THE TALE OF THE PRINCE AND THE SPIDER by Sasha Hopkins Excerpt & Giveaway

This post is part of a virtual book tour organized by Goddess Fish Promotions. Sasha Hopkins will be awarding a $10 Amazon/BN gift card to a randomly drawn winner. Click on the tour banner to see the other stops on the tour.

Prince Alexander is a boy filled with courage, laughter, and light, until a chance encounter with a mysterious new "friend" changes everything. Trapped in a web of fear and silence, he must find the strength to fight back against a dark trickster who wants to steal his voice, his joy, and his future.

The Tale of the Prince and the Spider is a modern fairytale for children, parents, and anyone who has faced fear in silence. Told with warmth, honesty, and hope, it reveals how secrets can poison, how love protects, and how even the smallest voice can grow into a roar.

Through Alexander's journey, readers discover that pain does not define us—courage does. His story is both a thrilling adventure and a gentle reminder that you are stronger than your fears, your voice matters, and you are never alone.

This is more than a tale of princes and monsters. It is a story for every family who longs for healing, resilience, and light in dark times. Beautifully written to spark conversations between children and adults, it invites readers to talk openly about bravery, truth, and the power of standing tall.

Read an Excerpt

One sunny morning, Alexander started an adventure. The sun shone bright like a golden bell, lighting up hills covered in green grass, and wildflowers—yellow, purple, red—spread out like a painter’s canvas. The wind carried scents of dirt and sweet clover, tickling his nose as he rode Menace, his brown horse, whose fur coat gleamed like a soldier’s sword. Menace’s hooves thumped the dirt road, kicking up dust that sparkled. Alexander held the reins tight, feeling them rub his hands, the breeze messing up his hair as his saddle creaked along with the swaying trees above.

Bushes shook—a rabbit darted past; a hawk’s shadow soared overhead. The road stretched on, but where trees grew thick, shadows moved, hinting at a forest full of secrets. Menace huffed, ears twitching, and Alexander patted his warm, scratchy neck. “Keep going, boy,” he said quietly, his heart beating with excitement.

Through the kingdom he went, past roads busy with familiar smiling people who stopped to cheer, their voices lifting him up. But farther out, it got quiet, the land wide and free. With a lion’s bravery, a fire’s strength, and a heart full of love, he rode into the unknown.

About the Author

Sasha Hopkins is a father of five and a storyteller from Melbourne, Australia. His journey has been shaped by both love and hardship. As a child, Sasha endured trauma that left deep scars, yet he chose not to remain silent or let those experiences define him. Instead, he transformed his pain into a story of courage, resilience, and hope.

He wrote The Tale of the Prince and the Spider during a period of recovery in Western Australia, creating it as a gift for his children, Winter, Hunter, Hudson, Navy, and Orion. What began as a father's offering of love became a timeless fairytale for families everywhere: a reminder that even in life's darkest moments, light can be found, voices can be heard, and healing is always possible.

Through his writing, Sasha shares a powerful message: your past does not diminish you, and speaking out is an act of bravery that can inspire others. When he isn't writing, Sasha is adventuring with his kids, encouraging them to embrace adventure, laughter, and the strength within themselves.

Amazon: https://amazon.com/dp/0228892406
Goodreads: https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/251865138-the-tale-of-the-prince-and-the-spider

Where There's Smoke . . . (A Haunted Paint Store Mystery) by E.J. Copperman Interview & Giveaway

 

Where There's Smoke . . . (A Haunted Paint Store Mystery) by E.J. Copperman

About Where There's Smoke . . .

 

Where There's Smoke . . . (A Haunted Paint Store Mystery) 

Paranormal Cozy Mystery 

Publisher ‏ : ‎ Severn House 

Publication date ‏ : ‎ August 4, 2026 

Setting - New Jersey

Print length ‏ : ‎ 256 pages 

Hardcover ISBN-10 ‏ : ‎ 1448320445 

ISBN-13 ‏ : ‎ 978-1448320448

Digital ASIN ‏ : ‎ B0H1RND6TL

Paint store owner Laura Meehan must prove her amateur sleuthing skills (again!) when her small town’s public library starts burning in this installment of the Haunted Paint Store cozy mystery series.

