A Study in Chocolate – Bean to Bar #5 @amber_royer @lonestarlit

I am thrilled to share a new release from a new-to-me author, Amber Royer!

A STUDY IN CHOCOLATE
Bean to Bar Mysteries Book 5
by
AMBER ROYER
 
Cozy Culinary Mystery / Women Sleuths / Romance 
Publisher: Golden Tip Press
Date of Publication: January 27, 2023
Number of Pages: 260 pages 
 
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Felicity Koerber’s bean to bar chocolate shop on Galveston’s historic Strand is expanding, as it has become a gathering spot for the community, despite having been the scene of multiple murders. Artists she met while doing a chocolate sculpture are now working out of the shop. So when Felicity is invited to tea by an eccentric art collector, she’s intrigued, especially when she gets asked to pose for a portrait done with chocolate on chocolate. Only, where there is a murder the next day at the same historic house where the tea was held, one of Felicity’s artist friends becomes the main suspect.
 
When the killer threatens that unless Felicity unravels the murder, one of her two love interests will be the next victim, she finds herself unwittingly at the center of a puzzle with a Sherlock Holmes-obsessed murderer who wants to be the next Moriarty – and wants to cast Felicity as Sherlock.
 
Felicity starts finding unexpected connections between her friends and acquaintances and must deal with the idea that someone who knows her is a murderer. At the same time, she has to keep her business running, despite construction dust and unruly customers – and an unexpected order for thousands of truffles.
 
Satchmo the retired police-dog-turned-therapy dog returns to help her sniff out a few clues, and the kidnapping of Ruffles, the quirky artist’s cat, helps lead Felicity into the puzzle. Can Felicity solve it in time to protect the people she cares about from becoming additional victims?

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Amber Royer writes the Chocoverse comic telenovela-style foodie-inspired space opera series and the Bean to Bar Mysteries. She is also the author of Story Like a Journalist: A Workbook for Novelists, which boils down her writing knowledge into an actionable plan involving over 100 worksheets to build a comprehensive story plan for your novel. She also teaches creative writing and is an author coach.
 
Amber and her husband live in the DFW Area, where you can often find them hiking or taking landscape/architecture/wildlife photographs. If you are very nice to Amber, she might make you cupcakes. Chocolate cupcakes, of course! Amber blogs about creative writing technique and all things chocolate.
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ONE WINNER:
Signed copy of A Study in Chocolate +
a chocolate bar from French Broad Chocolate.
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Survival (Fallout Series Book 1)- #NewRelease @lharriswrites @LoneStarLit

Hello, fellow readers! I’m thrilled to tell you about a new book just released from Lisa Harris. I enjoyed reading it.

SURVIVAL
Fallout Series, Book 1
by
Lisa Harris
Dystopian / Science Fiction / Mystery / Christian
Publisher: Adrenaline-Fueled Fiction
Pages: 236 pages
Publication Date: October 19, 2021
 
 
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In today’s world, law enforcement agencies across the country rely on forensic tools, DNA testing, and crime labs. But what if that technology was suddenly no longer available? No one in the small, west Texas town of Shadow Ridge knows what took down the power grid, or when it’s going to be back up, but everyone knows exactly where they were the moment it went down. And now, with no electricity, no internet, and no modern technology, the men and women responsible for keeping the town safe are going to have to learn how to fight crime all over again.

 
When one of the men in charge of storing food for the town of Shadow Ridge is found murdered execution style, it’s up to Jace McQuaid to find the killer. What he discovers is a group of organized raiders who are stealing supplies and selling them on the black market—and the survival of the town depends on stopping them.
 
Morgan Addison’s estranged brother, Ricky, shows up at her house demanding weapons and confirming her fears that he’s a part of the outlaws. Tensions are raised further when Ricky kidnaps her son to ensure his safe passage out of town. Jace must find a way to save Noah and ensure the survival of Shadow Ridge.

