Category: blog tour

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Blog Tour: These Thy Gifts – Vincent Panettiere

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TheseTheyGifts copy

Welcome to the tour for These Thy Gifts by Vincent Panettiere. Read on for more details!

KINDLE - These Thy Gifts 7 June 2022

These Thy Gifts

Publication Date: June 5th, 2023

Genre: Historical Thriller

Enter the world of Father Steven Trimboli, an activist priest who fights for justice against immigrant discrimination and labor disputes in the 1960s. However, his struggle with the hierarchy leads to an insurmountable task – building a church in a remote area where he feels like a fish out of water. After surviving a fire, he finds comfort in a woman, but their moment of mutual passion has disastrous consequences.

As he seeks atonement, Father Trimboli becomes a chaplain in Vietnam, facing danger and struggling to maintain his faith in the face of adversity. Despite years of service and degradation, he finally receives the promotion he deserves – Monsignor and a parish of his own. However, his faith is tested once again when he confronts the darkest secrets of sexual abuse that bring him face-to-face with the devastating truth – that those children trust most, the church, can also betray them.

These Thy Gifts is a powerful and timely story that sheds light on the struggles Catholics face today. Join Father Trimboli on a journey through 50 years of his life – from the streets of Brooklyn to the jungles of Vietnam and beyond. Follow his unique perspective as an Army Chaplain and pastor, and be inspired by his unwavering fight for justice, faithfulness, and standing up for the oppressed.

Available

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About the Author

Vincent Panettiere was not born in a trunk at the Princess Theatre in Pocatello, Idaho, but in Brooklyn, NY.

He graduated from St. John’s University and went to graduate school at Boston University. After college he became a sports writer for the wire service United Press International (UPI) and later wrote for the Boston Herald, a major daily newspaper in that city before Rupert Murdochized it.

After holding executive positions at Westinghouse Broadcasting, CBS and Xerox he moved to Los Angeles to pursue a career as a screen writer. Four of his scripts were optioned but not produced, one by Twentieth Century Fox and the others by now-defunct production companies.

He became a licensed and bonded literary agent representing writers and directors in television and films. He made deals for writers and directors on TV series, including Xena, The Untouchables and Babylon 5. He was also instrumental in the production of two independent feature films and the sale of numerous indie/MOW film scripts.

During the same time, Panettiere was certified by the Major League Baseball Players Association to serve as an agent for major league and professional baseball players. Clients he represented played in the major leagues for the Boston Red Sox, St. Louis Cardinals and Kansas City Royals.

Objecting to the standard means of financing independent films, Panettiere sought non-traditional funding for his writer/director clients. His journey through the murky world of cyberspace was chronicled in his first book The Internet Financing Illusion published in 2007.

Next, Panettiere turned to fiction. In A Woman to Blame, Panettiere created the character of Chicago police detective Mike Hegan. This was followed by These Thy Gifts, a second novel featuring Hegan, The Scopas Factor and his latest, The Music of Women.

He continues to live in Los Angeles and has eaten dinner in Pocatello, Idaho.

Vincent Panettiere

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Book Tour Schedule

August 21st

http://rrbooktours Kick-off

https://www.instagram.com/calhoun.crew/ – Review

https://www.instagram.com/destinys_pathway/ – Feature

http://www.adestinyspath.wordpress.com – Feature

https://www.instagram.com/lp.jnl – Review

August 22nd

https://www.instagram.com/ms._violetglikestoread/ – Review

https://lshadowlynauthor.com/ – Review

https://www.instagram.com/jlreadstoperpetuity – Review

August 23rd

http://www.instagram.com/onemoreexclamation/

http://www.OneMoreExclamation.com – Review

https://starsbooksandtea.com/ – Review

https://www.instagram.com/sassymamareads/ – Review

August 24th

https://www.instagram.com/hmylek/ – Review

https://www.instagram.com/Justagirlwithaloveofbooks/ – Review

https://christinebialczak.com/ – Feature

August 25th

http://ramblingmads.com – Feature

https://countrymamaswithkids.com – Review

http://www.instagram.com/countrymamaswithkids

https://www.instagram.com/a_lyttle_book_blog/?igshid=MzNlNGNkZWQ4Mg%3D%3D – Feature

Book Tour Organized By:

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R&R Book Tours

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Blog Tour: Death Comes to Santa Fe – Amanda Allen

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Former New York darling turned amateur sleuth Madeline Vaughn-Alwin is once again thrown into a colourful yet deadly web of secrets, lies and soirees to die for!
It’s the week of Fiesta in Santa Fe and Maddie is looking forward to enjoying the celebrations. But as ‘Old Man Gloom’ Zozobra goes up in flames, so too do Maddie’s hopes for a carefree life . . .

