Blog Tour Review, Guest Post, & Giveaway - Nora Bonesteel's Christmas Past by Sharyn McCrumb

 

Publisher: Abingdon
Series: Ballad Books
Format Read: print ARC
Source: PR firm in exchange for an honest review
Release Date: September 23, 2014
Buying Links: Amazon* | Book Depository* | OmniLit* | Barnes & Noble | 
* affiliate links; the blog receives a small commission from purchases made through these links.

Blurb from goodreads:

When someone buys the old Honeycutt house, Nora Bonesteel is glad to see some life brought back to the old mansion, even if it is by summer people. But when they decide to stay through Christmas, they find more than old memories in the walls. On Christmas Eve, Sheriff Spencer Arrowwood and Deputy Joe LeDonne find themselves on an unwelcome call to arrest an elderly man for a minor offense. As they attempt to do their duty, while doing the right thing for a neighbor, it begins to look like they may all spend Christmas away from home. In a story of spirits, memories, and angels unaware, Sharyn McCrumb revisits her most loved characters who know there is more to this world than the eye can see, especially at Christmastime.

Cat Thursday - Okay, We Can Share

 Welcome to the weekly meme hosted by The True Book Addict that celebrates cats; their foibles and humorousness and the joy they bring. You can join in by posting a favorite LOL cat pic you made or came across, cat art or share with us pics of your own felines, then post your link up at The True Book Addict.

Goof and Claude are making progress towards tolerating each other. They shared the window for about 5 minutes before Claude jumped down. :) Claude is the cat on the left (gray, slim) and Goof is on the right  (tubby tabby).

  

Related articles

• Cat Thursday - Cats & Fish
• Cat Thursday - Grumpy Thursday

Steph Reviews AMERICA'S MOST HAUNTED: The Secrets of Paranormal Places by Theresa Argie & Eric Olsen

Publisher: Berkley Trade
Format Read: Ebook
Source: From the publisher for an honest review
Release Date: September 30, 2014
Buying Links: Amazon* | Book Depository* | OmniLit* | Barnes & Noble | 
* affiliate links; the blog receives a small commission from purchases made through these links.

Blurb from goodreads:

Throughout the United States, there are places haunted by souls both malevolent and benign. Places where paranormal activity runs rampant. Places where we can glimpse the other side…

In America’s Most Haunted, “Haunted Housewife” investigator Theresa Argie and journalist Eric Olsen team up to take you on a first-person tour of some of America’s most active paranormal hotspots.

Experience the crawl through the death tunnel where visitors have reported sightings of an inhuman creature that creeps along the walls and ceilings. Walk the decks of the Queen Mary with the hundreds of souls that met their ends in watery graves. And get to know the spirits that wait in jails, mansions, lunatic asylums, and even a stately old hotel.

Combining spine-tingling stories, documented evidence, and interviews with some of the top names in paranormal investigation—including the stars of TV’s “Ghost Hunters,” “Ghost Adventures,” and more—America’s Most Haunted gives you a terrifying chance to tour our nation’s most famous haunted places.Are you brave enough to take a look?.

Giveaway & Review of Doghouse by L.A. Kornetsky

Publisher: Pocket Books
Series: Gin & Tonic #3
Format Read: paperback
Source: the publisher in exchange for an honest review
Release Date: July 22, 2014
Buying Links: Amazon* | Book Depository* | OmniLit* | Barnes & Noble | 
* affiliate links; the blog receives a small commission from purchases made through these links.

Blurb from goodreads:

In the third novel in the "entertaining" (Library Journal) Gin and Tonic mystery series, the stakes are raised when Ginny Mallard and Teddy Tonica stumble on an underground dog fighting ring with bloody consequences.

Even though she's unlicensed as an investigator, the infamously nosy Ginny Mallard has begun to make a name for herself as an unofficial champion of the tongue-tied. When a mysterious stranger comes to her with landlord trouble, she convinces her bartender friend Teddy Tonica to help her once more. Soon, they realize they might have got themselves tied up in an underground dogfighting ring. With the help of Ginny's pet shar-pei puppy and Tonica's tabby cat, they have to figure out what's going on before someone else gets hurt. Will twelve legs really be better than four?

Jax & Bea Review Black Water by Faith Hunter

Publisher: InterMix Books
Series: Jane Yellowrock
Format Read: eGalley
Source: from the publisher in exchange for an honest review
Release Date: September 16, 2014
Buying Links:  Amazon*  | OmniLit* | Barnes & Noble | Audible
* affiliate links; the blog receives a small commission from purchases made through these links.

Blurb from goodreads:

Three stories from New York Times bestselling author Faith Hunter, starring shapeshifting skinwalker Jane Yellowrock.

In Snafu, a young Jane shows up for her internship with a securities firm. But before she even gets her foot in the door, she’s accosted by two street toughs and is forced to draw on her new-found Beast-magic to defend herself…

In Black Water, Jane encounters a dire situation involving an escaped prisoner and endangered hostages. With a helpful—and oddly sane—werewolf, Jane goes after the criminals, but can she stop them in time to bring the kidnapped women home alive?

In Off the Grid, Jane goes on what looks like a simple mission for the Knoxville blood-master—finding a missing Mithran. Her search leads Jane to a young woman named Nell, a woman with a scarred past and a strange power, a woman who may hold the key to saving the missing vampire, if Jane can convince her to assist.

Includes an exclusive preview of the Jane Yellowrock novel, Broken Soul, coming October 2014 from Roc!

Snafu and Off the Grid are never before published.
The story Black Water was previously published as an Audible Audio Edition.

Quote-Tastic #58 If Ever I Return, Pretty Peggy-O

Join us every Monday and share a favorite quote that's grabbed you for one reason or another. Everyone's welcome to join in - authors, bloggers, readers. The more the merrier! Just grab the button and put up your post :) Don't have a blog? No worries, just leave your favorites in the comment section.  Quote-tastic is hosted by Herding Cats & Burning Soup.

I've had this book since 1990; it's a bit warped and battered but still legible. McCrumb has been a favorite author since I was in college a million years ago. D: This was the beginning of her second series, the Ballad books, which she's still writing. In fact, I'll have a review of the newest book, "Nora Bonesteel's Christmas Past" on Thursday. "Peggy" is solidly mystery while later books in the series have a mystery in them but are more Southern literary fiction.

National Animal Welfare Week - A Guest Post & An Excerpt from Doghouse by L.A. Kornetsky

 

It's Animal Welfare Week! Well, according to some calendars, October 6th -12th is Animal Welfare Week. However, when I tried Googling it, I found little solid information. So I have a few links for you concerning proper welfare for pets and a link to a facebook page on Animal Welfare Week, although it hasn't been updated since 2012.

Animal Welfare Week on Facebook
Animal Welfare on the American Veterinary Medical Association site

Pet care on the ASPCA site
Animals and resources on the Humane Society site

Animals are living beings; they need care, time, and respect. In my not so humble opinion, you shouldn't have animals, be they pets or working animals, if you are unable or unwilling to care for them. If you need help or information, there are resources: friends and co-workers, boos, the web and the sites mentioned above as well as many others.

Over the summer, I acquired some beta fish, despite knowing next to nothing about them. But I've asked acquaintances, I've Googled, and I've asked questions at several pet shops. Now, I am able to care for them properly, but for a while I was asking questions non-stop. Having brought them home, it's my responsibility to see they are properly cared for.

And now for something a little lighter - I have an excerpt from a new mystery, "Doghouse" by L.A. Kornetsky starring a cat and a dog and their humans trying to solve a mystery. It's the third book in the Gin and Tonic mystery series.