PRAISE FOR THE BOOK:

“An adrenaline rush of a read! Summed up in one word: Unputdownable!” ~Kav, Amazon reviewer

“Once again Lisa Harris has created a creative world full of intrigue, suspense, and action! This book is irresistible! I can’t wait to finish with the rest of the series!” ~Dawn, Amazon reviewer

“Excellent. Lisa Harris at her best.” ~Chipchucker, Amazon reviewer

“The book starts with a bang and does not slow down.” ~Grandaddy A, Amazon reviewer

“This is an absolute must read!!” ~Carlien, Amazon reviewer

 

View on YouTube
[youtube https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MSocDLhbErU]

LISA HARRIS is a USA Today bestselling author, a Christy Award finalist for Blood Ransom, Vendetta, and Port of Origin, Christy Award winner for Dangerous Passage, and the winner of the Best Inspirational Suspense Novel for 2011 (Blood Covenant) and 2015 (Vendetta) from Romantic Times. She has fifty plus novels and novellas in print. She and her husband currently live in Texas.

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What would you miss most if the grid went down? While not as essential as toilet paper or air-conditioning during a Texas summer, I think the McQuaid heroines from this series would love a bit of self-care—and so would I. – Author Lisa Harris

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Fancy – #NewRelease @LBroday @LoneStarLit #Novella

It's no secret how excited I get when my sister releases a new book. And, Fancy is no exception! This is a short story packed full of great characters with a gripping storyline! FANCY Love Train Multi-Author Series, #10 by LINDA BRODAY Western Romance /Sweet Romance/ American Historical Romance Pages:          190 pages Publisher:      Kindle Unlimited …

In Honor’s Defense #NewRelease by Karen Witemeyer @LoneStarLit #Giveaway

IN HONOR'S DEFENSE Hanger's Horsemen, #3 by KAREN WITEMEYER   Fiction / Christian / Historical / Inspirational Publisher: Bethany House Publishers Date of Publication: June 7, 2022 Number of Pages: 384 pages      Scroll down for Giveaway!   AND scroll down for the SERIES SPOTLIGHT!      He's Faced Countless Perils on the Battlefield, …

Stranger In The Mushroom Patch – #NewRelease @AmandaMThrasher #Review #Giveaway @LoneStarLit #TheMischiefSeries @PRPpress

I am delighted to share a new book from my longtime friend, Amanda Thrasher! This entire series is a pure joy to read!

THE MISCHIEF SERIES
Mischief in the Mushroom Patch
A Fairy Match in the Mushroom Patch
Spider Web Scramble
Stranger in the Mushroom Patch
by
AMANDA M. THRASHER
 
Chapter Book / Fantasy / Action & Adventure / 2ND-4TH Grade
Publisher: Progressive Rising Phoenix Press
 
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Mischief in the Mushroom Patch, 2/2013, 146 pgs


 

Where do fairies get their magical fairy dust? After leaving the mushroom patch without permission, two mischievous fairies find themselves in more trouble than they can handle. Boris, with a broken ankle and a bent wing, is unable to walk or fly, and Lilly must devise a plan to escort him safely back to the mushroom patch. As with all actions, there are consequences! Lilly and Boris have broken colony rules and wasted precious fairy dust. Sentenced to work in the dust factory, the two learn a valuable lesson about the production of fairy dust, but can they survive the foreman?
 
 
 
A Fairy Match in the Mushroom Patch, 2/2013, 162 pgs
 
Lilly, Boris, and Jack are back! The three friends are together again in this newest addition to the Mischief Series. A natural disaster has taken the elders by surprise, and the scientists are unprepared. Damage to the colony is inevitable! Can the Master Engineers devise a plan to save the colony before they lose their home? The fairies’ Kick-a-Berry Match has been postponed as well, and the fairies must find new ways to entertain themselves until the pitch dries up. Along the way, they make a new friend named Pearle, and though she cannot walk, she can fly with ease. Valuable lessons about friendship, teamwork, and perseverance will be learned as the fairies embark on their newest adventure.
 
