Please welcome Karen Hulene Bartell,
author of several paranormal romances. She’s going to introduce us to The Keys:
Voice of the Turtle, which releases today from the Wild Rose Press. It is now
available at Amazon and Barnes & Noble. Karen, can you tell us about the
book?
Thank you, M. S. Spencer, for
inviting me to your blog! It’s a pleasure to chat with you and your readers any
time, but especially today, the day The
Keys: Voice Of The Turtle is being released.
The setting for this mainstream
fantasy is the Florida Keys, specifically Marathon and Key West. Why the Keys?
Their raw beauty, magnificent sea-turtles, colorful buccaneer history, as well
as the lure of buried treasure and the Keys’ bigger-than-life residents, like
Earnest Hemingway, all captured my imagination, and all would play a role.
Key West is a town that
doesn’t sleep. The city island is a continuous party that starts at breakfast
with cafe con leche, Cuban toast, and mimosas. The festivities runs
throughout the day in bistros, pubs, brasseries, or beside food-carts vending conch
fritters and pink shrimp scampi. It reaches full swing at Mallory Square’s
Sunset Celebration with to-go cups in hand and then continues long into the
night on a Duval Crawl.
Key West is a wide-open town
that’s historically attracted pirates and wreckers. Today, the island’s sheer
beauty, tropical vibes, and distinct culture draw vacationers, sailors,
sun-lovers, and mavericks, as well as real-estate developers and hoteliers, who
also play dark roles in The Keys: Voice of the Turtle.
Date of release: August 14, 2019
Publisher: The Wild Rose Press, Inc.
Series: Sacred Emblem
Genre: Mainstream Fantasy
Pagination: 328 pages
Heat rating: Sweet
Blurb:
Hours after arriving in the
Florida Keys to help her cousin Keya create a turtle preserve, Ruth discovers a
washed-up body and not one, but two apparitions—Maita, the angry victim's
spirit, and Bart, a swashbuckling ghost. Ruth's curious ability to connect with
the ghosts may help them move on, but how?
Keya is in a probate battle
over her turtle-nesting beach. Land-hungry relatives want it bulldozed and
developed. Like Ruth, she has a special gift—she can talk to animals. Between
Ruth's help and Keya's unique ability, they work to save the property, but is
it too late?
Can Keya save her beloved
turtles? Can Ruth find Maita's murderer or help Bart solve his 400-year-old mystery?
There's more than meets the eye to Keya's land. Add in a dashing sailor who
believes in her, and Keya may have more than she bargained for…
Excerpt:
~ Key West—Cayo Hueso—Island of Bones ~
“Conveying this land to the turtles would be my way of leaving the
world a better place.” She turned toward Ruth. “Does that make sense?”
Ruth nodded and gazed at Keya as if for the first time. Her cousin’s
intentions were clear. “But legally, how can you will the property to the
turtles?”
“Easy. I leave it to the Turtle Refuge.” Keya laughed inwardly as they
meandered along the beach. “And this is where you come in. When you’re writing
the brochure, add a few paragraphs about planned giving and charitable
bequests…” Her words broke off as Keya stared as if in a trance.
Ruth looked at her. “What’s wrong?”
Her hand shaking, Keya pointed to a shady patch of beach half hidden by
sand dunes. A lifeless hand lay tangled in seaweed, its fingernails broken and
bloodied.
Racing behind the sandbanks to help, Ruth skidded to a halt, her heels
digging into the sand. A woman’s bloated body lay staring at the sun, her eyes
opaque and unseeing. “Do you recognize her?”
“No.” Keya shook her head as the cat gingerly approached, sniffing and
meowing. “But Earnestine said she smells familiar.”
Two hours later, the police left, and Keya turned to Ruth. “How about a
mojito?”
Earnestine cocked her head and stiffened as she growled in her throat.
“Knock, knock,” called a man’s voice.
Ruth flinched at the sound.
“Who’s there?” called Keya, her tone curt.
A tall, thin man wearing khakis and a nautical polo shirt waved from
the property line next door. Then he stepped over the low row of pilings and
picked his way through the thorny pyracantha bushes that served as a boundary
between the properties. After pointing to the house behind him, he brushed his
salt-and-pepper hair from his eyes. “I’m your next-door neighbor, Gerald
Granger, but call me Gerry. Hope this isn’t an inopportune time to introduce
myself.”
“I didn’t realize anyone lived there.” Her smile stiff, Keya stood, seeming
to gather her shaken nerves about her like a flowing kaftan.
 |
| Karen Hulene Bartell |
About the Author:
Author of the Sacred Emblem,
Sacred Journey, and Sacred Messenger series, Karen is a best-selling author,
motivational keynote speaker, wife, and all-around pilgrim of life. She writes
multicultural, offbeat love stories steeped in the supernatural that lift the
spirit. Born to rolling-stone parents who moved annually, Bartell found her
earliest playmates as fictional friends in books. Paperbacks became her
portable pals. Ghost stories kept her up at night—reading feverishly. The
paranormal was her passion. Wanderlust inherent, Karen enjoyed traveling,
although loathed changing schools. Novels offered an imaginative escape. An
only child, she began writing her first novel at the age of nine, learning the
joy of creating her own happy endings. Professor emeritus of the University of
Texas at Austin, Karen resides in the Hill Country with her husband Peter and
her “mews”—three rescued cats and a rescued *Cat*ahoula Leopard dog.
Contacts:
