Book Blitz & Giveaway: The Waltz of Devil's Creek by Justine Carver (Adult Historical)

 

The Waltz of Devil’s Creek
Justine Carver
Publication date: October 20th, 2020
Genres: Adult, Historical

Judith Campbell is dying, and she cannot take the painful truth about where her son came from to the grave with her. While on her deathbed in Atlanta, Georgia in 1994, Judith tells him the tragic story of his conception, and which of two men his birth father could be: the young man who professed his love to her, or the pastor who assaulted her.

Set in the Deep South in 1947, The Waltz of Devil’s Creek digs into the dark crevices of racism and women’s rights during a heated political climate in an era of segregation. Combined with Judith’s lack of social stature, and at a time when reporting sexual assault was unheard of, every injustice is stacked against her from the very beginning.

But there is a light in Judith’s young life: her best friend, Joseph Bird, who has loved her since childhood. Joseph stands up for Judith when no one else will and proves that even in the darkest of times, a light is always burning.

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EXCERPT:

The sound of trickling water hit the floorboards beneath me; I sucked in a sharp breath and froze.

Joseph’s eyes strayed downward; his brows crumpled in his forehead, and he gawked at me like I’d grown a third eyeball. “Are you…peein’?” he asked as if he couldn’t believe such a thing.

“No…I uh…” I couldn’t get the words out, but I sure knew what was going on. I gripped my belly with both hands and sat down on the edge of the bed, fluid dripping down my legs—I’d swore I’d never wear a dress again, but I couldn’t fit into pants anymore. “I think I’m gonna have a baby now, Joseph.”

His eyes darted back and forth from my face to the puddle on the floor; he looked as white as the sheet I’d just dressed the bed with.

“Oh, umm…what do you…oh shit, Judy, I don’t know what to do. I’ll go get—.” He started for the door to fetch my pa.

“Joseph, remember what we talked about,” I said, stopping him in his tracks. “You can do this.”

“I remember a brief conversation about who’s gonna deliver this baby,” he said with sarcasm. “But I also remember tellin’ you ain’t no way in hell I can do it. You gotta go to the hospital.”

The first wave of pain struck me like somebody done hit me across the lower back with a two-by-four. “Ahh! Oh no, Joseph, this…ahhh!” I gritted my teeth so hard that pain shot through my jaw and into the top of my head. “I can’t go to the hospital…please, you promised.”

“What?! I did no such thing!”

“Yes, you did! You said: ‘I swear on my life I’ll deliver the baby if nobody else is around to do it’—can’t go back on it now.”

He threw his hands up in the air. “Well yeah, I may’ve said that, but it was only to get you off my back about it—I can’t deliver a baby!”

“You’re gonna have to!” I cried out in pain again and fell back against the bed; I didn’t know why, but for a moment, I thought about how I’d just made the bed and was annoyed by the awful timing.

I heard my pa’s voice from the doorway—he was like the dead arisen, as I hadn’t heard him say much in so long. I clamped my jaw down again, eyes closed so tightly I saw spots dancing on the inside of my eyelids.

Author Bio:

Justine Carver was born and raised in the Southern United States on a heavy dose of creek-wading, lightning-bug-catching, and Saturday morning cartoons. She is a full-time writer, all-the-time reader, and every now and then, she pulls her head out of the clouds long enough to remember how much better it is up there.

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Blog Tour & Giveaway: Madame Fiocca by Suzy Henderson (Adult Historical)

Madame Fiocca
Suzy Henderson
Publication date: December 13th 2019
Genres: Adult, Historical

A must-read gripping adventure based on the true story of Nancy Wake, Gestapo’s most wanted. Soon to be a major feature film.
February 1933: Nancy Wake is a gregarious twenty-year-old looking for adventure. Having fled her unhappy family home in Sydney, she becomes a journalist and is thrilled when she is posted to Paris. The city is glamorous, brimming with journalists, artists, and a growing number of refugees.
Later, in the French Riviera, she uncovers more than news following a chance encounter with wealthy industrialist, Henri Fiocca. Their relationship blossoms as Hitler makes waves across Europe. While on an assignment in Vienna in 1938, she witnesses Nazis whipping Jews on the street and she vows to fight for justice if ever the opportunity arises.
When Henri is called to the Front to fight, Nancy, determined to help the war effort, joins the Red Cross as an ambulance driver. Every day she witnesses atrocities. When Paris falls, Nancy flees the German oppressors and returns to Marseille.
A chance encounter with a British officer draws Nancy into the heart of the Garrow escape network, despite Henri’s reservations. Soon she finds herself caught in a deadly game of espionage.
As the iron fist of the enemy tightens, neighbours denounce neighbours. When the enemy closes in, Nancy and Henri face an impossible choice. Has she done more harm than good?
Based on a true story, Madame Fiocca weaves an extraordinary tale of survival and redemption in wartime.
I look forward to hearing from you and thank you for your time.

