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Tuesday, February 4, 2025

Cover Reveal- THE EXCHANGE & OTHER CALAMITIES by @MalMcCartney With An Excerpt and a $10 Amazon GC #Giveaway!

Today Mallory McCartney, Anuci Press, and Rockstar Book Tours are revealing the cover for THE EXCHANGE & OTHER CALAMITIES, her Horror Anthology book which releases July 22nd! Check out the awesome cover and enter the giveaway!

 

On to the reveal! 

About The Book:

Title: THE EXCHANGE & OTHER CALAMITIES

Author: Mallory McCartney

Pub. Date: July 22, 2025

Publisher: Anuci Press

Formats: Paperback, eBook

Find it: Goodreads 

Evil lurks in the darkness, clawing its way towards unsuspecting victims…  

A woman living with fibromyalgia finds an artifact that unleashes a reality she never thought possible… at a steep price. 

Two high school seniors take part in a tradition that brings them face to face with the monstrous truth behind a haunting dark urban legend. 

The face behind a popular Youtube ghost hunting show travels to the scene of a horrific event to find fresh horrors await there.  

Fate takes a bite out of a young woman who ventures into the wilderness to grieve her mother. 

Best-selling author, Theo Anderson, takes part in a sleep study that turns her into the very thing she fears. 

Hold your breath as you immerse yourself in five harrowing stories written by best-selling author, Mallory McCartney. Fans of her gripping Black Dawn Series will be kept on the edge of their seat by this horror collection inspired by real life events!


"Mrs. McCartney has boldly taken her first foray into horror, and I'm proud to say it's ridiculously fun. I've read my fair share of horror, but McCartney writes in a way that made even my stomach turn at points. It takes a lot of skill to successfully create an atmosphere suitable for the horrific things happening throughout this book, but she does it here and then some, making you feel like you're smackdab in the middle of it all. By the time I turned the last page I felt like I'd been put through the wringer, and I can't wait to see what she comes up with next." -Patrick Delaney author of Witch 13, The House that Fell from the Sky 

 

Excerpt:

“I shut the mirror with a click and froze. Fear dripped through me, starting at the crown of my head and dousing my body so completely, my mind went blank. A scream lodged firmly in my throat—I couldn’t utter a sound. Fire and ice raced through my veins, churning my stomach, and bile rose in my throat.

Fingers had appeared from thin air, and they grew and morphed into inky claws. They curled over my shoulder and gripped it hard. Then, with pallid skin, the rest of the intruder appeared.”

 

“The creature’s grip only hardened.

My eyes rolled back. My lungs screamed for oxygen, for release. In our reflection, which I caught in blurred moments, my face was purple, my mouth hanging open in a silent scream. The creature pulled me closer. Its other arm wrapped around my waist. Where before it had no defined eye sockets, there now sat two massive orbs.

And they burned red.”

 

“Something moved to my left. My steps faltered, and my response faded. It was the middle of the day, but in the hallway, the shadows deepened. On the wall in front of me, the painting was of a man wearing a collared shirt and a serious expression. His gaunt cheekbones made his eyes look more sunken. The bland yellow background with nothing in it drew the viewer in, but cast a greenish hue to the whole picture. He looked sick. The whole painting did.

My bottom lip trembled and I bit it so hard, the metallic taste of blood filled my mouth.

Stepping closer to the painting, I watched as blood—real blood—poured from this man’s eyes, words appearing to write themselves along his chest:

You are mine now.”

 

 

About Mallory:

Mallory McCartney currently lives in Sarnia, Ontario with her husband, their dachshunds Link, and Leonard and their sphynx cats Luna, Legolas, Ivy and Lily. When she isn’t working on her next novel or reading, she can be found day dreaming about fantasy worlds or bingeing her favorite horror movies.

Website | Twitter | Facebook | Facebook Group| Instagram | TikTok | Goodreads | Amazon | BookBub

 




Giveaway Details:

1 winner will receive a $10 Amazon Gift Card, International.

Ends February 11th, midnight EST.

a Rafflecopter giveaway

Monday, February 3, 2025

Blog Tour- BECOMING MARIELLA by #JanetConstantino With An Interview and a #Giveaway! @shewritespress, @wildboundpr

I am thrilled to be hosting a spot on the BECOMING MARIELLA by Janet Constantino Blog Tour hosted by Rockstar Book Tours. Check out my post and make sure to enter the giveaway!

 

About The Book:

Title: BECOMING MARIELLA

Author: Janet Constantino

Pub. Date: February 4, 2025

Publisher: She Writes Press

Formats: Paperback, eBook

Pages: 376

Find it: Goodreadshttps://books2read.com/BECOMING-MARIELLA 

For fans of Elena Ferrante’s The Lying Life of Adults and Jean Kwok’s Girl in Translation comes a contemporary coming-of-age tale about a young Italian immigrant’s desperate journey to find her personal freedom.

