Welcome to the Blog Blitz for A Future to Fight For by Mindy Obenhaus, hosted by JustRead Publicity Tours!
ABOUT THE BOOK
Title: A Brother’s Promise Series: Bliss, Texas
Author: Mindy Obenhaus Publisher: Love Inspired
Release Date: August 1, 2021 Genre: Inspirational Contemporary RomanceAll their dreams will come true…if they can work together.
Widow Paisley Wainwright’s so close to taking her Texas event-planning business to the next level by turning Renwick Castle into a wedding venue. Only one thing stands in the way: her longtime rival, Crockett Devereaux, who wants the building to become a museum. When the building’s owners insist they collaborate to implement both plans, can Paisley and Crockett put their differences aside…and fight for their dreams together?
Award-winning author Mindy Obenhaus lives on a ranch in Texas with her husband, two sassy pups, and countless cattle. She’s passionate about touching readers with Biblical truths in an entertaining, and sometimes adventurous, manner. When she’s not writing, you’ll likely find her in the kitchen, spending time with her grandchildren or roaming the ranch in search of inspiration. She’d love to connect with you via her website or on Facebook.
(1) winner will receive a signed copy of A Future to Fight For and a $25 Amazon gift card!
Full tour schedule linked below. Giveaway began at midnight August 2, 2021 and will last through 11:59 PM EST on August 9, 2021. Winner will be notified within 2 weeks of close of the giveaway and given 48 hours to respond or risk forfeiture of prize. US only. Void where prohibited by law or logistics.
Publisher: Southern Rocket and Fountain City Publishing
A young stranger from Boston is marooned in Charleston just as the Civil
War begins. His relationships with working men and women, slaves, merchants,
planters, spies, inventors, soldiers, sweethearts and musicians tell the
story of a dynamic culture undergoing its greatest challenge.
It’s also the story of everyman. He grows into manhood dealing with the
issues we all must face.
Jonathan’s adventures include witnessing the bombardment of Fort Sumter,
the last great Charleston horse race, the Great Charleston Fire of 1861, the
Battle of Secessionville and visits to the North Carolina mountain homes of
wealthy Low Country planters. He even has an encounter with a Voo-Doo
conjure man. He makes a run through the Federal Blockade and visits the
raucous boomtowns of Nassau and Wilmington. The author describes battles of
ironclads and monitors, and the Battle of Battery Wagner (made famous in the
movie “Glory”). Jonathan’s story documents the hopes and
struggles of a young man making a new life in a strange land in times of war
and change.
George WB Scott is an East Tennessee video producer and videographer with a
life-long interest in the causes and events of the Civil War. His years of
research on this topic are the basis of a story of Jonathan’s personal
journey through one of the most interesting and important regions of the
South. Scott was born in Stuart, Florida, and is a cum laude graduate of
Appalachian State University. He lives with his wife Mary Leidig in
Knoxville, Tennessee.
This is my post during the blog tour for The Twin Stars by Bridgette Dutta Portman. In The Twin Stars a teenage girl with OCD falls into a fantasy world, where she must face her deepest fears in order to become the hero of her own story.
This blog tour is organized by Lola’s Blog Tours and the tour runs from 26 July till 8 August. You can see the tour schedule here.
The Twin Stars (The Coseema Saga #1) By Bridgette Dutta Portman Genre: Fantasy Age category: Young Adult Release Date: 6 July, 2021
Blurb: A magical journal. A world savaged by its own suns. An evil prince. A princess in hiding. And a teenage girl who learns to be the hero of her own story.
Sixteen-year-old Olive Joshi has obsessive-compulsive disorder, and can’t stop worrying about hurting the people she loves. She finds refuge in writing about Coseema, a magical princess on a distant planet. Coseema is fearless, confident, and perfect – everything Olive thinks she’ll never be. When she falls through a portal into her own unfinished story, Olive finds herself in a world in peril: double suns scorch the land, the brutal Prince Burnash seeks supreme power, and Coseema is nowhere to be found. Together with her friends – a bold poet, a cursed musician, a renegade soldier, and an adventurous girl from the desert – Olive will have to face her deepest fears to find the hero in herself.