Excerpt 

Chapter One

February 1933

The RMS Aorangi II steamed steadily on as I gazed forlornly at the fading shores of New York and the diminishing lady in copper, the Statue of Liberty. I tried to imagine how people fleeing persecution felt, glimpsing her for the first time from the icy waters of the Atlantic, relief swelling their hearts. Faces relaxing as smiles erased frowns and worry lines, butterflies flitting in their tummies as they stared in awe, visualising freedom, safety, and hope.

I had fled my home at the tender age of sixteen. Life turned upside down the day Dad left. I loved my dad, adored the bones of him. He always found time for me, scooping me up in his arms at the end of a day’s work, reading stories, making me giggle, singing ‘Waltzing Matilda’, and dancing. Every morning he went off to work, except for weekends of course, and every evening I’d wait by the garden gate. And then one evening he didn’t return home. And as I swung on the gate, Mum hollered at me to come inside for the twentieth time, and my older sister, Gladys, marched outside, a scowl glued to her face as she dragged me indoors by the hand. 

‘Dad’s gone to America,’ Mum said, muttering something about him making a film of the Maoris. I didn’t understand back then. ‘When will he be back?’ But she’d already wandered away. I found her sitting at the kitchen table, the bible in front of her, a frown masking her face. ‘He’ll be back home in a few months,’ she snapped, before lowering her bulging eyes to the scriptures. Her coldness stung, and I missed Dad’s strong, warm arms around me even more. I used to lie awake at night, listening to the creak and groan of the staircase, my heart leaping as I wondered if Dad had come home. My elder brother, Stanley said all houses squawked in the night as they cooled down. It seemed to me that our home was miserable too.

We lived in a lovely spacious house in Sydney, having moved from our native New Zealand when I was two. I had five older siblings, two brothers, three sisters. They were wrapped up in their own lives, except for Stanley. He always found time for me, but he served in the navy and wasn’t home much. One day I noticed that the gilt-framed picture of Mum and Dad on their wedding day had vanished from its place on the oak dresser. No one said a word, and Mum became more distant, retreating to her bible reading. Right then I realised Dad was never coming home again. A hole opened up inside me, a hollow that ached, and I cried myself to sleep at night. And for a time, I would swing on the garden gate in the evening, looking out down the street, waiting, hoping for a glimpse of my dad. The Galah birds screeched as they settled for the night, roosting in the Jacaranda trees, and I never saw him again. One day, while I played in the garden, Stanley called me over.

‘We have to move, Nancy’ he said. ‘To a new house, not far from here.’

‘But I don’t want to leave this one,’ I said. Besides, if Dad did come home, how would he find us?

‘It’ll be okay, I promise.’ Stanley hugged me tight, swiped the tears from my eyes. ‘Be a brave girl. Help me get your things packed up.’

It wasn’t okay. Life with mum became unbearable so I ran away at sixteen, became a nurse and worked in a mental asylum. At eighteen, I returned to Sydney, found a job and a place to live which enabled me to get by, but I still dreamed of seeing the world. Then, a letter from Aunt Hinemoa arrived out of the blue. ‘Thinking of you,’ she wrote, with a cheque enclosed for a whole two hundred pounds! A lifeline. Mum never approved of her sister, who had run away with the captain of a whaling ship. Hinemoa was the black sheep of our family, like me, I suppose. So, like her, I decided to leave Australia and sail around the world. Canada, New York, and England beckoned.

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Author Bio:
Suzy Henderson lives with her husband and two sons in Cumbria, England, on the edge of the Lake District. In a previous life she was a Midwife but now works from home as a freelance writer and novelist.
While researching her family history, Suzy became fascinated with both World War periods and developed an obsession with military and aviation history. Following the completion of an Open University Degree in English Literature and Creative Writing, she began to write and write until one day she had a novel.
She writes contemporary and historical fiction and is a member of the Alliance of Independent Authors. Suzy’s debut novel, “The Beauty Shop”, has been awarded the B.R.A.G. Medallion. Her next novel, “Madame Fiocca” will be published in December 2019.