It’s unprecedented, even in the twenty-first century, for a young Sicilian woman to defy the centuries-old mandate, “Family is everything!”—but twenty-two-year-old Mariella Russo is desperate to escape Sicily. She’s being relentlessly coerced into an engagement with her wealthy college sweetheart—a young man from a prominent, powerful family—by her envious and erratic mother, who hopes the match will increase her own ignominious social status. Suddenly, Mariella’s lifelong home has become a claustrophobic island. In a bid for independence and an attempt to escape entrapment, she flees to San Francisco.

But Mariella’s bête noire—entrapment—follows her to San Francisco, where everyone wants more from her than she wants to give. Her American roommate, Leslie, turns out to be a gay man rather than the woman she imagined; her employer/lover is pressuring her to live with him; and her neurotic mother is haunting her, wreaking havoc and embarrassment. An urgent return trip to Sicily puts Mariella to the ultimate challenge: will she submit to tradition, or choose a life she wants for herself?
 

Reviews:

“Readers will easily relate to this enjoyable and honest depiction of the conflicting desires and expectations faced by many people in their 20s.” —Kirkus Reviews

“. . . Constantino's prose effectively carries the story . . .” —BookLife Prize

“Janet Constantino creates a host of unforgettable—and delightfully unpredictable—characters in this wise and lively novel full of romance, passion, true friendship, and deliciously detailed descriptions of authentic Italian cooking.” —Mary Helen Stefaniak, author of The Cailiffs of Baghdad, Georgia

“Janet Constantino has created a character of wonderful complexity.” —David Chandler, stage, screen, and voice actor

Becoming Mariella speaks to any woman or man who has ever wanted more of a future than what was already laid out for them.” —Morgan Ray, author of Sticks and Stones and Unsolicited Greetings

“You’ll end up considering them your friends and want to invite most of them over for dinner.” —Susan Salenger, author of Sidelined

 

Interview Questions

 

For the readers: can you tell us a little bit about your book and the characters?

Inspiration for Becoming Mariella.  A friend asked me, "If you could write about anything you wanted, what would that be?"  I thought immediately of Sicily, and then of a young Sicilian woman trying to break free from her overbearing mother, and from a culture that has historically kept women in traditional roles of housewife, cook, and mother.  I also took inspiration from my psychotherapy clients who have dared to follow their own paths, even if they're in relationtships, and of my own challenges along the way.

What are you working on now?

I have a sequel brewing in the back of my mind.  I want to know what happens to Mariella after her return family visit to Sicily, and her subsequent return to her new home of San Francisco. 

Were any of the characters in the book inspired by people from your real life?

My mother partly inspired Mamma in the novel. Along with the actress Anna Magnani!  My mother was impulsive, and had a real flair for the dramatic.  She really did do her best, and was frustrated, like Mamma, in being held back in her life.  Also, Nonna was partly inspired by a dear, kind, older friend, who believed in me, no matter what.

Who was your favorite character to write? What about your least favorite?

Well, Mariella, of course.  But I also really loved writing her gay roommate and dear friend Leslie.  A foil to Mariella's perhaps overly developed sense of responsibility.

My least liked tof write characters would have to be Theresa, the sister of Giovanni who was Mariella's lover and boss at the restaurant in San Francisco.  And Bruno, the father of Matteo, who was Mariella's fiance, in Sicily

What is your favorite passage/scene in your book?

I had fun writing the kitchen scene with Mamma as Mariella prepares the last Sunday ragu before she secretly escapes to San Francisco.  The scene that begins with "Mariella’s knife landed swiftly, solidly, thunk, thunk, thunk, again and again, on the cutting surface.  She diced celery, carrots, and onions with precision borne of fury, her mother’s leering face chopped into progressively tinier bits.  She was preparing the soffritto for tomorrow’s ragu.  Sunday lunch:  for Sicilian families, the big, important meal of the week."

 

What kind of research did you have to do for the story?

Lots.  Especially about Sicilian history with the Norman Conquest of Sicily from 999 through 1194 (thus Mariella's and Nonna's green eyes, a "gift from the Normans") and the Allied Occupation of Sicily in WWII, during Occupation Husky against Mussolini and the Fascists, in 1943.  Also, I checked for accuracy about architecture and customs, auch as Christmas, as well as facts about the University of Catania, airports, open air markets, wines, and the specifics of some native dishes.  And, travel distances between various cities.