Don’t mess with a paint store owner’s safe haven! Laura Meehan has her hands full with her paint store, but also with another case (that she will definitely leave to the police to solve)! The Sea Breeze Public Library is burning and it’s clear from the beginning that it must be arson. Who would want to burn a library down and why? Was it a group of moms protesting what they see as inappropriate book content? Maybe it was someone who didn’t like a title they lent? Or is there something more alarming going on? As a library volunteer, Laura simply has to find out, and together with her IT-savvy husband Roy and her ex-detective father’s ghost (real or imagined still yet to be determined), she stumbles upon a lot of obstacles on her quest to find the truth—and maybe even an arsonist who might strike again! A light-hearted cozy mystery with a paranormal twist and Copperman’s signature wit, humor, and zaniness. Perfect for fans of Copperman’s Haunted Guesthouse Mysteries and Cleo Coyle’s Haunted Bookshop Mysteries, as well as funny and cozy mysteries by Janet Evanovich, Elle Cosimano, and Amanda Flower.

About E.J. Copperman

E.J. Copperman is a figment of someone’s imagination. Sometimes E.J. writes as Jeff Cohen. Where There’s Smoke is his 36th published mystery. But he says he doesn’t write mysteries; he writes comedies that have a mystery in them. It’s up to you to decide if that’s true.

INTERVIEW:

1. When did you first realize you wanted to be a writer?

I never wanted to be a writer. I always was a writer. I remember writing stories when I was about eight or nine. Now, becoming a published author was another question. I was trying to be a screenwriter with various degrees of no success, and the idea for the next script wouldn’t cooperate in my head because I kept hearing it as a first-person narrative. So I wrote it as a book to fool the character in my head, always figuring it would end up a screenplay. Then I sold the book in five days (something that has never happened again). And the rest, as they say, is history, because it’s in the past. Everything in the past is history.

2. How long does it take you to write a book?

I write 1000 words a day when I’m working, no days off. Mystery novels are requested by publishers to top out at around 80,000 words. So, about 80 days for the first draft, and then a couple of weeks for editing and rewriting.

3. What is your work schedule like when you're writing?

A schedule! Oh, that’s funny! I write 1000 words a day. Whenever I’m not doing something else, I do that.

4. What would you say is your interesting writing quirk?

I always write in the same room as a beagle.

5. How do books get published?

If I knew that, I’d be much more successful.

6. Where do you get your information or ideas for your books?

Ah, the eternal question: Where do you get your ideas? I used to get them from the Lillian Vernon catalog (if you buy two ideas you get a notion for free), but it lost the cache when it went online. Ideas just come to you, but never when you’re trying to get one. You can cobble one together if you want to, but the book’s going to be very by-the-numbers. Wait for a real one.

7. When did you write your first book and how old were you?

I wrote For Whom the Minivan Rolls in 2000, I’m pretty sure, which would put me in my early 40s. It was published two years later. 

8. What do you like to do when you're not writing?

I like watching baseball. I like hanging out with my family. I like playing guitar, although I’m very bad. And, what do you know, I like reading. 

9. What does your family think of your writing?

I’m not fool enough to ask them that. 

10. What was one of the most surprising things you learned in creating your books?

I honestly don’t have an answer for that. 

11. How many books have you written? Which is your favorite?

I’ve written about 40-45 books, if I count everything. Where There’s Smoke, coming out right around now, is my 36th published novel. 

12. Do you have any suggestions to help me become a better writer? If so, what are they?

I’m sorry, but I can’t make you a better writer. Only you can do that, by writing as much as you can. Like me, eventually you’ll get good at it. 

