Category: Fiction

BOOKS BY MY FRIENDS SUSEN EDWARDS, MICKI R. PETTIT, AND ALANA VAN DER SLUYS

Posted on by Joy Held

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November 16, 2023

Today we’re featuring authors SUSEN EDWARDS, MICHELLE R. PETTIT & ALANA VAN DER SLUYS.

BOOK: What a Trip: A Novel

AUTHOR: Susen Edwards

GENRE: Historical/Women’s Fiction

BLURB: In this coming-of-age novel we meet Fiona, an art student at a New Jersey college struggling to find herself. Through her eyes we relive the turbulent culture of sex, drugs, and rock ’n roll, the Vietnam War draft lottery, Kent State University shootings, and harsh reality of war for young Americans. Note from the author: Sexual content and language.

ABOUT THE AUTHOR: Susen Edwards is the founder and former director of Somerset School of Massage Therapy, New Jersey’s first state-approved and nationally accredited postsecondary school for massage therapy. During her tenure she was nominated by Merrill Lynch for Inc. Magazine’s Entrepreneur of the Year Award. Susen is the author of “What a Trip: A Novel.” Her articles have appeared on Residence11.com, BooksByWomen.org, and DIYMFA.com. Susen lives in Middlesex, New Jersey with her husband, Bob, and her two fuzzy feline babies, Harold and Maude.

 

BOOK: A Kiss for Maggie Moore

AUTHOR: Micki R. Pettit

GENRE: General Fiction

BLURB: Standing at the altar as her two best friends get hitched, the Maid of Honor struggles to let go of her love for the groom and drifts back to when their triangle of love and friendship began—the late 1960s, rural Wyoming.

ABOUT THE AUTHOR: Micki R. Pettit is a former radio personality and voice talent with vocal experience spanning musical theater, opera, big band, rock, and country. She is currently lead female singer with the folk group Bandella and performs with the Bay Area Chorus of Greater Houston. Born in Wyoming and raised in New Mexico, she now lives in Texas with her husband and sons. A Kiss for Maggie Moore is her debut novel.

 

BOOK: Freedom with Food and Fitness: How Intuitive Eating is the Key to Your Happiest, Healthiest Self

AUTHOR: Alana Van Der Sluys

GENRE: Self-Help, Nonfiction

BLURB: Build the full, vibrant life that you’ve always wanted, without another diet or dreaded exercise program. Filled with personal stories, science-backed research, and easy tools to apply to your life today, Freedom with Food and Fitness will inspire you to adopt a more mindful and intuitive approach to food and fitness.

ABOUT THE AUTHOR: ALANA VAN DER SLUYS is a Certified Intuitive Eating Counselor, TEDx speaker, eating disorder survivor, and the founder of Freedom with Food and Fitness. She is dedicated to empowering women to heal their relationship with food and their bodies to step into their potential, take up space, and pursue true health. She currently hosts the Finally Free Podcast, and her debut book– Freedom with Food and Fitness: How Intuitive Eating is the Key to Becoming Your Happiest, Healthiest Self–will be released with Urano World USA on November 14, 2023. She is a contributing writer for several national publications, including the National Eating Disorder Information Centre (NEDIC) and Best Holistic Life Magazine. She was also, most recently, a panelist and speaker for the Speak Up Women’s Conference in April 2023. You can find out more about Alana and Freedom with Food and Fitness on Instagram: @FreedomwithFoodandFitness.

 

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BOOKS BY MY FRIENDS LAURY A. EGAN, NITA SWEENEY, & ZOE TASIA

Posted on by Joy Held

NOVEMBER 2, 2023

 

This article may contain affiliate links which may result in the author receiving a commission when readers purchase items through the links.

 

Welcome to Books By My Friends, a weekly feature hosting a variety of my friends who have published books. Please leave a comment for any or all of the guest authors in the space below.

 

Today we’re featuring authors LAURY A. EGAN, NITA SWEENEY, AND ZOE TASIA.

“The Psychologist’s Shadow” cover photo by Laury A. Egan

 

BOOK: THE PSYCHOLOGIST’S SHADOW

 

AUTHOR: LAURY A. EGAN

 

 

GENRE: Psychological suspense

 

BLURB: In October 1992, Dr. Ellen Haskell begins a new therapy practice in Princeton after a tragic error with a former client. Demoralized by her failure, Ellen strives to restore her emotional and professional confidence. Her parents have departed for Greece, leaving Ellen alone in their secluded country house. As the reader is introduced to her roster of clients through their individual sessions, Ellen becomes unnerved when she receives hang-up phone calls and a series of bizarre gifts from an anonymous admirer—at first at her office and then at home. As the obsessive lover increasingly invades her life, Ellen’s anxiety crescendos and she begins to fear the stalker’s behavior will escalate into violence. The Psychologist’s Shadow is a portrait of a compassionate, introspective therapist who finds herself in a dangerous struggle with an unknown stalker. The novel is a simmering literary suspense, one in which tension accumulates as the reader gains insights during sessions with clients—one of whom may be the psychologist’s shadow—and through the stalker’s journal entries, which serve as a discordant counterpoint.