Spider Web Scramble, 2/2016, 170 pgs
Every third year, on the fifth full moon, the Mushroom Patch holds a magical Spider Web Scramble. Excitement buzzes through the forest as the fairies prepare to scramble the magical webs in order to complete the course. As a special treat, the elders disclose that the stars will be coming down to join in and play. A wish will be granted for the fairies who are pure of heart and manage to beat the clock, locating the star that has their name etched on it. With the no-fly rule in place, teamwork is the only way Pearle can complete the course. But little do they know that possible danger is in their midst. Will the magical spider web scramble be postponed? Will the stars grant Lilly, Boris, and Jack their wishes? Find out in this delightful magical adventure.
 
 
Stranger in the Mushroom Patch, 2/15/22, 212 pages
Gold Recipient of The Mom’s Choice Awards® (MCA)
 
Lilly, Boris, and Jack Are Back! Get Ready for a Human Attack!
Who knew a slimy moss bomb war between friends would lead to an adventure of a lifetime! From strategizing with the elders for their playful battle to, of all things, escaping the clutches of a human! It doesn’t take long to learn the fairies shockingly have more in common with the child than they ever could have imagined. Broderick, everyone’s favorite spider, provides the goodies, and Lilly supplies the fairy songs and games. Filled with twists and turns, adventure, and fun, find out if the fairies and the elders can help the stranger reunite with her family. Or will there be a human attack?!
https://youtu.be/6sNMrgMkaHU
 

Amanda M. Thrasher was born in England, moved to Texas, and resides there still. She’s an award-winning author of Young Adult, General Fiction, Middle Grade, Early Reader Chapter, and Picture Books. Amanda is a multiple Gold Recipient of The Mom’s Choice Awards® (MCA), earning the award in multiple categories, including Young Adult, General Fiction, and Early Reader Chapter Books. She is also a multiple Gold Medal winner of the Readers’ Favorite International Book awards, a New Apple Literary Award, and has earned a first-place North Texas Book Festival award.

Amanda founded and is the CEO of Progressive Rising Phoenix Press, an independent publishing company. She shares her writing and publishing experience with others through school visits, book signings, trade conferences, and workshops for aspiring writers of all ages.

In addition, Amanda was contracted to write a graphic novel for the Driving on the Right Side of the Road Program. The publication is part of the Driving on the Right Side of the Road (DRSR) program, developed by the Law-Related Education Department of the State Bar of Texas Law Focused Education, Inc., and the Texas Municipal Courts Education Center with funding from the Texas Court of Criminal Appeals and the Texas Department of Transportation. The program’s purpose is to offer a preventive educational program to encourage responsible decision-making when it comes to obeying traffic laws and following safe practices. The graphic novel titled What If … A Story of Shattered Lives was adapted into a reader’s theater for as few as five speakers or as many as twenty-six.
 
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Signed copies of the Mischief books, Captain Fin
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It’s a Mad Mad Murder – #BookBlitz @LoneStarLit

IT’S A MAD, MAD MURDER
A Maddie Montgomery Mystery
by
CINDY VINCENT

Cozy Culinary Mystery / Women Sleuths / Amateur Sleuths
Publisher: Whodunit Press
Date of Publication: November 15, 2021
Number of Pages: 303 pages
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Things are a little too hot to handle for famous culinary-mystery author, Maddie Montgomery, in her normally quiet neighborhood set in the Houston suburb of Abbott Cove. Especially after her neighbor, Randall Rathburn, has a heart attack and rams his vintage car into a light pole. Though his death is ruled an accident, another of Maddie’s neighbors insists that Randall was murdered, and he implores her to investigate. But Maddie isn’t on board with the half-baked idea, not until she attends the over-the-top funeral where she develops some suspicions of her own. That’s when she decides to take the leap from crime writing to crime solving. After all, she doesn’t exactly want a killer running around her cul-de-sac . . .
But the murder of her neighbor isn’t the only mystery she’s got cooking. When her publisher goes belly-up and her agent happily dumps her in favor of younger, dystopian authors, Maddie boils over into a full-blown career crisis. And while she tries to simmer down, her new role as amateur sleuth only stirs the pot even more. Then from car chases to stakeouts, and from a neighbor who owns a suspicious amount of spy gadgetry to a widow who seems a little too merry, Maddie’s first case has her head spinning like the beaters on her handheld mixer. And soon Maddie finds that solving a crime in “real life” is a lot more difficult . . . and a lot more dangerous . . .
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Cindy Vincent is the award-winning author of the Buckley and Bogey Cat Detective Capers, and the Tracy Truworth, Apprentice P.I., 1940s Homefront Mysteries. She is also the creator of the Mysteries by Vincent murder mystery party games and the Daisy Diamond Detective Series games for girls. She lives in Houston, Texas with her husband and an assortment of fantastic felines. Cindy is a self-professed “Christmas-a-holic,” and she starts the planning for her ever-expanding, “extreme” Christmas lights display sometime in the early spring.
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1ST PRIZE:
Signed copy of It’s a Mad, Mad Murder, a sweetheart-neckline apron, a set of multicolored, Farberware measuring cups, and a set of stainless steel, oblong measuring spoons.
2ND & 3RD PRIZES:
Signed copies of It’s a Mad, Mad Murder and novella, Yes, Carol…It’s Christmas!, which features a heroine trying to get back home to Texas
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#NewRelease! Turn To Me – Becky Wade @beckywadewriter @lonestarlit