13. Do you hear from your readers much? What kinds of things do they say?

I don’t hear from readers as much as I’d like, but you do get the occasional email. (ejcopperman@gmail.com) They’re usually very nice, but I did once get an email from a reader who said I had written “the third worst book I’ve ever read.” And I could kick myself for not asking who had beaten me out. 

14. Do you like to create books for adults?

The two meager attempt I’ve made at writing books for children or young adults have, let’s say, not run into a whole lot of enthusiasm among publishers. 

15. What do you think makes a good story?

It’s all about character. You can write the cleverest, trickiest plot in history, and some people will like it, but if they don’t care one way or another about the characters, it won’t be as good as it could have been. I write Laura Meehan, in the Haunted Paint Store series, as someone who’s never entirely sure of herself in her work or in investigating crimes. She is sure of herself in her marriage, which is good for her. 

16. As a child, what did you want to do when you grew up?

I wanted to drive a Good Humor ice cream truck.

17. What would you like my readers to know?

That I’m going to try to make you laugh, I’ll never upset you terribly, but I will sometimes try to trick you, I do work diligently with a reader in mind, and I’m actually a pretty nice guy. 

Website

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TOUR PARTICIPANTS

August 3 – Books1987 – SPOTLIGHT

August 3 – Novels Alive – REVIEW

August 4 – Jody's Bookish Haven – SPOTLIGHT

August 4 – Sarandipity's – CHARACTER GUEST POST

August 5 – Escape With Dollycas IntoA Good Book – REVIEW

August 5 – Christy's Cozy Corners – AUTHOR GUEST POST

August 5 – Books, Ramblings, and Tea – SPOTLIGHT

August 6 – Socrates Book Reviews – SPOTLIGHT

August 6 – Read Your Writes Book Reviews – CHARACTER INTERVIEW

August 7 – Cozy Up With Kathy - REVIEW, AUTHOR INTERVIEW

August 7 – FUONLYKNEW – SPOTLIGHT

August 8 – StoreyBook Reviews – CHARACTER GUEST POST

August 8 – Boys' Mom Reads! – SPOTLIGHT

August 9 – Deal Sharing Aunt – AUTHOR INTERVIEW

August 10 – Romance Novel Giveaways – AUTHOR GUEST POST

August 10 – Because I said so - adventures in parenting – REVIEW

August 10 – From the TBR Pile – REVIEW

August 11 – Ruff Drafts – AUTHOR GUEST POST

August 11 – Sapphyria's Book Reviews – SPOTLIGHT

August 11 – Salty Inspirations – CHARACTER GUEST POST

August 12 – Sarcastically Yours, Jen – SPOTLIGHT

 

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AVALON MOON by Michael Amos Cody Review, Excerpt & Giveaway

AVALON MOON

by Michael Amos Cody

August 24 - September 18, 2026 Virtual Book Tour

Synopsis:

In Avalon Moon, a local man has gone missing and then is soon found dead in a highland meadow, side-by-side with an unknown woman. When another man and woman go missing and a female deputy is found murdered, Gabriel Tanner, editor of Runion’s weekly newspaper, and Plumer Reeves, a reclusive local hawkshaw working for the niece of the first dead man, suspect a monster is hunting in their western North Carolina mountains. Two extraordinary young women, the Avalon community’s Ariel Anderson and Lonesome Mountain’s Livvy Goforth, join Tanner and Reeves to lead the attempt to discover and stop the killer.

Praise for Avalon Moon:

"With wolves across the river and murder in the high meadow, Avalon Moon knows exactly how to raise the hair on your neck. Move it to the top of your book queue."
~ BestThrillers.com

"A deliciously gothic tale stitched into a brutal murder mystery. As a serial killer stalks the mountains of North Carolina, Cody’s precise language shifts effortlessly like light through the trees – from lush gothic poetry to gritty Appalachian realism. Facing ancient gods and hungry beasts in the deep woods, the reader can’t help but dread a darker truth: evil is only ever a breath away."
~ Andrew K. Clark, author of Where Dark Things Grow