The Twin Stars is an engrossing new portal fantasy in the spirit of the Wizard of Oz, the Neverending Story, and the Chronicles of Narnia.
About the Author:
Bridgette Dutta Portman is an author, playwright, and teaching artist. Dozens of her plays have been produced across the United States and overseas. She holds an MFA in creative writing from Spalding University, as well as a PhD in political science from the University of California, Irvine. She is past president of the Playwrights’ Center of San Francisco and is currently a member of Same Boat Theater Collective, the Pear Playwrights’ Guild, and the Dramatists’ Guild. She recently joined the board of the Pear Theatre in Mountain View, CA. The Twin Stars is her debut novel, and the first of a planned trilogy. She lives in the San Francisco Bay Area with her husband Deepanshu and their two young children.
Giveaway
There is a tour wide giveaway for the blog tour of The Twin Stars. One winner wins a signed paperback copy of The Twin Stars + a custom designed journal that ties into the book thematically. Open International.
The school bully is the only one who can save them.
James’ life has been turned upside down and now the local bully has made him a target. So why would his mother insist he should invite him over? Especially when they’re hiding a secret badger clan at the bottom of the garden.
Now the badgers are under threat from a gang with fighting dogs and the badgers aren’t the only ones in peril.
Danger is approaching and it will make the most unlikely of heroes.
A story about becoming the person you can be, not the person you are expected to be.
ABOUT THE AUTHOR
Rachel Coverdale was born and bred in the beautiful North Yorkshire countryside in North East England. Raised with copious amounts of animals but without the distraction of a modern TV set, she turned to books and her own imagination for entertainment. Animals were and still are a huge part of her life and inevitably they made their way into her stories. Believing strongly in fresh air, nature and outdoor play to give children a sense of fun and freedom, Rachel uses her books to encourage children to connect with nature and venture into the countryside.
Having taught as an English teacher for many years and now settled happily into the role of school librarian, Rachel ensures all her books are not only creative, imaginative and exciting, but also of great educational benefit. Teaching resources and a scheme of work are available for “The Boy Who Couldn’t”.
Rachel is regularly featured on BBC Radio Tees Book Hour with Bob Fischer and Shack discussing and reviewing her latest reads. She also travels her native North East England paying visits to Primary and Secondary schools, giving talks on her books and about the importance of nature and the environment they live in.
Badgers seem to be one of the most misunderstood animals in the British countryside. Ignorance breeds fear and fear breeds hatred – I believe that’s where a lot of racism, sexism and disablism stems from. Badgers are secretive animals that mainly only come out at night and live below ground, therefore, very few humans have had the good fortune to see a real live badger with their own eyes. On top of this they have frighteningly sharp claws and powerful jaws making them sound like a terrifying Gruffalo rather than the peaceful pacifists they really are.
Like any wild animal, a threatened badger will fight for its life, or to protect its young – they’re just more capable than the average animal. Sadly, to blood thirsty individuals, this makes it an exciting rival for fighting dogs. Thus, the reputation of the badger as something wild, aggressive and dangerous has spread across Britain like a belligerent cancer. Without people being able to watch them regularly and see how they really behave, this rumour has continued unchecked.
When badgers were blamed by the government and some scientists for spreading TB among cattle this further fueled the unfounded hatred of badgers. Farmers losing livestock were told that the badgers were to blame and a cull began. There were small pockets of resistance but with the badgers’ baseless reputation, the sympathy did not spread far. Of course, farmers need to protect their stock, but there are two big issues with the cull: 1) it has not been 100% proven that the TB is spread badger to cattle rather than cattle to badger 2) there are vaccinations available – why on earth kill when you can vaccinate? I refer you back to the aforementioned ignorance, fear and hatred.
Farmers are wonderful people. I grew up in the countryside and know many farmers. They are the custodians of the countryside. Without them, we would not have so many well-tended meadows, hedgerows and woodland, ergo we would not have such rich and varied flora and fauna. (Indeed, without them, we would not have food!) If farmers can be assured that the badgers will not harm the cattle, many would not support the cull. Unfortunately, the people at the top who decide whether to cull or vaccinate do not have the farmers’ or badgers’ best interests at heart.
