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Amethyst, The Shallows Pop-up Blog Hop @AbernathyKellye @LoneStarLit

I am happy to spotlight an author today who writes YA with a touch of magical realism. Please welcome Kellye Abernathy!

AMETHYST, THE SHALLOWS
by
Kellye Abernathy
 
YA / Magical Realism / Coming of Age
Publisher: Atmosphere Press
Page Count: 296 pages
Publication Date: February 6, 2024
 
 
Scroll down for a giveaway!
 
“This is a night for being brave.”
 
In the aftermath of a devastating sickness that shatters their close-knit beach town, six lonely kids are drawn together during the unpredictable autumn equinox. Among them are fourteen-year-old Lorelei, who yearns to be an oceanographer, and her peculiar younger brother, Tad, who possesses an otherworldly curiosity.
 
 
When Lorelei has a strange and almost deadly encounter in a sea cave, her loyal boyfriend, Casey, cannot reconcile her fantastical experience with the rational world. Condi, Lorelei’s best friend, understands ocean magic but isn’t free to share what she knows. Kait, a girl from Ireland, regrets her impulsive move to America–all because of an odd occurrence involving her deceased boyfriend’s lost surfboard. When tides turn and the moon shifts, Isaac, the new kid in town who despises the ocean, is forced to face the truth–a profound and powerful magic lives in the deep.
 
 
Guided by a wise surf master, mystical old women known as the Beachlings, and an open-hearted grandmother, six kids embark on transformative adventures that challenge their beliefs about possibilities and the intense nature of love.
 
Amethyst, the Shallows is the companion novel to The Aquamarine Surfboard.
CLICK TO PURCHASE:
 
Kellye Abernathy’s passions are writing and serving trauma survivors as a yoga teacher and practical life skills advocate. She holds a Bachelor of Science degree in Secondary English Education from the University of Kansas. Her home is in land-locked Plano, Texas—where she’s dreaming of her next trip to the sea!
 
Website â—† Instagram â—† Facebook â—† X/Twitter
Goodreads â—† Amazon â—† BookBub
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THREE WINNERS receive autographed two-book sets
(US only; ends midnight, CDT, 4/19/24)
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Frowns and Gowns The Mischief Series Book 5 @AmandaMThrasher @lonestarlit

FROWNS AND GOWNS
The Mischief Series, Book 5
By AMANDA M. THRASHER
 
Children’s Chapter Book / Fantasy / Fairies
Publisher: Progressive Rising Phoenix Press
Page Count: 236
Publication Date: September 12, 2023
 
Embark on a Magical Adventure with Lilly, Boris, and Jack!
Get ready to join Lilly, Boris, and Jack on an unforgettable journey filled with excitement, laughter, and a touch of mayhem. Brace yourself for a whirlwind of mishaps as these three fairies plan a magnificent magical ball, only to encounter an unforeseen disaster! Experience the magic of friendship with Lilly, the quick-witted and resourceful fairy, Boris, the mischievous fairy with a heart of gold, and Jack, the troublemaker with a curious, adventurous spirit on their latest adventure.
 
 
Throughout, Lilly, Boris, and Jack teach the true meaning of friendship and teamwork. Together with their friends, they’ll overcome challenges, learn valuable lessons, and create memories that will last a lifetime. Don’t miss out on this enchanting tale!
CLICK TO PURCHASE:
Amazon │ Apple iBooks │B&N
 
[youtube https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=apn7Vm-RRRI?si=6k3G90-Lo7IXM0MS]
 
 
Award-winning author Amanda M. Thrasher was born in England and moved to Texas, where she lives with her family. She writes YA, general fiction, middle grade, early reader chapter, and picture books. She is the founder and CEO of Progressive Rising Phoenix Press.
WEBSITE â—† GOODREADS â—† INSTAGRAM
FACEBOOK â—† AMAZON â—† X/TWITTER
 
PROGRESSIVE RISING PHOENIX PRESS
 
GIVEAWAY! GIVEAWAY! GIVEAWAY!
TWO WINNERS
receive autographed, paperback sets
of all five books in The Mischief Series + $25 Starbucks gift card
(US only; ends midnight, CDT, 3/28/24)
 

Enter the Rafflecopter giveaway
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To Rescue A Witch – Lisa A. Traugott @LoneStarLit #NewRelease #BookReview

TO RESCUE A WITCH
by
Lisa A. Traugott
Historical Fiction / Action & Adventure / Witch Trials
Page Count: 398 pages
Publication Date: March 1, 2024
It’s 1739. An abused girl accused of witchcraft must be defended by a man married to an actual witch.
William MacLeod, a fierce Scottish lawyer with a kind heart, takes on a daunting task—rescue young Annaliese from the clutches of her tormentors in the untamed wilds of Virginia colony and deliver her safely to her aristocratic father in London. But lurking in the shadows are enemies eager to expose MacLeod’s own wife, Fiona, as a witch with a dark secret.
Their perilous journey takes an unexpected turn when their ship wrecks, and Annaliese’s haunting nightmares and unexplained Devil Marks trigger suspicion among the crew. Tension peaks when MacLeod must become Annaliese’s unwavering protector in a witch trial, where Fiona’s clairvoyance and a murder are unveiled.
To Rescue a Witch navigates themes of betrayal and redemption, in a spellbinding narrative that blends history, magic, and the unyielding resilience of the human spirit.
Lisa A. Traugott is an award-winning author and World Championship public speaker semifinalist and spoke five lines on Buffy the Vampire Slayer. She lives in Austin with her husband, two kids, and English bulldog, Bruno.