"A crime novel featuring a new entry to the list of Most Bone-Chilling Fictional Serial Killers ever committed to paper. Or to e-book. Whatever. The influence of Poe and Hawthorne, at their bone-chilling creepiest, can be felt egging on the unfolding of the story, one eerie development after another. A taut, skillfully crafted thriller."
~ Whiskey Leavins, author of Low Angle Shot

"Avalon Moon relies on vivid, inviting storytelling and precise language to lure you in, and once you’re caught in Cody’s prodigious literary talents, it’s hard to escape. . . . A book you’ll think about long after you’ve finished the story on the page."
~ Bobby Mathews, author of Magic City Blues

"The Appalachian town of Runion is threatened by a serial killer, wolves, and ghosts—literal and figurative—in Michael Amos Cody’s propulsive new novel, Avalon Moon. The tension and constant sense of danger kept me turning the pages, but the heart of the book is the large cast of believable characters. All are rendered with insight, compassion, and humor, and they continued to linger in my thoughts long after the novel’s satisfying conclusion."
~ Peter McDade, author of King Cal

Book Details:

Genre: Psychological Horror, Thriller
Published by: Madville Publishing
Publication Date: May 19, 2026
Number of Pages: 340
ISBN: 9781963695670 (ISBN10: 1963695674)
Book Links: Amazon | Kindle | Barnes & Noble | BookShop.org | Goodreads | BookBub | Madville Publishing

Read an excerpt:

Tuesday, March 4, 2014

One

Gabriel Tanner

“Editor of and chief contributor to a country weekly” never made my top ten list of things I wanted to be when I grew up. For the longest time, I had only one item on that list—Rock Star! I toyed with adding a second item, maybe being just a hit-making songwriter, but the songwriting I did throughout the 1980s was so closely bound up with the Rock Star! idea that I couldn’t pull the two apart. If I didn’t become the next Bruce Springsteen, which I didn’t, I was unlikely to become the next Bob McDill—ditto on the didn’t.

So, with the Rock Star! phase of my life gone grumbling into my dreams, I left Nashville in the hot gut of August 1990, retreated, tail between legs, to Runion, my hometown in the North Carolina mountains, and the following January entered Runion State University, where I double-majored in English and Journalism. I took a part-time job as student reporter and all-around grunt for Sheldon Dean’s Runion Recorder. A couple years after I graduated, Sheldon decided he was tired of writing and offered me a full-time position as editor, keeping only the title of “General Manager” for himself. I accepted.

And so it came to pass that on a cold evening in early March, on the darker side of twilight, I drove toward the Lonesome Mountain end of Genesis Road, planning to swing around the back way into Runion. On regular mornings going to work, or any other time I was in a hurry, I drove down to the French Broad end of Genesis and took the river road up a short hill and onto Main Street, but I was dreading two hours minimum of sitting in a meeting at the Madison County Cooperative Extension Office complex, housed in the recently renovated Old Mill on Mill Street, and taking notes for a regular report to appear in next week’s paper. The room would be stuffy with heat and humanity, and to be honest, I was lollygagging.

This year’s March was looking like a lion-lamb version—in like a lion, out like a lamb. We expected to wake up the next morning to some serious snow and ice courtesy of Winter Storm Ulysses. The fields on my left and the woods on my right seemed to hold their breath in anticipation.

I rolled to a stop at the T-intersection where Genesis Road dead-ends at Jewel Hill Road, with Lonesome Mountain ahead and to my left, dark against the sky. My new Honda hybrid sat quietly, and still not used to its workings, I thought it might have died but relaxed when no warning lights appeared. Even though the temperature was in the upper thirties, I opened my windows and—with no other traveler sitting at my bumper and politely honking, as our mountain folk do—sat at the intersection with my eyes closed and my skin alive to the chilly air. I heard a few of last summer’s still-tethered leaves shivering in the boughs overhead and something scurrying through the underbrush in the woods off to my right. I think I could’ve engaged the emergency brake and gone to sleep, but I opened my eyes, suddenly uneasy and unsure why.