I did a lot of research into badgers and discovered all sorts of fascinating facts – not least that they’re really loving and playful towards each other and make a variety of gentle noises as they groom each other or play. Also, that badgers are very clean and regularly air their bedding! Importantly, if a badger senses danger, it’s first instinct is to run away and hide – not an animal that is looking for a fight.
It struck me that there are a lot of similarities between the misunderstanding of a badger’s true nature and the misunderstanding of many young people, boys in particular, who are also assumed to be aggressive by nature and therefore feared and hated. I already had the idea of a story of one such unfortunate boy in my head and by including a badger clan, I hoped I could dispel both myths at once whilst also educating the readers about such boys and badgers.
Returning to my theory that ignorance breeds fear and fear breeds hatred – I used to be scared of butterflies! Yes, I know it seems strange, but the fluttering unpredictable movements sent me into a blind panic leaping and yelping like a mad woman whenever one came close. As a childminder, I liked to do projects with the children during the summer holidays and one summer I decided to teach the children the rather interesting life cycle of a butterfly. We began with a trip to Butterfly World, where another childminder had to take my children round because I was too frightened to go in. To cut a long story short, we studied butterflies intensely, discovering different types of caterpillars, their movements, their plant preferences, the chrysalis and then all the most common varieties of butterfly in the UK. We made some up of our own, built them from playdoh and bread, decorated cakes like them, etcetera. By the end of the summer holidays we visited Butterfly World again and guess what … I managed to go in. I was still a bit jumpy, but what a massive improvement. I credit my progress solely on the education and familiarity: I was no longer scared, and I no longer hated butterflies.
I truly hope that readers of The Boy Who Couldn’t will learn to love badgers and want to protect them. Vaccination is such a kinder option than killing. If you would like to learn more about badgers, there are lots of fantastic websites: the best one to start with is https://www.badgertrust.org.uk/
Book Details:
Book Title: The Great Weight Debate: Get the Facts and Choose the Diet That’s Right for You by Amy Newman Shapiro Category: Adult Non-Fiction, 188 pages Genre: Self-help, Health and Fitness Publisher: Snewman Media Release date: January 2021 Content Rating: G
Book Description:
The Great Weight
Debate helps you evaluate which diet will work for you and which can hurt you. It is your essential, trusted resource to sift through the minefield of recommendations and misinformation when choosing the best diet for weight loss success. The Great Weight Debate summarizes many popular weight loss plans and explains the principles and research behind each diet. It also highlights the factors that may or may not make the diet a healthy choice for you. It explains why and how to
choose a diet that takes into account your food preferences and meets the needs of your lifestyle, schedule, and food availability. It will help you discover and understand the rules, food restrictions, and health risks of each diet. In addition, read up on the new trends, the latest buzz, and the results of the most up-to-date research science has to offer. So…Whether you choose Paleo, low carbohydrate, intermittent fasting, Whole30, or Mediterranean, do it with realistic expectations and do it smartly. Find weight loss success with The Great Weight Debate.
Amy
Shapiro RD, CDN, CPT is a registered dietitian and professional speaker promoting wellness in corporate, clinical and private settings. With degrees in both Psychology and Nutrition, Amy’s focus is on behavior modification and lifestyle management. Additionally, Amy is a personal trainer certified by the American Council on Exercise and a wellness coach. With thirteen years of experience educating and coaching clients and worksite wellness groups to achieve weight loss success, Lose It For the Last Time is Amy’s first book. She is the mother of two grown children and lives with her husband on Long Island New York.
Welcome to the “An Apple A Day Giveaway Hop!” I’m so glad that you’re here to win a prize. I’m glad to participate in another great Giveaway Hop to help you win a prize. Because we all love our books, I’m giving away a $10 Amazon Gift Card so that you can buy more of them!
Giveaway Rules: Entrants must be 18 years of age or older and reside in the US or CAN. Winner will be notified by email within 48 hours of giveaway’s end. Winner will have 48 hours to reply and claim the prize. If they fail to do so a new winner will be chosen. No social media is in any way responsible for prize fulfillment. Lisa’s Reading is responsible for prize fulfillment.