 

Lightning Round Questions

 

What are you reading right now? Or what do you have on your TBR that you’re dying to read?

Right now I'm reading The Hunter by Tana French, and I've always had it on my TBR list to read Ulysses, whch I've started at least 10 times.  Same with Proust and Remembrance of Things Past.

 

Favorite social media site?

I'm not very ept at Social Media, but I'll say Instagram

 

Favorite Superhero or Villain?

Dorothea in Middlemarch.  As you can tell, I'm pretty old-fashioned.

 

Favorite TV show?

Masterpiece Mystery and Masterpiece Theater

 

Sweet or Salty?

Salty

 

Any Phobias?

Heights, Freeway driving

 

Song you can’t get enough of right now?

Some of the old Eagles stuff, New Kid in Town; and Bryan Ferry, Slave to Love, and More Than This.  K.D. Lang too

 

2024 Movie you’re most looking forward to?

A Real Pain, with Kieran Culkin and Jesse Eisenberg

 

Do you play video games? If so what are some of your favorites?

I don't

 

 

About Janet Constantino:

Janet Constantino is a former a competitive Latin Ballroom dancer and journalist, and has been a licensed psychotherapist since 1983. In 2015, she earned an MFA in Creative Writing from Pacific University, and in 2021, she won second place in the MFK Fisher Last House writing contest. A practicing Buddhist, Janet has a grown son and twin granddaughters. She and her husband of twenty-five years live in the beautiful city of Sonoma, California, with their beloved Labradoodle and tuxedo cat.

Subscribe to Janet’s newsletter! Scroll to the bottom of the page. 

Website | Facebook | Instagram | Goodreads | Amazon

 


Giveaway Details:

1 winner will receive a finished copy of BECOMING MARIELLA, US Only.

Ends February 22nd, midnight EST.

a Rafflecopter giveaway

Tour Schedule:

Week One:

2/3/2025

Two Chicks on Books

Interview/IG Post

2/4/2025

Daily Waffle

Guest Post

2/5/2025

Fire and Ice Reads

Guest Post/IG Post

2/6/2025

Frugal Freelancer

Excerpt/IG Post

2/7/2025

Rajiv's reviews

Review/IG Post

2/8/2025

@gymaholicbookworm

Review/IG Post

Week Two:

2/9/2025

Review Thick And Thin

Review/IG Post

2/10/2025

rolo_the_book_lover-

IG Review/TikTok Post

2/11/2025

Country Mamas With Kids

Review/IG Post

2/12/2025

@enjoyingbooksagain

IG Review

2/13/2025

jlreadstoperpetuity

Review/IG Post

2/14/2025

Edith's Little Free Library

IG Post/LFL Drop Pic/TikTok Post

2/15/2025

A Blue Box Full of Books

IG Review/LFL Drop Pic

Week Three:

2/16/2025

Lifestyle of Me

Review

2/17/2025

@alexandriavwilliams_

IG Review


Blog Tour- GREETING CARDS FOR EXES by @RebekahLPurdy With Rebekah's Favorite Video Games and a $10 Amazon GC #Giveaway! @RowanProse

I am thrilled to be hosting a spot on the GREETING CARDS FOR EXES by Rebekah L. Purdy Blog Tour hosted by Rockstar Book Tours. Check out my post and make sure to enter the giveaway!

 

About The Book:

Title: GREETING CARDS FOR EXES

Author: Rebekah L. Purdy

Pub. Date: February 4, 2025

Publisher: Rowan Prose Publishing

Formats: Paperback, eBook

Find it: Goodreadshttps://books2read.com/u/bQlRpD

“Purdy presents a beautifully complex array of characters that touch your heart.” –A Bookish Escape

Piper Mishner has spent the last year trying to get over her ex, which is hard to do after he decides to move into the apartment next to hers with his new fiancé. As if she needs the reminder of how painful the breakup was. Not to mention, her job as a greeting card writer is now at risk due to her cynicism about love.

 
“I’m bored with you and need a change.” The infamous words of Kerrie Holloway’s ex-husband, who doesn’t seem to understand the concept of being an “ex” since he wants her to pretend for their kids and family that they’re still together. While dating others and living in the same house. She gets a job in sales at a greeting card company, and is finally on the way to saving for her own place.

 
Maude Gilchrist has spent over fifty years married to the same man. A man who, one day, just leaves. No goodbye. No explanation. He was just gone. Bitter and alone, she decides to postpone retirement from the greeting card company. Although writing sappy cards about love is the last thing she wants to do.


Through lunch hour talks, weekend getaways, and drunken brawls, the ladies of All For You Greeting Cards Company help heal one another’s wounds and learn there are more important things in life than having a man. There may be a generational gap, but they all have the “ex-factor” in common. Everyone needs a friend by their side. Someone to talk to, laugh with, complain to, watch your back…and to go to jail with you. 