Human remains are found in the dying embers of Zozobra, and then Maddie and her dashing beau Dr David
Cole find a body washed up in the arroyo at the edge of town.
Soon identified as Ricardo Montoya, a wealthy businessman and head of one of the most affluent families in Santa Fe . . . the plot starts to thicken. While his beautiful wife Catalina and her complicated children seem less than heartbroken at his untimely demise, and with many disgruntled locals crawling out of the woodwork, Maddie is surrounded by suspects.
With the celebrations of Fiesta continuing around them, Maddie and her ‘Detection Posse’ get busy infiltrating the best parties and hobnobbing with old and new faces – but can they bring the murderer to justice before they strike again?

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Amanda wrote her first romance at the age of sixteen–a vast historical epic starring all her friends as the characters, written secretly during algebra class (and her parents wondered why math was not her strongest subject…)
She’s never since used algebra, but her books have been nominated for many awards, including the RITA Award, the Romantic Times BOOKReviews Reviewers’ Choice Award, the Booksellers Best, the
National Readers Choice Award, and the Holt Medallion.

She lives in Santa Fe with two rescue dogs, a wonderful husband, and a very and far too many books and royal memorabilia collections.
When not writing or reading, she loves taking dance classes, collecting cheesy travel souvenirs, and watching the Food Network–even though she doesn’t cook.

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My thoughts: set in the 1920s in Santa Fe, New Mexico, among the artistic set that flocked there, this is a fun and somewhat gory murder mystery. When local businessman (and cruel husband) Ricardo Montoya is found murdered, and bits of him are found inside the huge effigy Maddie’s artist pals burnt on their bonfire (think Guy Fawkes), she and her friends investigate.

She doesn’t believe it could be anyone she knows well, her friends are eccentric but they’re not killers. But does the answer lie with his family, who don’t seem too upset, or in his past?

Maddie is a lot of fun, and has a quick mind, able to sort through clues and facts easily, narrowing down her suspect pool, and ruling people out. But she does put herself in some danger, although in the end she gets her killer and is free to party again, with the lovely English doctor.

*I was kindly gifted a copy of this book in exchange for taking part in the blog tour but all opinions remain my own.

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Blog Tour: Last Girls Standing – Jennifer Dugan

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In this queer YA psychological thriller from the author of Some Girls Do and Hot Dog Girl, the sole surviving counselors of a summer camp massacre search to uncover the truth of what happened that fateful night, but what they find out might just get them killed. 

Sloan and Cherry. Cherry and Sloan. They met only a few days before masked men with machetes attacked the summer camp where they worked, a massacre that left the rest of their fellow counselors dead. Now, months later, the two are inseparable, their traumatic experience bonding them in ways no one else can understand. 

But as new evidence comes to light and Sloan learns more about the motives behind the ritual killing that brought them together, she begins to suspect that her girlfriend may be more than just a survivor―she may actually have been a part of it. Cherry tries to reassure her, but Sloan only becomes more distraught. Is this gaslighting or reality? Is Cherry a victim or a perpetrator? Is Sloan confused, or is she seeing things clearly for the very first time? Against all odds, Sloan survived that hot summer night. But will she survive what comes next?

Jennifer Dugan is a writer, a geek, and a romantic who writes the kinds of stories she wishes she’d had growing up. She’s the author of the graphic novel Coven, as well as the young adult novels Melt With You, Some Girls Do, Verona Comics, and Hot Dog Girl, which was called “a great, fizzy rom-com” by Entertainment Weekly and “one of the best reads of the year, hands down” by Paste magazine. She lives in upstate New York with her family, their dog, a strange kitten who enjoys wearing sweaters, and an evil cat who is no doubt planning to take over the world.

My thoughts: Surviving a terrible crime, the murder of multiple camp counsellors at the camp where they were due to work has left Sloan and Cherry with emotional, and physical, scars. Especially Sloan. Her work with a hypnotherapist is bringing confusing memories of the events out and she’s not sure who to trust anymore.

Is Cherry, her fellow final girl, involved with the dangerous cult that killed everyone else and would have killed them too? Is Cherry’s mum? And what did Sloan’s biological parents have to do with it, if anything?