The headlights shown across Jewel Hill Road and lit the lower part of a hillside pasture beyond. A few head of cattle midway up the slope stood at the edge of the light and grazed on pale grass.

Not one to be unnerved by a bovine presence in the twilight, I strained my senses to catch and identify what raised hairs along my forearms and around the back of my neck.

To my left, a field rolled away in successive swells toward a wooded ridge standing blackly against the sky. Runion lay on the other side of that ridge, but somewhere between the town and me, yips and cries rose from the gathering dark. These joined together into an eerie howl of various voices that twisted around one another, broke apart, and swelled together again.

Coyotes.

When I was growing up in these mountains, coyotes existed only in old TV westerns. But they were voice-over actors only, strictly behind-the-scenes. They were soundtrack features. Technicians of ambiance. Nothing said a cowboy was alone in the darkening wilderness like the distant howl of a coyote. The cowboy would raise his eyes from the campfire and sit still and listen for a moment, alert to the wild. But it was never the coyote itself that frightened him. Maybe the coyote’s cry was a reminder of his loneliness and vulnerability—that if such a critter could be out there in the dark, then anything could be out there.

But in recent years, coyotes had loped out of the faded glory of Hollywood’s western and into our world, maybe crossing the Mississippi around Memphis and moving steadily east across Tennessee until they reached Appalachia and Runion. They were seen trotting along the edges of regional four-lanes or lying dead on twisting mountain highways. They stole cats and small dogs just beyond the lights of back porches. That evening at the stop sign, they yipped and yapped and cried somewhere out on the verge of a Runion farmer’s field.

Still, I thought, at least they aren’t wolves. Wolves, of course, were a different story. Send up the howl of a wolf into the night, and the cowboy would become focused on the beast, not on loneliness or vulnerability. The wolf’s howl menaced, threatened. Eyes might shine at the edge of the campfire’s light, followed by snarling close-ups. Then enter the legend of the wolf mixed with a man, and the beast achieved cinematic glory, jumping genres from westerns to horror, something coyotes could never quite pull off.

When I pressed the accelerator, the Honda whispered to life, and I turned left toward town. If I sat there much longer, I would be late for the extension meeting, during which one item on the agenda just happened to be related to the beasts of my T-intersection musing. . . .

***

Excerpt from Avalon Moon by Michael Amos Cody. Copyright 2026 by Michael Amos Cody. Reproduced with permission from Michael Amos Cody. All rights reserved.

 

 

Author Bio:

Michael Amos Cody is author of the 2017 novel GABRIEL’S SONGBOOK and the 2021 collection A TWILIGHT REEL, winner of the Short Story category in the Feathered Quill Book Awards 2022. His 2025 literary suspense novel STREETS OF NASHVILLE won the Thriller category in the 2026 Independent Press Awards. His new novel, released in May 2026, is the psychological thriller AVALON MOON. Cody lives with wife Leesa in Jonesborough, Tennessee, and teaches early American literature and creative writing in the Department of Literature and Language at East Tennessee State University.

Catch Up With Michael Amos Cody:

MichaelAmosCody.com
Amazon Author Profile
Goodreads
Instagram - @michaelamoscody
Threads - @michaelamoscody
X - @DrMacOde
Facebook - @MacOde77
Facebook - @michaelamoscody
BlueSky - @michaelamoscody.bsky.social

My Review:

Folktales, myths, werewolves and murder make for twists and turns in this fun read. The bodies started to pile up and so do the questions. Who is the killer? Is it human? Who is the unknown woman? I also really liked the setting of the Appalachian Mountains. This is a great thriller with just the right amount of mystery and supernatural. There is even a wraith! I loved this book! You can tell the author knows the setting and lore of the area.  I am giving this book a  5/5. I was given a copy to review, however all opinions are my own. 