Website â—† Blog â—† Facebook â—† Amazon
Goodreads â—† BookBub â—† Instagram

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THREE WINNERS


Autographed paperback copies
of TO RESCUE A WITCH
(US only; ends midnight, CDT, 03/29/24)
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The Knotted Ring #NewRelease #BookReview @lonestarlit @MyraHMcIlvain #Giveaway

THE KNOTTED RING
BY MYRA HARGRAVE MCILVAIN
Historical Fiction / Family Saga / Historical Romance
Publisher: Next Chapter
Page Count: 412
Publication Date: December 7, 2023
Scroll down for Giveaway!
Susannah Mobley, expecting a baby by her lover, a slave owned by her family, submits to an arranged marriage to Hezekiah James who is headed to Texas to claim a Spanish land grant. Caught in a series of lies about the origin of a beautiful ring woven from her red hair and the circumstances of her pregnancy, Susannah embarks on the harsh trip to Texas, grieving for her lost love and determined to control her destiny.
On the wagon train journey, Hezekiah is tested by his beliefs and strengths with his slaves and Native Americans, as well as a strange Mad Stone. His determination to build a plantation as fine as Susannah’s home place and to make the best decisions for Susannah fails. Susannah will have to decide if she can live with the consequences of her lies and open herself to this man who shows every form of contrition or if she will allow longing for what she cannot have to destroy her life.
~~~
The Knotted Ring is currently a semi-finalist status
in the Laramie Awards for Western and Americana Fiction.
“An often engrossing and well-handled story of the 19th century.”
—Kirkus Reviews
~~~
CLICK TO PURCHASE!
Amazon │ Apple │ BookPeople

Barnes & Noble │ Google │ Kobo

Myra Hargrave McIlvain, a sixth-generation Texan, is a storyteller who has written Texas historical markers (yes, real people write those things lining Texas highways), articles for newspapers and magazines such as Texas Highways, and six nonfiction books about famous and infamous Texas characters and places.
McIlvain found her real love when she wrote her first historical fiction. All her tales take place in Texas during major periods of its history. However, The Knotted Ring was inspired by an old family story, and in her search to understand what may have happened, she imagined their lives set in a time that she knew well––the establishment of the first Anglo colony.
McIlvain views history as the story of a people; the people she knows best have made Texas home.
WEBSITE â—† FACEBOOK â—† X/TWITTER
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THREE WINNERS
1st Prize: Autographed hardcover & tote bag; 2nd Prize: Autographed paperback + candle; 3rd Prize: Autographed paperback
(US only; ends midnight, CST, 02/29/24)
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Killer Enigma – The Magnolia Bluff Crime Chronicles Tour @LoneStarLit @EnigmaSeries @1rburkey

THE MAGNOLIA BLUFF
CRIME CHRONICLES
Seasons 1 & 2 by
The Underground Authors
 
Scroll down for a giveaway!
 
 

Each stand-alone book in this multi-author crime novel series is set in the fictitious, beautiful little Texas Hill Country town of Magnolia Bluff. Each author writes in their preferred sub-genre to allow readers to experience humor, dark dilemmas, suspense, romance, thrills, and spills — told through good storytelling that will keep readers awake past their bedtime, trying to find out whodunit.

 
Season three of The Magnolia Bluff Crime Chronicles begins in January 2024. Stay tuned.
 
 
 
 
GIVEAWAY!  GIVEAWAY!  GIVEAWAY!
THREE WINNERS:
1st: $25 Amazon gift card
2nd & 3rd: eBook bundles of first 18 books in the series
(US only; ends midnight, CST, 12/8/23)
 
ENTER THE GIVEAWAY
Enter the Rafflecopter giveaway

 

 
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Rip The Sky – Mark Packard #NewRelease #BlogTour #Review #Giveaway @LoneStarLit

RIP THE SKY
by
Mark Packard
Speculative Fiction / Fantasy / Science Fiction
Publisher: Bluestreak Publishing
Page Count: 317 pages
Publication Date: August 21, 2023
Scroll down for a giveaway!

After a shocking courtroom tragedy, a disturbed Vietnam veteran and the vindictive judge who sent him to prison become an unlikely pair of time travelers in a chaotic multiverse. The fallen angel who rescues them wants to guide them to a radiant new life. But first they must return to the scene of a ghastly crime.

Billy Worster was a naïve teenager ill-prepared for the gruesome realities of war. The sole survivor of a deadly massacre in a Vietnamese jungle, he avoided certain death only because he ran away when the shooting started. Riddled with guilt, he comes home to a dusty Texas farm with post-traumatic stress disorder and the crazy notion that he can fly in and out of parallel worlds.

As Billy struggles with addiction and questions his sanity, he is arrested on a drug charge and ends up in the courtroom of Judge Madeline Johnston, a bitter old judge tormented by a dark secret surrounding her father’s death. She callously tosses Billy into prison, but when a greedy executor files a lawsuit to steal his inherited land, Billy is hauled back to her courtroom in chains, where a stunning twist of fate launches them into the sky on an odyssey of discovery and healing.

Spanning forty years from the jungles of Vietnam through infinite, parallel worlds, Rip the Sky examines how the power of forgiveness can lead us toward a better life, no matter how many worlds we may live in.

XTRA Promo
Mark Packard spent the last 38 years as a trial attorney and is now retired from the courtroom and working as a mediator. In a life before lawyering he was a journalist and regrets waiting far too long before returning to his roots to write his first novel, Rip the Sky. Though he knows he should have jumped off the merry-go-round years ago, he hopes to hang around long enough to craft a few more tales. Connect with the author:

Website â—† Amazon â—† Goodreads â—† LinkedIn â—† Facebook â—† BookBub

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ONE WINNER
Signed hard copy of RIP THE SKY & $50 Amazon gift card
(US only; ends midnight, CST, 10/13/23)

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Mumentous by Amy J. Schultz Book BlogTour @LoneStarLit #giveaway

MUMENTOUS: Original Photos and Mostly-True Stories about Football, Glue Guns, Moms, and a Supersized High School Tradition That Was Born Deep in the Heart of Texas by Amy J. Schultz Nonfiction / Photo-Driven Memoir / Women’s History / Pop Culture / Texana Publisher: Atmosphere Press Page Count: 178 pages Publication Date: April 25, 2023 Scroll …

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THE PUPPY ADVENTURES OF PORTER & MIDGE: OUT AND ABOUT Pop-up Blog Tour #Giveaway @LoneStarLit

THE PUPPY ADVENTURES OF PORTER & MIDGE: OUT AND ABOUT by Jennie Chen and Giselle Nevada Children’s Book / Pet Books / Pet Care Publisher: Raise the Woof Press Page Count: 38 pages Publication Date: May 16, 2023 Scroll down for a giveaway! Introducing The Puppy Adventures of Porter and Midge: Out and About – …

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Ghostly Bugles – #NewRelease #Giveaway @LoneStarLit @knightml_author

It is an honor to feature a new Historical Fiction release from this author! Read to the end to see my review, and don’t forget to enter the giveaway!

 

GHOSTLY BUGLES
by
Max L. Knight
 
Historical Fiction / Texas History
Publisher: Wild Lark Books
Date of Publication: February 23, 2023
Number of Pages: 210 pages
 
Scroll down for Giveaway!
 
Do the souls of the dead reach out from beyond the grave? Do echoes of the past resound through the ages? Are such insights a privilege or a curse? An old man grapples with these questions and his own mortality as he re-examines one of the most famous battles in history – the Alamo.
 
The 1836 siege and battle, as well as current efforts to restore Alamo Plaza to hallowed ground and create a world-class attraction unfold as the old man tries to make sense of his memories, dreams, and perceived outreach by the dead whose souls cry out to him for inclusion and recognition. Beyond the myth and the legend are their stories as well as his own.
 
Ghostly Bugles is a fictional re-creation of the Alamo story, rich in historical detail with a unique paranormal element. The narrative combines elements of the traditional storyline with contemporary efforts to “Re-imagine the Alamo.” The dual timelines balance our understanding of this world-renowned event and provide new perspective and appreciation for the courage and sacrifice of everyone involved – Texian and Tejano defenders and Mexican soldiers.
 
 
CLICK TO PURCHASE
 
 
 
MAX L. KNIGHT was born in Panama and grew up in the Canal Zone and in San Antonio, Texas, where he and his wife reside. In addition to degrees from Texas A&M University and Campbell University, Max served twenty-four years in the United States Army (1973-1997), retiring with the rank of Lieutenant Colonel.
 
He became the first Alamo Docent in 2004, but the tragic events of 9/11 compelled him to reactivate his security clearance and, when the approval finally came through, he returned to work in support of U.S. Counterintelligence operations. A stage IV throat cancer diagnosis in 2014 abruptly ended that phase of his life, and he turned to writing to help him get through the chemo, radiation, and surgeries. Max is currently cancer free.
 
His other works include Silver Taps, Palo Duro, and Tarnished Brass.
 
â—† WEBSITE â—† FACEBOOK â—† LINKEDIN â—† AMAZON â—†
â—† TWITTER â—† PINTEREST â—† GOODREADS â—†
 
 
 
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TWO WINNERS:
Signed copy of Ghostly Bugles
(US only; ends midnight, CDT, 5/25/23)
 
 

A Rafflecopter giveaway

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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 
Scroll down for Giveaway!
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.
CLICK TO PURCHASE!
│ 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.
◆  WEBSITE  ◆  FACEBOOK  ◆  TWITTER ◆
◆  AMAZON  ◆  GOODREADS ◆BOOKBUB◆
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.

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