 

Fans of Ashley Poston, Colleen Hoover, Emily Henry, Christina Lauren, Mia Sheridan, and Kristin Hannah will enjoy "Greeting Cards For Exes" by Rebekah L. Purdy.

Book Trailer:


Top 5 favorite Video Games:

I’m a total video game nerd. I mostly play RPG games. One of my favorite developers though is Bioware. I swear they have THE best storylines/dialogue options of pretty much all the games. So here is a list of my top five games.

 

  1. Dragon Age (there are four separate games, but I love the franchise as a whole). For the Dragon Age games, some of my favorite things about them are the storytelling and the characters. I love the world that these games take place in, and that the decisions you make throughout the campaigns matter. I also love the character creators and depending on race, class, etc it will determine certain aspects of your story or where your story might start. These games allow you to also romance characters within them so you’ll have side quests you can do to learn more about them or help you earn their trust. The third game in the series: Inquisition, is my favorite of the four games in the series. I just loved ALL the character companions in it. I remember the first time I beat it, and you’re saying goodbye to the companions it kind of tugged at your heartstrings, like they’d become your friends. Seriously, some of the best character writing in video games. Plus you get to do battle (kill some dragons and other baddies).
  2. Mass Effect (there are three games in this series and also a fourth one that is kind of an epilogue kind of game). This is another video game franchise that is helmed by Bioware. I like to say it’s Dragon Age, but in space. LOL. This is another one where your decisions matter throughout the game and can impact who might survive during certain battles within the game. You also have an option to create strong friendships and actual relationships within this game as well. Again, great writing and storytelling.
  3. Baldur’s Gate III I LOVE this game. It has an amazing character creator, and I LOVE the companions you get to have this game. This is another one with a great storyline and you can play it with other people. My boys and I like to play this one together. Plus the studio is really interactive with fans and listens when there are things that could be done better. When this one first released, it started on PC and so my sons let me play on there systems with them until it released to console.
  4. Diablo (another multiple game series that I love). This one is just a fun combat kind of game. I’ll play it with my boys and my nephew at times. You don’t really have to think a lot about this one, so it’s nice if you want to just have some mindless combat.
  5. Stardew Valley Okay, so this one is more of a cozy kind of game where you get to garden, mine, farm, and fish as well as make friends in the town. There are quests you get to do in the game that can earn you money for your character. You can do house upgrades and furniture upgrades. There is also a romance option in this one. It’s a relaxing kind of game that if you don’t want to think about much, you don’t have to. Plus the music in it is really chill too!

 

 

About Rebekah L. Purdy:

Rebekah L. Purdy is an army veteran, born and raised in Michigan. She works full time for the court system and, in her free time, she writes YA stories across many genres, with more than 15 titles to date. She has a large family, including furbabies. "Greeting Cards for Exes" is her first women's fiction book.

Website | Twitter | Facebook | Instagram | Goodreads

 





Giveaway Details:

1 winner will receive a $10 Amazon Gift Card, International.

Ends March 8th, midnight EST.


a Rafflecopter giveaway

Tour Schedule:

Week One:

2/3/2025

Two Chicks on Books

Guest Post/IG Post

2/4/2025

Daily Waffle

Guest Post

2/5/2025

Fire and Ice Reads

Guest Post/IG Post

2/6/2025

The Eclectic Review

Interview/IG Post

2/7/2025

Frugal Freelancer

Excerpt/IG Post

Week Two:

2/10/2025

One More Exclamation

Excerpt/IG Post

2/11/2025

@callistoscalling

IG Post

2/12/2025

Kim's Book Reviews and Writing Aha's

Review/IG Post

2/13/2025

@dharashahauthor

IG Post

2/14/2025

@tartan_teapotsandbooks_croft

IG Review

Week Three:

2/17/2025

Review Thick And Thin

Review/IG Post

2/18/2025

Lifestyle of Me

Review/IG Post

2/19/2025

Edith's Little Free Library

IG Post/LFL Book Drop Pic/TikTok Post

2/20/2025

Satisfaction for Insatiable Readers

Review/IG Post

2/21/2025

@dana.loves.books

Review/IG Post

Week Four:

2/24/2025

A Blue Box Full of Books

IG Review/LFL Drop Pic/TikTok Post

2/25/2025

rolo_the_book_lover-

IG Review/TikTok Post

2/26/2025

Country Mamas With Kids

Review/IG Post

2/27/2025

anitralovesbooksanddogs

Review/IG Post

2/28/2025

More Books Please blog

Review/IG Post


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