As Sloan starts to spiral, unable to trust her family, her friends, Cherry, diving into the cult’s deranged beliefs and theories, she starts to believe there’s something else going on.

A startling and shocking depiction of PTSD, survivor’s guilt and the mental impact of living a life with too many questions and not enough answers.

*I was kindly gifted a copy of this book in exchange for taking part in the blog tour but all opinions remain my own.

blog tour, books, reviews

Blog Tour: Mirror Image – Gunnar Staalesen, translated by Don Bartlett

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Bergen PI Varg Veum investigates two different cases that are uncannily similar to harrowing events that took place thirty-six years earlier…

Bergen Private Investigator Varg Veum is perplexed when two wildly different cases cross his desk at the same time. A lawyer, anxious to protect her privacy, asks Varg to find her sister, who has disappeared with her husband, seemingly without trace, while a ship carrying unknown cargo is heading towards the Norwegian coast, and the authorities need answers.

Varg immerses himself in the investigations, and it becomes clear that the two cases are linked, and have unsettling – and increasingly uncanny – similarities to events that took place thirty­six years earlier, when a woman and her saxophonist lover drove their car into the sea, in an apparent double suicide.

As Varg is drawn into a complex case involving star-crossed lovers, toxic waste and illegal immigrants, history seems determined to repeat itself in perfect detail … and at terrifying cost…

One of the fathers of Nordic Noir, Gunnar Staalesen was born in Bergen, Norway, in 1947. He made his debut at the age of twenty-two with Seasons of Innocence and in 1977 he published the first book in the Varg Veum series. He is the author of over twenty titles, which have been published in twenty-four countries and sold over four million copies. Twelve film adaptations of his Varg Veum crime novels have appeared since 2007, star­ring the popular Norwegian actor Trond Espen Seim. Staalesen has won three Golden Pistols (including the Prize of Honour). Where Roses Never Die won the 2017 Petrona Award for Nordic Crime Fiction, and Big Sister was shortlisted for the award in 2019. He lives with his wife in Bergen.

My thoughts: this is another fascinating case for PI Varg Veum, with the present and past all tangled up. Berit hires him to quietly locate her sister and brother-in-law, who she says have disappeared. But Veum is interested in the suicide pact deaths of their mother and her lover, years before. Something isn’t adding up, is history repeating itself?

As he digs into the past and also searches for the missing couple, he has more questions than answers. Something strange is also happening at the missing man’s workplace – a shipping firm nowhere near a dock. A journalist has asked him to make a few enquiries into a ship, The Seagull, owned by the company.

As both cases weave themselves together and Veum seeks to separate them and get some answers, he’s almost killed. Accident or intent?

Gripping, thrilling, occasionally darkly funny, this is another fantastic outing for my increasingly favourite grumpy PI.

*I was kindly gifted a copy of this book in exchange for taking part in the blog tour but all opinions remain my own.

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Blog Tour: Fayne – Ann-Marie MacDonald

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‘I knew from a very young age that I was wrong in the world. And the idea of looking through the eyes of somebody who’s born with an intersex trait has been quite compelling to me for a very long time. It’s not an exotic quality. That’s why I’ve decided not to treat it as a “spoiler”. That’s just who Charlotte is, that’s her body. That’s normal. It’s the world that has a problem and is going to make it a problem for her’ ANN-MARIE MACDONALD

In the late nineteenth century, Charlotte Bell is growing up at Fayne, a vast and lonely estate straddling the border between England and Scotland, where she has been kept from the world by her adoring father, Lord Henry Bell, owing to a mysterious ‘condition’.

Charlotte, strong and insatiably curious, revels in the moorlands, and has learned the treacherous and healing ways of the bog from the old hired man, Byrn, whose own origins are shrouded in mystery. Her idyllic existence is shadowed by the magnificent portrait on the landing in Fayne House which depicts her mother, a beautiful Irish-American heiress, holding Charlotte’s brother, Charles Bell. Charlotte has grown up with the knowledge that her mother died in giving birth to her, and that her older brother, Charles, the long-awaited heir, died at the age of two. When Charlotte’s appetite for learning threatens to exceed the bounds of the estate, her father breaks with tradition and hires a tutor to teach his daughter ‘as you would my son, had I one’.

But when Charlotte and her tutor’s explorations of the bog turn up an unexpected artefact, her father announces he has arranged for her to be cured of her condition, and her world is upended. Charlotte’s passion for knowledge and adventure will take her to the bottom of family secrets and to the heart of her own identity.

