WEBSITE | FACEBOOK | TWITTER | INSTAGRAM

Review: Keep Her Safe by K.A. Tucker

Release date: January 23rd 2018
Publisher: Atria Books
Purchase: Amazon

Synopsis via Goodreads:

Noah Marshall has known a privileged and comfortable life thanks to his mother, the highly decorated chief of the Austin Police Department. But all that changes the night she reveals a skeleton that's been rattling in her closet for years, and succumbs to the guilt of destroying an innocent family's life. Reeling with grief, Noah is forced to carry the burden of this shocking secret.

Gracie Richards wasn't born in a trailer park, but after fourteen years of learning how to survive in The Hollow, it's all she knows anymore. At least here people don't care that her dad was a corrupt Austin cop, murdered in a drug deal gone wrong. Here, she and her mother are just another family struggling to survive...until a man who clearly doesn't belong shows up on her doorstep.

Despite their differences, Noah and Gracie are searching for answers to the same questions, and together, they set out to uncover the truth about the Austin Police Department's dark and messy past. But the scandal that emerges is bigger than they bargained for, and goes far higher up than they ever imagined.

Complex, gritty, sexy, and thrilling, Keep Her Safe solidifies K.A. Tucker's reputation as one of today's most talented new voices in romantic suspense.

*Received a physical copy from the publisher in exchange for an honest review. 

I'm a lover of suspense and Tucker is one of my favorites in that genre. Keep Her Safe is my kind of read, a slow build yet thrilling story bound to keep you hooked until the last page.

This novel intrigues you right away. I immediately attached myself to Noah and the whole situation with his mom. He seemed like such a goody-goody who always did the right thing so I wanted to know what was up with his mother and what part she played in a long cover-up that was obviously destroying her mental state. 

As for Gracie, her gritty character doesn't really come off likable but I understood why she was like that. She had to be tough and wary of everyone who came around her. After all, she and her mother went through a lot, and in comparison to Noah, they didn't have a great life full of opportunities, especially with the horrible picture their hometown and police painted of Gracie's father.

The interactions between the two characters were always interesting. I liked that there wasn't anything instant, though, and that it took a while for both to open up. My hope for growth between them kept me reading, but the mystery surrounding Gracie's father also had my interest. Honestly, I knew a certain someone was involved, with how evasive he seemed throughout, but I wanted to understand why and also get clarity on what went down all those years ago.

Again, this is a great story with Tucker at her best. I don't want to give too much away, the only thing left for me to say is to give it a read if you're looking for a suspense that's not too fast or overwhelming. It's just right.

About the Author

K.A. Tucker writes captivating stories with an edge. 

She is the USA Today bestselling author of 16 books, including Ten Tiny Breaths and Burying Water, and her upcoming Adult Suspense novel, Keep Her Safe. Her books have been featured in national publications including USA Today, Globe & Mail, Suspense Magazine, and Publisher's Weekly. 

K.A. Tucker currently resides in a quaint town outside of Toronto with her husband and two beautiful girls.

WEBSITE

FACEBOOK

CAN'T WAIT TO READ: Bring Me Back by B.A. Paris

Release date: June 19th 2018
Publisher: St. Martin's Press
Pre-order: Amazon

Synopsis via Goodreads:

A young British couple are driving through France on holiday when they stop for gas. He runs in to pay, she stays in the car. When he returns her car door has been left open, but she's not inside. No one ever sees her again. 

Ten years later he's engaged to be married; he's happy, and his past is only a tiny part his life now. Until he comes home from work and finds his new wife-to-be is sitting on their sofa. She's turning something over in her fingers, holding it up to the light. Something that would have no worth to anyone else, something only he and she would know about because his wife is the sister of his missing first love.

As more and more questions are raised, their marriage becomes strained. Has his first love somehow come back to him after all this time? Or is the person who took her playing games with his mind?

About the Author

NYT best-selling author of Behind Closed Doors and The Breakdown. B.A Paris grew up in England but has spent most of her adult life in France. She has worked both in finance and as a teacher and has five daughters. 

twitter.com/BAParisAuthor

CAN'T WAIT TO READ: The Other Twin by L. V. Hay

Release date: November 15th 2017
Publisher: Orenda Books
Pre-order: Amazon

Synopsis via Goodreads:

When India falls to her death from a bridge over a railway, her sister Poppy returns home to Brighton for the first time in years. Unconvinced by official explanations, Poppy begins her own investigation into India’s death. But the deeper she digs, the closer she comes to uncovering deeply buried secrets. Could Matthew Temple, the boyfriend she abandoned, be involved? And what of his powerful and wealthy parents, and his twin sister, Ana? Enter the mysterious and ethereal Jenny: the girl Poppy discovers after hacking into India’s laptop. What exactly is she hiding, and what did India find out about her? 