 

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Intimate Choice by DC Stone Interview, Excerpt & Giveaway

Intimate Choice

Empire Blue 

Book 7

DC Stone

Genre: Romantic Suspense

Publisher: Evernight Publishing

Date of Publication: 07/10/26

ISBN: 978-0-3695-1480-6

ASIN: B0GX2VK1HW

Number of pages: 306

Word Count: 87,000

Cover Artist: Jay Aheer

Tagline: Real world, Real Men, Real Crimes

Book Description: 

Ava Larsen has spent her adult life trying to outrun the shadow of the girl she used to be: a bully whose mistake cost her sister’s life, and one who pushed away a boy they both loved. But her redemption is cut short when her latest investigation into a high-profile money laundering ring turns deadly.

After surviving a brutal kidnapping, Ava’s only hope for survival is Michael Gonzalez, a Secret Service Agent fueled by a decade of bitterness. Mike doesn’t believe Ava has changed, and he certainly hasn’t forgiven her for the accident that killed his first love. But with a corrupt government official determined to silence her, Mike is ordered to protect her at all costs.

From the streets of New York to the corridors of power in Washintong D.C., the two are hunted by an enemy that will stop at nothing to keep their secrets buried. As the investigation reaches a breaking point, Mike and Ava must navigate a minefield of political betrayal and personal trauma. In a race against time, they’ll have to trust each other to survive—or let the sins of their past bury them both.

Amazon     Barnes and Noble     Smashwords

Excerpt:

“Get to the point. What’s up?”

She sighed. “I don’t even know where to start.” The watch on her wrist buzzed with a notification. She checked it, and her mouth tightened into a thin line. “This case looks to be seriously fucked up. Not a whole lot to tell you right now other than there were several, and I mean we’re talking numbers in the teens, bodies found in this old house. Owner is this guy everyone said was super quiet, always kept his yard clean, etcetera, etcetera. From what the neighbors are saying, no one would have thought any of the horrors we’ve found were happening in this house. Talking victims, all women, completely cut up. Sometimes methodically so. As if he had all the time in the world to do the perfect job.”

Mike grimaced. “This is why I do protection and white-collar fraud. I could never sit through those forensic shows you and Dwayne used to watch.”

Charlie threw him a saucy smile, then went serious again. “Early this morning, a woman actually got out of the house. Naked as the day she was born. Ran a few houses down and collapsed on the porch but not before she rang the doorbell.”

The mental image she painted had him wincing. “Jesus. Is she okay?”

Charlie took a deep breath and let it out super slow as if she was preparing for something. He braced, suddenly feeling a sense of foreboding. Whatever she was about to say was going to mess him up entirely. That’s why she’d been taking for-fucking-ever to get to the point. It’s why she was here in person instead of calling him on the phone. It’s why Dwayne had sent her. She’d always had ways of calming Mike down, even under the tensest of situations.

Except for that one time. He shook his head, refusing to think about that now. It’d been years since he’d seen her.

“Who was the woman?” he asked, his voice rough. But he knew. The answer was written all over Charlie’s face, from the grimace to the pity stamped across her faery features.

“The woman was Ava.”

Her name spoken was like someone socked him in the gut. He let out a rush of air, expelling oxygen immediately, as if it needed a place to escape. Kind of like his body was fighting to do, too. It was amazing how one’s body reacted to news or the presence of someone who’d made part of their life hell. That whole fight-or-flight response was true, and as he thought of the Ava of his childhood, and both the sister and the murderer of the first woman he loved, his body was warring with itself, trying to figure out which response it wanted to go with.

The urge to flee was so strong, he actually took a step back. Charlie’s knowing gaze sharpened on him, and she sighed, the sound coming out with a lot of pity he didn’t need. It only served to piss him off.

“Look, maybe we can find someone else,” Charlie said, shaking her head, then did a double take at something over his shoulder and tossed a glare at the women still admiring them from afar. “Those fucking women…”

It was at that moment his mother decided to make an appearance and came storming out of the house having found her shoes. His normally very demure mom looked spitting mad, her red face a mask of irritation and anger.