In Fayne we meet an irresistible young queer character whose curiosity and joy collide with the frustratingly arbitrary gender dichotomies in the world. Even with all her gifts – intelligence, wit and strength of character – can Charlotte overcome the violently enforced boundaries of society to claim her own place in the world?

©️ Lora McDonald

ANN-MARIE MACDONALD is a novelist, playwright, actor, and broadcast host. She was born in the former West Germany. After graduating from the National Theatre School of Canada in Montreal, she moved to Toronto where she distinguished herself as an actor and playwright. Her first play won the Governor General’s Award, the Chalmers Award and the Canadian Authors’ Association Award. In 1996, her first novel Fall on Your Knees became an international bestseller, was translated into nineteen languages and sold three million copies. It won the Commonwealth Prize for Best First Fiction, the People’s Choice Award and the Libris Award. In 2002, it became an Oprah’s Book Club title. In 2003, The Way the Crow Flies appeared, and in 2014, Adult Onset, both of which also enjoyed immense international success. In 2019 Ann-Marie MacDonald was made an Officer of the Order of Canada for her contribution to the arts and her LGBTQ2S+ activism. She is married to theatre director, Alisa Palmer, with whom she has two children.

My thoughts: I adore Charlotte, she’s incredibly clever, brave and longs to be a doctor at a time when being female is something of an impediment to that. Except Charlotte isn’t female or male – she’s intersex. And this is her story. But it’s also the story of Charlotte’s mother, Lady Marie “Mae” Bell, originally from Boston, Massachusetts. She marries Lord Henry Bell, Baron DC de Fayne, after meeting him in Rome.

They return, first to Edinburgh, where Henry’s sister the Honorable Clarissa, lives in the family’s town house, and then to Fayne, a wilderness of bog and fen. Where Charlotte grows up, wild and curious.

The story moves back and forth between Charlotte and Mae, as we learn more about the Bells and Fayne. There are so many secrets and lies that Charlotte will have to uncover as she ages and grows up. The absence of her mother, the death of her brother Charles, why they’re so cut off at Fayne and she doesn’t have any playmates and only a handful of servants remain.

This isn’t a short book, it’s a hefty tome, but it needs to be as there’s so many layers to the story of this family and especially Charlotte. I felt for her, I was delighted by the later chapters, as Charlotte asserts herself and finds happiness. The lonely grief of the earlier sections was well rewarded. Ghastly aunt Clarissa, so bitter and so conniving, what a shame she wasn’t the Baron. And Mae, oh poor, sweet Mae. Her story is heartbreaking. Have tissues handy, like many 19th Century women, fate was not kind to her.

This is an incredible book, powerful, moving and heartening. My mum used to be a midwife and has delivered intersex babies, the decisions families have to make at what should be a joyous time, can be very tough. Depending on their baby’s situation. As we know now, gender isn’t one thing or another, it can be a lot more complex than that and so is biological sex. I could write whole essays on the various in-between states – from the Disputed County of Fayne itself, to Charlotte, something for a new generation of literature students. I imagine this will be a future classic.

*I was kindly gifted a copy of this book in exchange for taking part in the blog tour but all

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Blog Tour: The Traitor – Ava Glass

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An MI6 operative is found dead, locked in a suitcase inside his own apartment. Despite an exhaustive search, no fingerprints are found at the scene. Emma Makepeace and her handler, Ripley, know an assassination when they see one, and such an obvious murder can mean only one thing: Someone is sending a message.

As she digs into his past, Emma discovers that the unfortunate spy had been investigating two Russian oligarchs based in London. He’d become obsessed with the idea that the two were spies, aided by a third man—whose identity he had yet to uncover. When he shared his findings within MI6 in the weeks before he died, the response came back fast and clear: Drop the investigation and move on. Had he uncovered a secret that cost him his life?

To pick up where he left off without ending up in a suitcase of her own, Emma goes undercover on one of the oligarch’s million-dollar yachts, scheduled to set sail from the Côte d’Azur to Monaco. Under other circumstances, this would be a dream vacation. But if Emma’s real identity gets discovered, it’s a death sentence.

As Emma’s work reveals secrets she’d be safer not knowing, the danger ratchets up. The killer may be closer to home than any of them imagined, and Emma won’t be safe until he—or she—is caught.