Taking the reader on a breathless ride through the winding lanes of Brighton, into its vibrant party scene and inside the homes of its well-heeled families, The Other Twin is a startling and up-to-the-minute thriller about the social-media world, where resentments and accusations are played out online, where identities are made and remade, and where there is no such thing as truth.

About the Author

Lucy V. Hay is a novelist, script editor and blogger who runs a writer's consultancy. She is the associate producer of the films Deviation and Assassin, head reader for the London Screenwriters' Festival and the author of Writing & Selling Thriller Screenplays and Writing & Selling Drama Screenplays.

www.lucyvhayauthor.com | twitter.com/LucyVHayAuthor

Review: Emma in the Night by Wendy Walker

Release date: August 8th 2017
Publisher: St. Martin's Press
Purchase: Amazon | Book Depository {Affiliate Link}

Synopsis via Goodreads:

From the bestselling author of All Is Not Forgotten comes a thriller about two missing sisters, a twisted family, and what happens when one girl comes back...

One night three years ago, the Tanner sisters disappeared: 

fifteen-year-old Cass and seventeen-year-old Emma. 

Three years later, Cass returns, without her sister Emma. Her story is one of kidnapping and betrayal, of a mysterious island where the two were held. But to forensic psychiatrist Dr. Abby Winter, something doesn't add up. Looking deep within this dysfunctional family Dr. Winter uncovers a life where boundaries were violated and a narcissistic parent held sway. And where one sister's return might just be the beginning of the crime.

*Publisher approved request via Netgalley in exchange for an honest review.

Wendy Walker impressed me with her debut novel and so I was looking forward to where she'd go next because of her great writing and ability to twist things. And While Emma in the Night certainly had an intense and stirring vibe, it didn't quite deliver the punch I was seeking from the author. 

My issues began instantly with my inability to connect with Cass or Abby. The intriguing doctor aside, I never trusted Cass from the moment she returned home. Also, I feel like the story would have impacted me more if I could have experienced some of the things while they were happening, instead of just taking Cass' word for it as she's recollecting the horror of her mother and the kind of house she and her sister were growing up in. I know that might have extended the story somewhat, but I would have liked a little more of "in the moment" emotions from the sisters.

Also, it wasn't too hard to detect what was really going on. Cass was giving these precise details about the island and about her sister that had me suspecting her from the beginning, especially when it came to tales about Emma. As a matter of fact, I wish Cass had taken a different route so that the mother would have received what she truly deserved. But I guess we wouldn't have found out about Emma and I understand to an extent why she did what she had to do. 

Back to Dr. Abby Winter. It was clear that the forensic psychiatrist had dealt with her own horrors and could relate to Cass in regards to having a narcissistic parent. Throughout the story, she was quick to make connections to certain behavior and I found it interesting that Cass had easily detected the similarity between them, hoping that Abby would not only believe in her but would figure things out. That aspect of the story was quite interesting to read. 

There's not much else I can write without giving away the whole story, but I do want to mention that when disheartening details about the family was being revealed by Cass, I realized that dysfunctional didn't quite sum it up. The mother was...I don't even have the right word to describe her. She definitely had problems and required serious professional help, but the girls' father was just as bad. The only genuine and stable person in the sisters' lives was their older brother, Witt. While I doubted the intentions of every other character in the story, his kind nature was the most convincing and it's a relief that at least Cass had his love and support to move forward. 

To conclude, Emma in the Night has good writing and an overall premise that may shake you. But as I've mentioned before, I would have loved to be in the scenes as certain events were taking place, just to feel the emotions of the characters, instead of being told about what happened over and over. Still, it's an interesting psychological novel.

About the Author
Wendy Walker is a former family law attorney in Fairfield County, Connecticut who began writing while at home raising her three sons. She published two novels with St. Martin’s Press and edited multiple compilations for the Chicken Soup for the Soul series before writing her debut psychological thriller, All is Not Forgotten. Wendy is currently writing her third thriller while managing a busy household.

WEBSITE | FACEBOOK | TWITTER | INSTAGRAM

Review: Follow Me Back by A.V. Geiger

Series: Follow Me Back #1
Release date: June 6th 2017
Publisher: Sourcebooks Fire
Purchase: Amazon | B&N

Synopsis via Goodreads:

Tessa Hart’s world feels very small. Confined to her bedroom with agoraphobia, her one escape is the online fandom for pop sensation Eric Thorn. When he tweets to his fans, it’s like his speaking directly to her…

Eric Thorn is frightened by his obsessive fans. They take their devotion way too far. It doesn’t help that his PR team keeps posting to encourage their fantasies.

When a fellow pop star is murdered at the hands of a fan, Eric knows he has to do something to shatter his online image fast—like take down one of his top Twitter followers. But Eric’s plan to troll @TessaHeartsEric unexpectedly evolves into an online relationship deeper than either could have imagined. And when the two arrange to meet IRL, what should have made for the world’s best episode of Catfish takes a deadly turn…

Told through tweets, direct messages, and police transcripts.

*Publisher approved request via Netgalley in exchange for an honest review.

I must admit, I hadn't enjoyed the few books I've read about pop stars and their fans in the past, but after reading that blurb and picking up a sort of suspenseful vibe, I really wanted to give Follow Me Back a try. So glad I did, because I ended up seriously liking the story. 

At first, Tessa's character turned me off because of her star-crazed ways and how she'd spend so much time fangirling over Eric Thorn. I mean, I was sympathetic to her condition and the difficulty in leaving the safety of her room after what she'd experienced. But whenever she would post about Eric and be so concerned with what he was doing, I felt like she needed to put all that effort into dealing with her agoraphobia. It basically justified Eric's paranoia about the intentions of his "fans" and how obsessive they could be. 

Eric Thorn seemed like a real-life celebrity. Everything he was going through came off raw and it made me wonder how many entertainers were truly dealing with the same thing. He not only had trouble with his record label, but he was having a tough time with the way many of his fans behaved online. And Eric was also in a dilemma because while he had paranoia after the murder of another star by a fan, he was pressured by his label and manager to feed the obsessiveness by showing off his body or posing seductively. It was all marketing, regardless of his fears. So I could understand his anger and his intentions behind the decision to do what he did. 

I liked how he hinted at all his issues as a celebrity to Tessa when they developed an online relationship, and while it reached a point of frustration when he kept his true identity a secret for that long, after they'd virtually gotten so close, it just kind of made sense to me and I liked his plan of how to get them to meet. 

The real dark side of the story didn't start to come to play until a little past the middle, in my opinion. For the most part, it was about both characters bonding online and sharing their individual issues. But towards the end when things started to unravel, my eyes literally went wide and I was yelling at Tessa for making that naive move. But then again, anyone else probably would have done the same thing if they'd grown to trust someone so much after months of talking. Still, having dealt with what Tessa had gone through and had developed agoraphobia from it, I feel like she should have been more careful. 

In spite of that a little issue, I loved how Eric and Tessa finally met in the end, even if it almost didn't happen. And the author left us with such a creepy and confusing ending that I'm now constantly on the look out of details about the next book because it doesn't seem good for both characters and I want for nothing more than to see them be happy, together. 

Overall, it's a very intriguing story with good writing. Totally a great debut. But I have questions A.V.: What happened to Eric? Had a psycho fan done something horrible to the characters? I need that sequel like yesterday! 

About the Author

A.V. Geiger writes contemporary young adult fiction. Her debut novel, FOLLOW ME BACK, will be published by Sourcebooks Fire in 2017. 

A.V. is a popular author on Wattpad, where her original fiction has frequently ranked #1 in the Mystery/Thriller genre. Her writing career began as a hobby, posting celebrity fanfiction online, and her work draws extensively on her own experiences with fan culture and social media. 

She lives with her family in New Jersey.

WEBSITE | Twitter | Wattpad

CAN'T WAIT TO READ: The New Bad Thing by Michael Ebner

Release date: March 2017
Publisher: Pen and Paper
Pre-order: Amazon

Synopsis via Goodreads:

Teagan can’t have what she wants most in life. Now everywhere she goes and everyone she knows are constant reminders of this. Desperate for a distraction, she needs to focus her energy elsewhere. Suddenly a foreign news story shocks her to the core. From that moment, she takes matters into her own hands and starts a special project. It could become a global game changer. But not everybody will be happy about these plans. If successful, governments and terrorists, will want her and this new thing terminated. 