It is my pleasure to introduce this fellow Texan author to you. I have not yet read this book, but it’s on my list for sure! Don’t forget to enter the Rafflecopter!

TURN TO ME
A Misty River Romance
by
BECKY WADE
 
Contemporary Romance / Christian Fiction / Clean & Wholesome
Date of Publication: May 3, 2022
Number of Pages: 416 pages 
 
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His promise will cost him far more than he imagined.
 
Guilt has defined Luke Dempsey’s life, but it was self-destructiveness that landed him in prison. When his friend and fellow inmate lay dying shortly before Luke’s release, the older man revealed he left a string of clues for his daughter, Finley, that will lead her to the treasure he’s hidden. Worried that she won’t be the only one pursuing the treasure, he gains Luke’s promise to protect her until the end of her search.
 
Spunky and idealistic, Finley Sutherland is the owner of an animal rescue center and a defender of lost causes. She accepts Luke’s help on the treasure hunt while secretly planning to help him in return–by coaxing him to embrace the forgiveness he’s long denied himself.
 
As they draw closer to the final clue, their reasons for resisting each other begin to crumble, and Luke realizes his promise will push him to the limit in more ways than one. He’ll do his best to shield Finley from unseen threats, but who’s going to shield him from losing his heart?
 
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Becky Wade is the 2018 Christy Award Book of the Year winner for True to You. She is a native of California who attended Baylor University, met and married a Texan, and moved to Dallas. She published historical romances for the general market, then put her career on hold for several years to care for her children. When God called her back to writing, Becky knew He meant for her to turn her attention to Christian fiction. Her humorous, heart-pounding contemporary romance novels have won three Christy Awards, the Carol Award, the INSPY Award, and the Inspirational Reader’s Choice Award for Romance. Becky lives in Dallas, Texas with her husband and three children.
 
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#BookReview – The Catch @heartofafrica #BookBlogTour @LoneStarLit

I am super excited to share a review for a book I received compliments of NetGalley and Revell Publishing. And on top of that this book is on tour with Literary Life!

THE CATCH

U.S. Marshals Series #3
by
LISA HARRIS
Fiction / Christian / Mystery / Suspense / Romance
Publisher: Revell
Date of Publication: April 5, 2022
Number of Pages: 352 pages 
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Everything hidden is eventually found
After a harrowing attempt on a judge’s life at the courthouse, Deputy US Marshals Madison James and Jonas Quinn are tasked with finding a missing woman and an endangered child in connection to the murder of the judge’s wife. What seems like a fairly straightforward case becomes hopelessly tangled when the marshals discover that the woman they are searching for is not who they think she is.
Madison and Jonas are forced into a race to find the woman and the child before the people who want her dead discover her location. And in a final showdown that could cost her everything, Madison will come face-to-face with the person who murdered her husband.
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Lisa Harris is a USA Today bestselling author, a Christy Award winner, and the winner of the Best Inspirational Suspense Novel from Romantic Times for her novels Blood Covenant and Vendetta. The author of more than forty books, including The Escape, The Chase, The Traitor’s Pawn, Vanishing Point, A Secret to Die For, and Deadly Intentions, as well as The Nikki Boyd Files and the Southern Crimes series, Harris and her family have spent over 17 years living as missionaries in southern Africa and currently are living there.
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(The Chase, The Escape, The Catch)
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The Bones of Amoret – #NewRelease @HerbertWriter @LoneStarLit

I am super excited to introduce this new book to my followers. Arthur Herbert is a new author to me and this is the first book of his I’ve read, but it won’t be my last!

THE BONES OF AMORET
by
ARTHUR HERBERT
Genre: Mystery /Suspense
Publisher: Stitched Smile Publications
Date of Publication: April 1, 2022
Number of Pages: 323 pages 
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In this enigmatic follow up to his critically acclaimed debut novel The Cuts that Cure, Arthur Herbert returns to the Texas-Mexico border with this saga of a small town’s bloody loss of innocence.
Amoret, Texas, 1982. Life along the border is harsh, but in a world where cultures work together to carve a living from the desert landscape, Blaine Beckett lives a life of isolation. A transplanted Boston intellectual, for twenty years locals have viewed him as a snob, a misanthrope, an outsider. He seems content to stand apart until one night when he vanishes into thin air amid signs of foul play.
Noah Grady, the town doctor, is a charming and popular good ol’ boy. He’s also a keeper of secrets, both the town’s and his own. He watches from afar as the mystery of Blaine’s disappearance unravels and rumors fly. Were the incipient cartels responsible? Was it a local with a grudge? Or did Blaine himself orchestrate his own disappearance? Then the unthinkable happens, and Noah begins to realize he’s considered a suspect.
Paced like a lit fuse and full of dizzying plot twists, The Bones of Amoret is a riveting whodunit that will keep you guessing all the way to its shocking conclusion.
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Amazon
Arthur Herbert was born and raised in small town Texas. He worked on offshore oil rigs, as a bartender, a landscaper at a trailer park, and as a social worker before going to medical school. For the last eighteen years, he’s worked as a trauma and burn surgeon, operating on all ages of injured patients. He continues to run a thriving practice.
He’s won multiple awards for his scientific writing, and his first novel, The Cuts that Cure, spent ten days as an Amazon #1 Best Seller. His second novel, The Bones of Amoret, will be released on April 1, 2022 through Stitched Smile Publishers. Arthur currently lives in New Orleans, with his wife Amy and their dogs.
Arthur loves hearing from readers, so don’t hesitate to email him at arthur@arthurherbertwriter.com.
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This book grabbed me from the first line and didn’t let go until the last. I read it in two sittings and way past my bedtime.

One of the things I loved about The Bones of Amoret is the setting. If you have never seen the incredible beauty of the Chihuahuan Desert in far southwest Texas, you are missing a treat. But this author did a fabulous job of describing the scenery, so that even if you’ve never been there, you could visualize it.

The main character, a medical doctor in the small town of Amoret, wore many different hats. Noah Grady had a big heart and helping immigrants cross the river safely for a chance at a better life showed that explicitly. Add in his love for a mentally handicapped adopted son and you get the picture of a wonderful man filled with compassion.

But Noah Grady has a secret. And the author kept it under wraps until the very end. While I thought I had figured out the direction the story was heading several different times while reading, none of them were correct.

Blaine Beckett disappears at the beginning of the story. The whodunit and what happened unfolds in layers, much like peeling back an onion. And I couldn’t wait to peel back another layer and get deeper.

The author doesn’t shy away from giving his character huge obstacles, both mental and physical, to try and overcome. At times, I chewed my fingernails, wondering which one would be his demise.

If you love a riveting tale of mystery, action, suspense, sensitive social issues, and deep-abiding love, The Bones of Amoret is for you. The bonus is the gorgeous setting in the Big Bend area where the Chisos Mountains rise tall and the ravines run deep.