Wednesday, May 27, 2020

Please Welcome Addison Brae and Becker's Circle


Welcome Addison Brae to Tale Spinner. We want to hear all about your new  mystery romance, Becker Circle. What was the inspiration for the story?

The inspiration for Becker Circle came from a conversation with another author after a writing workshop. I mentioned I was in a bit of a hurry to make it to my friend’s bachelorette party. She asked me why someone “our age” would go to a bachelorette party. My answer may have sounded snarky, but it was true. “My friend’s getting married.” I had just begun a fresh start. Our conversation made me realize how stuck in social norms and expectations we are. We’re never too anything for a fresh start, to try something new, have fun—or go to bachelorette parties.


What’s the story about?

Where no one has to be a victim and everyone deserves a second chance. Will Gillian find hers?

 My first and only boyfriend believed I was too gutless to leave. He was dead wrong. My name’s Gillian, and I graduated Harvard early and left his hot temper and everyone else behind for Dallas. Determined to make it on my own, I land a second job bartending at the neighborhood pub smack in drama central where most every jerk in the neighborhood hits on me—at a huge price.

A week into the job, the neighborhood’s very popular drug dealer falls to his death a few feet from the table I’m serving. The cops say suicide, but the hot guitar player in the house band and I suspect foul play, and I intend to prove it. We dig deeper, grow closer, and make a shocking discovery. We know the murderer.  

Excerpt (G): Panic

I’ve got to say something. Stop this. Get back to the plan.

“Sir, can we talk about this? I have an idea that might work better.”

Silence except for the water.

Finally I find the nerve to look back.

Absolutely no one is there. Every living soul in the park vanished along with my sanity like animals do when they smell danger.

Jon’s going to kill me if I don’t get arrested or murdered like Bobby first.

I look around at the empty stretch of grass frantic. Do I go home? Back to the pub? Talk to Pinkie? Call Jon? Are they watching me? Nothing seems safe. I’m not sure how to fix this—if anyone even can. What the fuck am I going to do?

My feet pound on the pavement. Out of habit I head toward the pub. The waiters at the Italian restaurant whistle and wave from across the street. What used to upset me is reassuring. I stop and turn in the direction of Pinkie’s, and then home. Instead I lean against the building and look up to the sky.

“Mom? Help.”

I don’t talk to her often anymore. Not like I used to. I can always count on Mom to help me find my strength. It was during long conversations with her staring at the sky when I plotted slipping out of Boston during the holidays while Connor was gone. She inspired doubling up on classes so I could finish early. Mom gave me the courage to leave him.

“I can’t pack up and disappear this time.” I look for her in the stars again. Facing it is the only option. I can’t run. I have to figure this out for Bobby. For you and Dad. For me. But how?

People walk out of the George & Dragon. Laughing. Carefree. Think, Gillian. Think.

Maybe I was the one who found my courage all along. The only way I ever made it through anything big is one step at a time. Follow their instructions. I can’t screw up.

I jump at the vibration in my pocket. It’s Jon. “Talk to me…you ok?”

My fingers fight to find the letters. “Meeting fine...headed home. Brunch?

“Thank God. Yes see you in morning.”

I inventory the people on the sidewalks and turn toward my building. Step one, figure out how to tell Jon he’s out of the deal. Or maybe I don’t. Postpone so there’s time to get myself out of taking this on alone. Why didn’t I wear quieter shoes? My heels click on the brick sidewalk announcing myself like an old clunker car with no muffler.

When a car approaches from behind I walk faster, my heels echoing even louder. I glance back but don’t even know what to look for since the guy in the park didn’t show his face. A girl about my age sits behind the wheel of a taxi-yellow compact. The tension in my body eases but I’m still a wreck. I constantly look around thinking someone’s about to pounce out of every shadow. Everyone looks normal walking dogs or strolling between bars. But what does normal look like?

Seeing my stairs is a relief. Keys in hand, I break my one-step-at-a-time in heels rule to get home faster. To hell with rules. I’ve followed them all my life.

Rule sixteen of my new life—Break more rules.

My sofa is the happiest thing I’ve seen all day. I drop my coat and purse at the door and slip my shoes off on the way. The day’s stresses and lack of sleep roll over me like the densest fog. All I want to do is sleep. And forget.

Romantic suspense
Tirgearr Publishing (March 2018)
281 pp.

Trailer

Buy Links



About the Author

Addison Brae lives in Dallas, Texas on the edge of downtown. As a child, she was constantly in trouble for hiding under the bed to read when she was supposed to be napping. She has been writing since childhood starting with diaries, letters and short stories. She continues today with articles, video scripts and other content as an independent marketing consultant. 