Enjoy the book trailer

Ava Glass is a pseudonym for a former crime reporter and civil servant. Her time working for the government introduced her to the world of spies, and she’s been fascinated by them ever since. She lives and writes in the south of England.

My thoughts: another cracking adventure for operative Emma Makepeace. With echoes of a real case that made the papers, an MI6 agent is found dead, someone is sending a message and it’s up to Emma to find out who.

To this end, she’s off undercover on a glamorous yacht in Monaco. But all is not as it seems. The dead agent had secrets and so does the Russian agent Emma is following. If she’s found out, she’s dead. There’s limited contact with her bosses, she’s on her own on the ocean. Can she solve the case and stay alive?

Gripping and thrilling, twists and turns abound and Emma has to keep her wits about her on board the luxury yacht, not sure who to trust. Once again it’s up to her to save the day. I like Emma, although that isn’t her real name, and her personal life, in the form of her anxious mother, weighs heavily on her. She’s dedicated and careful, but I think she needs a real holiday.

*I was kindly gifted a copy of this book in exchange for taking part in the blog tour but all opinions remain my own.

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Blog Tour: A Generation of Vipers – Sarah Yarwood-Lovett

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A killer is hiding in plain sight, like a snake in the long grass…

When Dr Nell Ward stumbles across a woman’s body amongst the purple heather on Furze Heath, she was on the lookout for nests of poisonous adders.

But something is lurking out here far more dangerous than vipers.

A cold-blooded killer is on the loose and this is not his first victim. As DI James Clark begins to investigate, a pattern emerges pointing towards this being the work of a serial killer. Every victim shares the same physical characteristics – all of which are a match to Nell herself.

As Nell is pulled into a tightly coiled mystery, she can’t help feeling someone is tracking her every move…

Can she unmask the murderer before they strike again?

A completely gripping and page-turning cosy mystery, perfect for fans of Richard Osman, Janice Hallett and Robert Thorogood.

My thoughts: I really like this series, but if I was Nell, I’d maybe stop going anywhere on my own – she either finds dead bodies or almost becomes one in every story, including this one! Maybe it’s time to write a book on bats Nell, something you can do inside, safely.

Having said that, could murderers stop leaving bodies in beautiful places full of wild creatures, it’s probably affecting them quite badly too. Not every little newt or adder fancies finding dead humans in their homes. Which is how come Nell finds this one, she’s doing an ecological survey on a planned development site, one teeming with wildlife, some of which is protected, and stumbles across a corpse.

Could the killer be one of her new colleagues? And if so, how much danger is she in, given that the deceased looks a lot like her?

With Rav in hospital, and Nell needing to finish this survey and help the animals move house, it’s up to James, luckily a police inspector, to work out whether it’s one of the four men Nell now works, which one and why. Not that Nell, or Rav, can leave it alone.

Rav’s long road to recuperation following his accident in the last book, is well done. My former husband was a paraplegic, so I felt for Rav, spinal injuries are very hard to overcome and can be endlessly frustrating as you reconcile the person you are post-injury with who you were before. But you can lead a full and happy life disabled, and I hope Rav learns that, Nell isn’t going anywhere.

The crimes of this killer also relate to the work of Nell’s mother, a Tory MP with an eye to prison reform, partly due to all the scrapes Nell gets into. She’s a total magnet for murder and chaos. Even when she says she wants to focus on her work as an ecologist and bat expert (please fewer murdered bats in future, that was probably the worst bit), she can’t help getting involved with the investigation.

James also gets more of a role in this book, I quite like him. He puts up with Shannon’s craziness and is a dedicated officer and a good friend. He really shows his detective nous in this one, and there’s more of his team too. It isn’t Nell and Rav doing all the investigating this time. Although Rav spots a few crucial clues.

This series gets better and better with each book and I’m really pleased. I also feel my British wildlife knowledge has improved too (the author is a Doctor of ecology, like Nell) and I love all the different creatures Nell and Rav come across too.

*I was kindly gifted a copy of this book in exchange for taking part in the blog tour but all opinions remain my own.

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Blog Tour: Waking Isabella – Melissa Muldoon

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Waking Isabella copy

Welcome to the book tour for Waking Isabella by Melissa Muldoon! Read on for more info!
Because beauty can’t sleep forever…

WakingIsabella

Waking Isabella

Genre: Contemporary/ Romance/ Literature

Waking Isabella is a story about uncovering hidden beauty that, over time, has been lost, erased, or suppressed. It also weaves together several love stories as well as a few mysteries. Nora, an assistant researcher, is a catalyst for resolving the puzzle of a painting that has been missing for decades. Set in Arezzo, a small Tuscan town, the plot unfolds against the backdrop of the city’s antique trade and the fanfare and pageantry of its medieval jousting festival. While filming a documentary about Isabella de’ Medici—the Renaissance princess who was murdered by her husband—Nora begins to connect with the lives of two remarkable women from the past. Unraveling the stories of Isabella, the daughter of a fifteenth-century Tuscan duke, and Margherita, a young girl trying to survive the war in Nazi-occupied Italy, Nora begins to question the choices that have shaped her own life up to this point. As she does, hidden beauty is awakened deep inside of her, and she discovers the keys to her creativity and happiness. It is a story of love and deceit, forgeries and masterpieces—all held together by the allure and intrigue of a beautiful Tuscan ghost.

“Waking Isabella” by Melissa Muldoon is a must-read for all fans of Italy, history, romance and intrigue. Eccellente! Muldoon magically weaves together the lives of Nora, Isabella and Margherita, spanning the course of many centuries, into a story that will mesmerize and haunt readers long after the last page is read. — Sheri Hoyte for “Reader Views”

Excerpt

When Isabella woke that morning with intentions of washing her long dark hair, she hadn’t imagined she would be dead before it was dry.

***

Nora couldn’t help but feel a bit envious of Isabella. How had a Renaissance woman found such a romantic love and she, a forward thinking, liberated woman, had failed so miserably at it? She studied the ceiling. Had Richard ever sent her such messages? She thought back to the early days of their courtship. They’d never really spent any time apart, so the only things he’d ever penned to her were short, itemized grocery lists. Digital texts that reminded her to pick up deodorant and dandruff shampoo hardly compared to the kind of love notes that had made Isabella swoon.

She plumped up the pillow under her head and wondered, Does a love like Isabella’s and Troilo’s really exist?

But that was the fantasy, wasn’t it? Even today, in this modern age, women dreamed of finding a wildly handsome man that would intellectually challenge and complete them, not to mention fulfill them in bed. Dispiritedly, she thought, What a bunch of Hollywood drivel.

Yet, she reminded herself, a life lived entirely on her own could be lonely. If she were honest with herself, she too wanted that dream. She wanted to feel a deep aching love like Isabella’s—but she also wanted mutual respect, independence, and freedom. She reasoned that if a complicated woman like Isabella de’ Medici had found love and an intellectual equal—perhaps there still might be hope for her as well.

Distracted by the fluttering of the curtains, Nora felt the caress of a gush of warm air blown in through the open window. It seemed the museum guard had been right about the thunderstorm. She sat up and looked out the window and listened to the branches in the garden below thrashing restlessly in the uneven evening breeze. From the far edge of the valley, she heard an ominous rumble roll across the fields. It wasn’t long after that a sweet, pungent scent filled the air, and she heard the sounds of water splattering on the ground.

As the rhythm of the rain steadily increased, she fell tiredly back onto the bed. To shield her eyes from the flashes of lightning stabbing the night sky, she pulled the cushion over her head again and relaxed into the soft mattress. Tucked inside a safe cocoon, she was vaguely aware of the storm’s commotion, but it wasn’t until she heard the woman speak that she groggily opened her eyes.

“Svegliati! Wake up, Nora. I have something important to tell you.”

Coming slowly to her senses, Nora sleepily replied, “Something important? I don’t understand.” Running a hand over her face, she opened her eyes and blinked in surprise. Standing in front of her was a woman in white, and she was no longer in bed. How she had come to be there speaking to a woman who was soaking wet, dressed in a flowing white gown, she hadn’t a clue.

A bit groggily she asked, “Am I dreaming?”

Ignoring her question, the woman replied, “We must be quick. There is no time to waste. He will be here soon.”

What was she talking about? Nora wondered. Who will be here soon?

Nora assessed the woman, observing how raindrops—or were they tears—dribbled down her cheeks. And, when the vision impatiently tossed her dripping mane over her shoulder, in fascination, Nora watched as the beads of water arched high into the air and remained suspended as if by magic. To Nora, they seemed like precious gems, that glistened and sparkled in the dim light.

“Nora!” the woman admonished, taking a step closer and gently shaking her shoulder. “Sbrigati! There is no time to waste.”

Refocusing her attention, Nora attempted to listen, as in hushed tones the vision continued, “You can trust no one, mia cara! Do you hear me? They want revenge. There is no time… Hurry… Francesco…”

As the misty vision continued mouthing words, Nora strained her ears, but she couldn’t understand completely the cryptic message the woman seemed so intent on delivering. Instead of becoming clearer, the woman’s strange message grew more convoluted and confusing. It seemed to Nora she was listening to a weak and crackling radio transmission and the words were coming from a place far far away.

“Aiutami, Nora! Help me. Paolo has come… Leonora dead… Hide letter…”

“Letter? What letter? I don’t understand you.”

The filmy vision only smiled obliquely and withdrew a piece of parchment paper from behind her back. Rapidly she scanned the contents, before kissing it, then extended it to Nora, as if she wanted her to read it too. But, just as Nora was about to take the note from her outstretched hand, the woman drew back and turned instead to a wooden chest by the side of the bed. In a graceful motion, she knelt before it and slid her hand along the back until a secret compartment sprung open.

With the hiding place fully revealed she peered over her shoulder to make sure Nora was watching her, then slipped the letter inside. In a satisfied tone, she said, “There. That is done. The letter is safe.”

Cryptically, she added, “Now, all my secrets are hidden, and only those who really know where to look will ever find them again.”

In slow motion, the woman spun around in a circle and Nora moved in her orbit. They continued their slow spinning dance, but when the woman looked over her shoulder, she came to a sudden stop. Pointing to the far wall, the vision cried out, “The painting is gone!”

Nora swiveled around but saw nothing in the darkness. From behind, the woman crept up to her and wrapped her arms around Nora and embraced her tightly. In the dark room, she could feel the woman’s cold, trembling body and the misery that flooded her mind. Softly, the lady in white moaned in her ear, “Do something, Nora. Help me. He has taken it!”

Hearing a low rumble, the woman moved swiftly to the door and rested her ear against it. When she turned, Nora could see her eyes were now wide with fright.

“He is coming. Hurry! We must hide.”

A flash of light blinded Nora.

“Find the painting, Nora. Don’t let them destroy it. Don’t let them win. Let them know…”

When a thunderous pounding on the door began, both women swung around. As another blaze of white-hot light illuminated the room, Nora fell dizzily to the ground. She tried to take a gulp of air but was suffocating under the weight of something covering her face. With all her might, she pushed back at her aggressor.

Now fully awake, she looked down at the floor and saw her pillow lying next to the bed. Her assailant had been a sack full of feathers. Sighing in relief, she flopped back on the bed and thought, It was just a dream.

Available on Amazon

About the Author

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Melissa Muldoon is the author of four novels set in Italy: “Dreaming Sophia”, “Waking Isabella”, “Eternally Artemisia”, and “The Secret Life of Sofonisba Anguissola.” All four books are set in Italy and tell the stories of women and their journeys of self-discovery to find love, uncover hidden truths, and follow their destinies to shape a better future. For more information visit: MelissaMuldoon.com

Melissa is the author also of the Studentessa Matta website, where she promotes the study of Italian language and culture through her dual-language blog written in Italian and English (studentessamatta.com). “Studentessa Matta” means the “crazy linguist” and has grown to include the podcast “Tutti Matti per l’Italiano”, and the “Studentessa Matta” YouTube channel, Facebook page, and Instagram feed. Melissa also created Matta Italian Language Immersion Programs, which she co-leads with Italian schools in Italy to learn Italian in Italy while immersing in language and culture. Through her website, she also offers Homestay opportunities to live and study in Italy in the private home of a teacher.

Melissa has a B.A. in fine arts, art history and European history from Knox College, a liberal arts college in Galesburg, Illinois, as well as a master’s degree in art history from the University of Illinois at Champaign-Urbana. She has also studied painting and art history in Florence. She is an artist, and professional book designer, and designed the interiors of all three of her books as well as illustrated their covers. Melissa is also the managing director of Matta Press.

Melissa Muldoon

My thoughts: Having recently read Maggie O’Farrell’s The Marriage Portrait, about Lucrezia de’Medici, I was interested to learn more about her sister Isabella. Both were murdered by jealous husbands, although only Isabella was having an affair, no happy marriages for the daughters of Eleanora and Cosimo I of Florence, famously devoted to one another.

But mostly this is Nora’s story, of her return to Tuscany, of the reawakening of her love for jewellery design, art, history and hunky Italians! Making a film about Isabella, visiting the places she lived and died, and dreaming of finding the famous painting of her with her mother, all of this feels like a prelude to Nora, recently divorced, finding her own happiness.

There is also Margherita’s story, Luca’s grandmother, her love story, and tragedy, the war and the lengths people went to to protect what they loved and felt was precious.

All three lives, Isabella, Nora, Margherita, will collide in the town of Atruzzo, when Nora and Luca meet. Sweet, intelligent and enjoyable, this is a fantastic read for anyone who likes romance, mystery and history.

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*I was kindly gifted a copy of this book in exchange for taking part in the blog tour but all opinions remain my own.

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Blog Tour: The Misper – Kate London

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There’s more than one way to go missing…

When Ryan Kennedy is imprisoned after killing a police officer, he knows what he has to do. Keep his mouth shut about who he was working for, keep his head down, and rely on his youth to keep his sentence short. When he gets out, he’ll be looked after.

Following the death in the line of duty of a fellow detective, DI Sarah Collins has left the capital for a quieter life in the countryside. But when a missing teenager turns up on her patch, she finds herself drawn into a much bigger investigation – one that leads her right back to London, back to the Met, and back to Ryan Kennedy, the kid who killed a cop.

This powerful novel from a former Met detective explores the devastation that organized drug-running gangs can wreak on young lives. It asks who deserves to be saved – and whether saving them is even possible…

Kate London graduated from Cambridge University and worked in theatre until 2006 when she joined the Metropolitan Police Service. She finished her career working as part of a Major Investigation Team on the Metropolitan Police Service’s Homicide Command. She has since written four novels in The Tower series, which is now a major ITV drama, starring Gemma Whelan. She is on Twitter @K8London.

My thoughts: after a police officer is killed by a teenager, the officers most affected by the killing are scattered across the Met and beyond – trying to move on.

But a chance to take down a county lines drug gang, and the killer, now free from prison, who may or may not be involved. As a mother desperately seeks her missing son, dragged into a life of crime and fear, the police see a way into the gang to bring them down and save lives.

A gripping and compelling book from a former detective, tackling one of the big issues facing law enforcement today – county lines and the young people whose lives are destroyed by the web of crime and violence they’re drawn into.

The writing is concise and intelligent, the characters flawed and realistic, the story compelling and moving. A highly enjoyable and interesting read.

*I was kindly gifted a copy of this book in exchange for taking part in the blog tour but all opinions remain my own

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Blog Tour: Adventures About to Begin – Allen Therisa

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After the death of his grandfather, Noah’s life is thrown into chaos as he faces a repressed past which threatens everything he believes to be true. In the course of trying to come to terms with his loss, Noah must also navigate a difficult relationship with his sister, Kelly, as they reflect on their turbulent childhood – when they were taken from London to live in the Kent countryside following the breakdown of their parents’ marriage.

Set between the 1970s and the more recent past, Adventures About To Begin chronicles a collapsing marriage as experienced by its children and reflects on how memory shapes our decisions at crucial junctures during our lives. 

It is both funny and touching, as well as a sensitive insight into British family life during a period of great social and cultural change.

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Aside from writing fiction, Allen Therisa also writes for blogs on everything from popular culture to politics, outside of his working life in the world of social media and website design. Adventures About To Begin is his debut novel.

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My thoughts: childhood is a weird time, adults never tell you anything and punish you for spying and eavesdropping, but it’s the only way you ever learn anything, unless you have the kind of network of informants that Noah’s sister Kelly seems to as they navigate their parents’ divorce and being moved from one home to another, firstly to their grandfather’s and then to his ex-wife, their very strange grandmother’s. They’re often basically abandoned to their own devices – mum’s off working and their dad’s in the army.

Looking after younger brother Daniel, who doesn’t seem to speak, and is often sticky, they try to keep themselves entertained and informed about the goings on in their family.

Burying their grandad brings up all the memories of that turbulent time, sharing bedrooms with cousins and navigating their granddad’s decline and gran’s cruelty.

Even as adults, their family is dysfunctional and the relationship between the siblings isn’t much better. Noah and Kelly are an interesting pair – their squabbles and complicated bond get them through the tough times, which leave a mark – Kelly won’t marry her long term partner, Noah seems to be perpetually single, Daniel doesn’t even come home for the funeral.

There is a strong strand of black humour shot through this quirky and occasionally bleak story, the characters are smartly drawn and it is a surprisingly compelling read.

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*I was kindly gifted a copy of this book in exchange for taking part in the blog tour but all opinions remain my own.