 

 

About the Author: 

D.C. “Desi” Stone is a best-selling romance author and full-time fraud investigator. She lives in the northeast with her incredibly supporting husband, two kids, a cat, and the ever-growing family of dogs.

After serving eight years of service with the United States Air Force, she went on to transition into the world of financial crimes and became a lead investigator for many years.

Reading has always been a passion of hers, getting lost in a good, steamy romance is one of her favorite past times. She soon after discovered her own love for writing and recreating stories and characters in her head. Her writing concentrates on romantic with specifics in paranormal, suspense, and erotica.

Now, when she isn’t trying to solve a new puzzle in the world of fraud, she is engulfed with coffee, her laptop, and all those crazy characters in her head. She is a member of the Romance Writers of America, Hudson Valley Romance Writers, New Jersey Romance Writers, RomVets, RWA Kiss of Death, and the Liberty State Fiction Writers. She served as the 2014 NJRW Vice President and Conference Chair. Come stop by on Facebook, Twitter, or her website and say hello!

Interview:

1. What is the first book that made you cry? Still Beating by Jennifer Hartmann

2. Does writing energize or exhaust you? Energizes!

3. What is your writing Kryptonite? Getting really into a scene and being interrupted.

4. Did you ever consider writing under a pseudonym? I did and do! 

5. What other authors are you friends with, and how do they help you become a better writer? I’m friends with several but two stick out to me as long-term writing partners. First, Jessica Jayne is one I’ve done daily writing sprints with over the past 3-5 years. We’ve also published anthologies together. She’s an amazing support system and writing buddy. The second is Lea Bronsen, who lives overseas. Her and I have done a ton together and often edit one another books. I’ve learned a ton from her and am often inspired by her writing. 

6. Do you want each book to stand on its own, or are you trying to build a body of work with connections between each book? I like to build those connections between each book. If you pick up one, you’re most likely going to be introduced to characters from another at some point. 

7. What authors did you dislike at first but grew into? I feel like I’m going to be hung up on a sign for saying this but Sarah J Maas. I tried for YEARS to get into her books and never could. Then one day, I tried again and consumed every single book she’d written over the course of a summer.

8. What’s your favorite under-appreciated novel? This is tough because I feel like there are so many, but the Black Knights series by Julie Ann Walker doesn’t get enough hype. Legit, it should be in everyone’s hands. 

9. As a writer, what would you choose as your mascot/avatar/spirit animal? Probably a Red-tailed Hawk. I like to observe people and their actions and pay attention to minute details others may miss. That is the exact way I like to unfold my stories as well, giving small clues and simmering tension before tying in a rapid payoff. All hawk traits. ;)

10. How many unpublished and half-finished books do you have? Oh, this question is like a shot to the heart. I have three unpublished books right now. And two half-finished ones. 

11. What did you edit out of this book? Absolutely nothing. 

12. If you didn’t write, what would you do for work? Well, I do write and I do work. My fulltime gig is an Investigations Manager. 

13. Do you hide any secrets in your books that only a few people will find? No, but I like to give clues that span solving a problem or crime over several books. It is generally the “bigger picture.”

14. What is your favorite childhood book? I don’t have one but I always enjoyed The Babysitters Club books!

Website: www.authordcstone.com

Twitter: http://twitter.com/DCStoneauthor

Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/dcstoneauthor/ 

Facebook PAGE: http://www.facebook.com/authorDCStone

Facebook PROFILE: http://www.facebook.com/dc.stone.92

THE TUNDRA PASSAGE by K.A. Jarvis Review and Giveaway

 

THE TUNDRA PASSAGE by K.A. Jarvis ~~~~~~~~~~~~~

BLURB:

A birth certificate hidden in a dead woman's closet. A father Grace Campbell was never supposed to find.

Grace is a veterinarian and a survivor of a Florida trailer park childhood. She has made selfreliance her religion. When a shoebox reveals the father she was told never existed, a climatologist in the Alaskan wilderness, she boards a bush plane to find the truth.