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Blog Tour & Giveaway: Realm by Alexandrea Weis (Young Adult Historical)

Realm
Alexandrea Weis
Published by: Vesuvian Books
Publication date: May 14th 2019
Genres: Historical, Young Adult

Based on a true story.
When her homeland is conquered by the mighty Alexander the Great, Roxana—the daughter of a mere chieftain—is torn from her simple life and thrown into a world of war and intrigue.
Terrified, the sixteen-year-old girl of renowned beauty is brought before the greatest ruler the world has ever known. Her life is in his hands; her future his to decide.
Without formal education or noble blood, Roxana is chosen by the Greek conqueror to be his bride. Soon she comes to know profound happiness and unyielding desire in her warrior’s arms.
However, being the king’s consort comes at a heavy price. To survive her husband’s treacherous kingdom, she must endure continuous warfare, deadly plots, jealous rivals, victory-hungry generals, and the stigma of being a barbarian. Persian blood will keep her from claiming the grandest title of all—queen—but her reign will seal the fate of an empire.
History tells his story. This is hers.

Excerpt:

Alexander stood in front of her, his lips pulled back in a sneer. “I’ve had horses easier to tame than you.”

Roxana had heard enough about the pain men inflicted when they beat their wives, but she could not let fear silence her.

“I’m sure you spent more time breaking them than you have ever spent with me!”

“Is that what this is about?” Alexander’s voice thundered around her. “You’re angry with me because you feel you have been ignored.”

“Feel I have been ignored?” She met his obstinate gaze with her own. “I haven’t seen you in weeks. The only news I get about you is when I overhear my servants. You have sent me no messages, no news if you are well or hurt, or sending me away.”

Alexander balled his hands into fists. “I will have your servants replaced in the morning. There will be no more tongues wagging around you, I promise.” He made his way toward the entrance.

Suddenly she didn’t want him to go. Her anger retreated like a flock of birds turning as one in the sky, and she wished nothing more than to have him hold her. Why? How could a man who infuriated her so weaken her resolve against him?

“There’s no use getting rid of the servants,” she said when he yanked aside the curtain. “It’s not only the servants who talk. You can’t silence the whole camp. You may be the king of the land, but you don’t have power over the minds of men or women.”

He stopped and relaxed his hands before glancing back at her. “I will not have my wife the subject of idle gossip.”

Roxana stooped and gathered up the lovely gold fabric. “Gossip I can live with. I have always lived with, but it’s not the gossip that hurts.” She carried it to the bed. “What hurts is knowing that I’m not what you want.” She set the material down and ran her fingers over the delicate material. “I’m sure such a beautiful cloth will make a fine outfit for your banquet.”

He approached the bed. “Roxana, I only wish to make you happy.”

She moved the silk aside and sat. “I would have been happy left in my family’s camp.”

“That would not have made me happy.” He lifted her chin. “You’re what I want, what I’ve always wanted in a woman.”

She retreated from his touch. “What’s so special about me?”

He knelt before her, placing his hands on her knees and gazing up at her with a warmth she had not seen since their wedding day.

“When you first danced for me, I fell in love with the way you moved, how you carried yourself. But the moment that made me want you was when you walked out on me. I knew then you had courage, and to be the wife of a king, you will need a great deal of it.” He sat next to her. “Did you know coming to Persia was my father’s plan? Philip wanted this more than anything. After he was assassinated, it became my plan. So much of being a king is doing what others want, being what they expect. Part of those expectations will be marrying other wives. I know what watching your husband take others to his bed can do. My mother went through it. It made her bitter and created a great divide between my parents which lasted most of my life. I swore I would never do the same to my wife, but when I became king, I knew I couldn’t keep that vow. I need sons to live on after me, and political marriages to seal pacts, acquire armies, and attain land. I wondered if I would ever find a woman strong enough, brave enough, loving enough to be able to stick by me as king, and grow old with me long after my other wives have left. That’s what I see in you. I did not marry you for my kingdom, my alliance with Persia, my army, my generals, or even my mother. I married you for me.”

The walls around her heart built up by weeks of loneliness and anger crumbled. She never envisioned being any man’s passion.

“I think I understand a little better now.” She gripped his hand, squeezing it tight. “I never expected love in a marriage, but to be the woman you chose is some consolation.”

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Author Bio:

Alexandrea Weis, RN-CS, PhD, is a multi-award-winning author of over twenty-seven novels, a screenwriter, ICU Nurse, and historian who was born and raised in the French Quarter of New Orleans. Having grown up in the motion picture industry as the daughter of a director, she learned to tell stories from a different perspective and began writing at the age of eight. Infusing the rich tapestry of her hometown into her novels, she believes that creating vivid characters makes a story moving and memorable. A member of the Horror Writers Association and International Thriller Writers Association, Weis writes mystery, suspense, thrillers, horror, crime fiction, and romance. She lives with her husband and pets in New Orleans where she is a permitted/certified wildlife rehabber with the Louisiana Wildlife and Fisheries and rescues orphaned and injured animals.

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