When she’s not writing, Addison spends her time traveling the world, collecting interesting cocktail recipes and hosting parties. She’s still addicted to reading and enjoys jogging in her neighborhood park, sipping red wine, binge-watching TV series, vintage clothing and hanging out with her artistic other half and their neurotic cat Lucy. 


Contacts:




Thursday, May 7, 2020

Mother's Day Celebration with The Mason's Mark at N. N. Light's



Come by May 7-10 for a Mother’s Day celebration at N. N. Light’s Book Heaven! Today she is featuring the Mason’sMark: Love & Death in the Tower.




In both the best and worst first day at work ever, docent Claire Wilding meets the man of her dreams, but her carefully rehearsed guided tour of the George Washington National Masonic Memorial collapses when she discovers a body and is drawn into a dark world of black ops and Italian renegade masons, of secret cabals and hidden treasure. Also cloaked in mystery is handsome Gideon Bliss, a George Washington expert who haunts the Memorial, his manner evasive. What is his secret? Claire fears she'll fall in love with him only to learn he's a thief or even a murderer. Juggling two eccentric mothers, an inquisitive sister, and an increasingly smitten detective, Claire must find answers to a complex web of intrigue, including who to trust and who to love.
Come by for a chance to win great prizes and read a funny excerpt—meet the mothers!



https://www.nnlightsbookheaven.com/post/the-masons-mark-mothersday

Tuesday, May 5, 2020

Lapses of Memory at NetGalley for May: Get Your Review Copy Now!

It takes thirty years for Sydney to recognize her true love only to have him forget her.





Lapses of Memory, my romantic suspense novel set on the world stage, is up for review at NetGalley for the entire month of May. Get a free review copy here: 


Sydney Bellek first meets Elian Davies in the 1950s on a Boeing 377 Stratocruiser when she is five and he is seven. They run into each other every few years after that, but while he knows from the start that she is his true love, she does not. Later, as rival journalists, they vie for scoops on international crises from the Iranian revolution to the Lebanese civil war. The handsome and intrepid Elian beats her out at every turn, even while keeping his love for her secret.

Only after years of separation does she finally realize they are meant to be together, but this time, in a twist of fate, it is Elian whose memory of her is gone. Will he remember her before she loses heart or will their new love be enough to replace 
the old one?


Get your copy here:

https://www.netgalley.com/catalog/book/139495

It's also in Audio:

Amazon: https://www.amazon.com/Lapses-of-Memory/dp/B07QB8LHBQ/ref=tmm_aud_swatch_0?_encoding=UTF8&qid=1554667660&sr=8-2-spell



Thursday, April 23, 2020

The Pit and the Passion: Murder at the Ghost Hotel is at the Spring Break Bookapalooza



The fantastic N. N. Light is putting on the Spring Break Bookapalooza all the month of April! 

Your spring break doesn’t have to be all jigsaw puzzle and Twister—it can be finding great new books!  And a little extra: enter to win any of five Amazon or Barnes and Noble gift cards!

Today my mystery/romantic suspense The Pit and the Passion: Murder at the Ghost Hotel is featured.




 At midnight, in the darkness of a deserted hotel, comes a scream and a splash. Eighty-five years later, workmen uncover a skeleton in an old elevator shaft. Who is it, and how did it get there? To find out, Charity Snow, ace reporter for the Longboat Key Planet, teams up with Rancor Bass, best-selling author. A college ring they find at the dig site may prove to be their best clue.

Although his arrogance nearly exceeds his talent, Charity soon discovers a warm heart beating under Rancor’s handsome exterior. While dealing with a drop-dead gorgeous editor who may or may not be a villain, a publisher with a dark secret, and an irascible forensic specialist, Charity and Rancor unearth an unexpected link to the most famous circus family in the world.



Thursday, April 16, 2020

Want Some Florida Mystery--Flotsam & Jetsam Free for Review on NetGalley all April


Flotsam & Jetsam: the Amelia Island Affair, in available for review the month of April on NetGalley. Sign up & get your free copy today! 



Blurb:


State Park Rangers Simon Ribault and Ellie Ironstone are used to dealing with messy campers and ravaging raccoons, but when three bodies wash up on the beach, they mobilize all their powers of deduction. Who are they and how did they get to the shore of Amelia Island? Are they connected to the secretive League of the Green Cross? Or linked to a mysterious Jamaican drug ring?

Ellie, new to Amelia Island, must penetrate a close-knit community if she wants to find answers to the mystery, all while deciding between two rivals for her affection: Thad, the handsome local idol, and Simon, the clever, quirky bookworm.

Simon, for his part, will have to call on his not-so-well-honed romantic prowess to lure Ellie away from Thad and at the same time use his wide-ranging research skills to solve the case.

The pirate's sunken boat


#FlotsamAndJetsamTheAmeliaIslandAffair #NetGalley

I’d love to hear what you think!