The journey doesn't just change her life. It nearly ends it.

As coordinated cyberattacks bring the nation to its knees, Grace's plane is shot from the sky over the Alaskan tundra. Suddenly, she is a thousand miles from home and responsible for the survivors: an eleven-year-old girl with a fierce heart, a researcher with dangerous secrets, a hiker whose smile feels like a warning, and a wolfdog who has lost everything.

A hundred miles of Arctic wilderness stand between them and safety. Between glacial river surges, a stalking grizzly, and starvation, Grace realizes the greatest threat isn't the environment.

It is the person standing next to her, someone whose mission has nothing to do with survival and everything to do with the crisis tearing the country apart.

To protect the people she never expected to love, Grace will have to do the one thing she swore she'd never do again: trust someone enough to let them stay.

Perfect for fans of: The Dog Stars by Peter Heller, The Great Alone by Kristin Hannah, and Where the River Ends by Charles Martin.

__________________

A standalone novel in The After Collection: A series of survival thrillers about resilience, hope,

and found family in the aftermath of catastrophe.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Excerpt One:

The food was gone.

Grace split the last ration bar five ways at dawn. Four slivers for the humans, one crumbled into

water for Siku, and watched each piece disappear in a single bite. From here on, they ate only

what the land gave them.

These skills were no longer supplemental. They were now the difference between functioning

and collapsing. The Labrador tea, the fireweed shoots, the Eskimo potato roots. The same

plants Grace had been foraging for days to stretch their rations were now the entire menu, and

the math was brutal. She could keep them hydrated and fill their stomachs enough to blunt the

worst of the hunger pangs. But she couldn't keep them fueled. Foraged plants provided bulk

and micronutrients, not the caloric density that five bodies needed to sustain a forced march

across rough terrain.

She taught Addy to forage now. Real responsibility, not supervised lessons. She sent the girl

ahead with a cloth bag to harvest fireweed shoots while Grace dug Eskimo potato roots from the

boggy creek margins, doubling their collection rate.

"How many do you need?" Addy called back, her bag already half full.

"All of them," Grace said. "Every one you can find."

 

~~~~~~~~~~~~~

AUTHOR Bio and Links:

When the world falls apart, the characters hold on. To each other, to hope, and usually to a very

good dog.

K.A. Jarvis writes survival stories with women at the center. Flawed, ordinary women who don't

have all the answers but figure it out anyway. These books blend edge-of-your-seat tension with

warmth, found family bonds, and the quiet stubborn refusal to give up.

If you like your survival fiction with heart, where the relationships matter as much as the danger,

pull up a chair.

Website: https://kajarvisauthor.com/

Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/KAJarvisAuthor

Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/kajarvisauthor

TikTok: https://www.tiktok.com/@kajarvisauthor

Goodreads: https://www.goodreads.com/author/show/57254342.K_A_Jarvis

BookBub: https://www.bookbub.com/authors/k-a-jarvis

The Tundra Passage: After the Dark: https://www.amazon.com/dp/product/B0GRX18Z7WUniversal Link for The After Collection: https://mybook.to/TheAfterCollection ~~~~~~~~~~~~~

My Review:

This is a great book that reminded me that we all have shoe boxes full of our past. However, Grace found a dad in hers. I liked her from the start. A woman with a full scholarship and that is willing to travel cross country is one worth reading about. I could not wait to read more about her and her Trip. Being in Connecticut, I am far away from Alaska. I liked reading about Alaska and it's terrain. Add in The awesome wolfdog, (who likes Grace right away), a cyber attack, and a plane crash for a fun mystery. Enemies are not always who you think and sometimes the most loyal family members are the ones we choose for ourselves. I am giving this book a 4/5. I was given a copy to review, however all opinions are my own.

GIVEAWAY

 K.A. Jarvis will be awarding a $15 Amazon/BN gift card to a randomly drawn winner.