Despite early success for the project, an internal problem comes to light, which consequently wipes out the entire scheme. She travels to Paris to deal with the so-called problem in person but wakes up in the middle of a real life terrorist siege. Or is it a planned attack on her life? 

Teagan will quickly be forced to make a choice that will threaten her and her family forever. It's the new bad thing.

About the Author

Michael Ebner's work has appeared in New York Magazine, SPIN, Inside Film, Wallpaper and Kirkus Reviews, among others. His debut novel All The Talk Is Dead was named one of Best Books of 2013 by Kirkus Reviews. Movie Game is his second novel.

Behind the Pages #30: Dana Volney on Sexy Suspense to Sweet Holiday Romances

It's exciting to have Dana Volney as the last Behind the Pages featured author of 2016, because not only does she write in one of my absolute favorite genres, she also writes stories perfect for Christmas. And since it is the holiday season, Dana is contributing a digital copy of her latest to one lucky ready. So check out her awesome interview below and enter for the chance to win A Heart for the Holidays.

1. Where are you from and when did you realize you wanted to be a writer?

I am from Casper, Wyoming (where I currently live), but when I worked in Seattle I was reading a lot and caught the bug to write there. I didn’t do anything about it for a number of years, until I was back in Casper and my sister urged me to take a class at the college on writing fiction. It opened my eyes to my love of the industry and I’ve never looked back!

2. I read that you also work with a marketing consulting company. How does that impact your life as an author, and how do you balance the two?

I run my marketing business, so I can, mostly, set my own hours. I have made an effort in the last couple months to divide out my schedule to make sure my clients are taken care of and I still get my writing time in—unfortunately, I have yet to have a week where it actually works out that way, but I get in the time for both. Some days my sleep is what suffers though!

3. Tell us a little about your latest, A Heart for the Holidays. How did you come up with the plot?

I love writing a holiday novella every year. From The December Deal, I knew Silver would be the next one to have her own story. I knew she’d been out of town for a while and that she was smart and driven. I also knew I wanted it to have something to do with a heart transplant situation. Last summer at the lake with my sister (who is a nurse which came in very handy for research) and brother-in-law, we formed the general story picture after a harrowing game of Yahtzee. It took some turns when I actually sat down to write, but the general premise was kept. I love Fisher and Silver and I hope people enjoy their heart-tugging story!

4. What do you hope readers will take from this story and from the characters, Silver and Fisher?

There’s always hope. Never give up. You never know when your Silver Morgenstern will walk through your doors!

5. How challenging is it to transition between suspense and holiday romances?

They definitely take two different strategies when I plot and when I write. When I am writing the sweet, holiday stories, I have to think about all the season entails both with the festivities and weather (which is funny because I usually write them in the summer). When it comes to the suspense, they’re all about the danger, mystery, and generally darker thinking. Sometimes the worlds collide, but that’s what editing is for. 😉

6. Have you considered writing outside of both genres? If so, what other genre would you like to tackle?

At the moment I haven’t. I enjoy a couple different Sci-Fi shows and think that would be fun to write, but I don’t know enough about it yet. I generally read romantic suspense and contemporary and haven’t strayed too far out of those zones. Hopefully someday!

7. Dana, since your debut till now, How have you evolved as a writer?

I’m sure there are numerous ways in which I’ve grown—thankfully! One that’s been more evident to me lately is my plotting. I’ve come to realize my life is a bit easier (especially with the suspense novels) when I plot my stories out in more detail before I start. I still stray from my original notes here and there, but overall it creates an easier flow of creativity during my writing time.

8. Was there ever a moment that you wanted to focus on your business and step back from writing?

I think that every day it is a choice. I’ve thought about a lot of different scenarios (clients, time, etc) over the last couple of years, but never once did I commit to quit writing. Even if I take a couple of months off, I always come back to it. I’m constantly thinking of plots and characters and scenes. It’s a part of me now and I truly love it and hope to be publishing for years to come.

9. How do you unwind after finishing a book?

I usually binge watch a show I’ve been saving or order pizza or get some serious family time in, sometimes all of that in one weekend. But mostly I just start thinking about the next book and the timeline. I think if I give myself too much time to relax then nothing really gets done and it’s harder to get back into the routine.

10. What's next for you? 

I am working on my next series, and I’m pumped! It will be a romantic suspense series following assassins on the road back to redemption. Look for the first novel in the series on February 22, 2017!

11. Thank you so much for taking the time. Please leave any tips for aspiring writers. 

One of the best pieces of advice I ever received (or that truly resonated with me as a new writer), is that “there are no new stories, just new voices.” This actually helped me a TON. When I first started exploring writing fiction I was almost paralyzed because I thought “I have to come up with something that has never, ever, EVER, ever been done before”. And while, of course, fresh ideas are never a bad thing, chances are some form of an idea has already been written. That one simple tip put my mind at ease and allowed me to be creative.

Thank you so much for having me! Merry Christmas and a Happy New Year!

More About the Author

Dana Volney lets her imagination roam free in Wyoming, where she writes romances and helps local businesses succeed with her marketing consulting company. Splitting her time between telling sexy, fast-paced suspense stories and sweet holiday romances, she likes to try new adventures in real life whenever she can (which, let’s face it, means tasting all sorts of delicious cuisines). Dana is bold, adventurous, and—by her own admission—good with plants, having kept a dwarf lemon tree alive for six months.

www.danavolney.com | facebook.com/DanaVolney

a Rafflecopter giveaway

Review: The Girls in the Garden by Lisa Jewell

Release date: June 7th 2016
Publisher: Atria Books
Purchase: Amazon | B&N

Synopsis via Goodreads:

Imagine that you live on a picturesque communal garden square, an oasis in urban London where your children run free, in and out of other people’s houses. You’ve known your neighbors for years and you trust them. Implicitly. You think your children are safe. But are they really? 

On a midsummer night, as a festive neighborhood party is taking place, preteen Pip discovers her thirteen-year-old sister Grace lying unconscious and bloody in a hidden corner of a lush rose garden. What really happened to her? And who is responsible?

Dark secrets, a devastating mystery, and the games both children and adults play all swirl together in this gripping novel, packed with utterly believable characters and page-turning suspense.

*Received physical ARC from the publisher in exchange for an honest review.

I loved how the story started with a startling discovery and from there I was pulled into the mystery of what had happened and who had done that?

While it was an interesting story, told from third person narration and giving the reader everyone's backstory and what the surrounding was like, the pacing was rather slow and a tad draggy. I couldn't wait to get back to the present and find out the situation with Grace, and that alone kept me going. But at the same time, I understood that knowing each character would give me an idea as to who had hurt Grace. I figured it out pretty early and was basically looking forward to some kind of punishment. But unfortunately, it didn't come. And at the end of the story, I was left disappointed and confused. I kept asking, "What was the point of all that then?" 

I don't think I cared much for any of the characters, well except for Pip. She was the most likable. And I kind of felt like she was too mature for the age. The voice came out like a sixteen year old and not of a twelve year old, and she even seemed older than her sister, who was thirteen. I don't know, maybe it's me. But a lot of times I was confused and forgot their ages because their voices and actions seemed older. 

In regards to what happened to Grace, some may say she deserved it and should have behaved better. But look at the situation. Her father was mentally ill and the family had endured a dramatic, emotional change. The poor girl didn't know how to cope and was clearly looking for something. And I think the mom should have put an end to Grace's relationship with that kid. What they'd done was inappropriate for their age and they were too young to have been carrying on like that. Plus Grace needed better structure and a more present parent. That's just my opinion on the matter. 

Pip was the only one that seemed to have it together. People forget sometimes that just because you're adults doesn't always mean you'll handle things better. In fact, Pip seemed more together than their mom. I'm just saying. 

Other things that bugged me were the Howes family. They were just too carefree and the father was clearly a perv. Their children didn't seem to have much discipline either and the mom would rather be in the dark than address issues. 

There was just a lot of things that put me off about this group of people and the things that took place with the kids. But the mystery surrounding Grace kept me going. Sadly, the ending didn't satisfy me and I wanted a better conclusion--justice--for the girl. Overall, an interesting story. It need a bit more though. 

About the Author

Lisa Jewell is a popular British author of chick lit fiction. Her books include Ralph's Party, Thirtynothing and 31 Dream Street. She lives in Swiss Cottage, London with her husband Jascha and daughters Amelie Mae and Evie Scarlett.

www.lisa-jewell.co.uk

twitter.com/lisajewelluk