 

ABOUT THE AUTHOR: Laury A. Egan is the author of eleven novels, The Firefly; Once, Upon an Island; Wave in D Minor; Turnabout; Once, Upon an Island; Doublecrossed; The Swimmer; The Ungodly Hour; A Bittersweet Tale; Fabulous! An Opera Buffa; The Outcast Oracle; and Jenny Kidd; in addition to a collection, Fog and Other Stories. Four limited-edition poetry volumes have been published: Snow, Shadows, a Stranger; Beneath the Lion’s Paw; The Sea & Beyond; and Presence & Absence. Eighty-five of her stories and poems have appeared in literary journals.

 

 

 

BOOK: MAKE EVERY MOVE A MEDITATION: MINDFUL MOVEMENT FOR MENTAL HEALTH, WELL-BEING, AND INSIGHT

 

AUTHOR: NITA SWEENEY

 

GENRE: Nonfiction memoir

 

BLURB: What do you think of when you hear the word meditation? Monks? Instagram influencers? Yoga? Tai Chi? What if lifting weights, dancing with your love, or walking across a room counted? What if you could make any move a meditation? Nita Sweeney’s Make Every Move a Meditation shows you how!

 

ABOUT THE AUTHOR: Nita Sweeney is the bestselling wellness author of Depression Hates a Moving Target, You Should Be Writing, and Make Every Move a Meditation. Ultramarathoner. Meditator. Mindfulness coach. Writing practice zealot. Mental health advocate. Dog mom. Retired attorney. Retired publisher of Write Now Columbus. Her next book, A Daily Dose of Now, will be released in September.

 

 

BOOK: BAGPIPES AND BASIL, THE SHROUDED ISLE BOOK 2

 

AUTHOR: ZOE TASIA

 

GENRE: FANTASY

 

BLURB: Becca juggles witch-in-training lessons, mothering to two teens, and falling in love as she works to stop island troublemakers and her crazy relatives from wreaking havoc. Bagpipes and Basil is a humorous, cozy fantasy about a family, a courtship, and a community.

 

ABOUT THE AUTHOR:

Zoe Tasia lives in Texas with her understanding Greek husband and a crazy cat where she explores her imagination as a writer. When she’s not giving her imaginary friends full rein, she enjoys the opera, ballet, well-chilled champagne and books, lots and lots of books.

 

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BOOKS BY MY FRIENDS

Posted on by Joy Held

This article may contain affiliate links which may result in the author receiving a commission when readers purchase items through the links.

Today we’re featuring authors SARA HOSEY, DEBBIE BURKE, and LAURA SEGAL STEGMAN.

 

 

BOOK: Summer People

AUTHOR: Sara Hosey

GENRE: Young adult contemporary mystery

BLURB: Christmas wants to spend the summer hanging with Lexi, the one friend who gets her completely, ADHD and all. But things are strained, and get weirder when the friends stumble on a crime scene, and Christmas is forced to face difficult realities about her her beloved lake community. Author note: A little heat! (Some kissing and flirting.) Also, content warning for homophobic language (a character uses a slur) and substance abuse.

ABOUT THE AUTHOR: Sara Hosey is the author of three young adult novels: Iphigenia Murphy, Imagining Elsewhere, and Summer People. Her short story collection, Dirty Suburbia, is forthcoming in 2024. A Queens native, she lived for several years in Wisconsin before returning to New York, where she teaches English at a community college.

 

BOOK: Deep Fake Double Down

AUTHOR: Debbie Burke

GENRE: Psychological thriller/women’s adventure

BLURB: What you see with your own eyes is true, right? Not necessarily, when a crooked prison warden slams social media with deep fake videos showing an inmate’s escape helped by his female guard-lover. The guard claims that never happened. No one believes her except investigator Tawny Lindholm.

ABOUT THE AUTHOR: Debbie Burke is an award-winning journalist, crime novelist, freelance editor, and blogger on The Kill Zone. She writes from her home in Montana where the scenic, rugged Rocky Mountains offer plenty of locations to kill people…on the page, that is!

 

 

BOOK: Ready or Not

AUTHOR: Laura Segal Stegman

GENRE: Middle grade contemporary fantasy

BLURB: Ready or Not, the sequel to Summer of L.U.C.K., features more magical adventures with Darby, Naz, Justin, and the ghost who haunts a magical carnival, but it spotlights thirteen-year-old Justin, who faces a tricky choice: stand up to bigotry or let fear hold him back.

ABOUT THE AUTHOR: Laura Segal Stegman is a Los Angeles-based author whose middle grade debut novel, Summer of L.U.C.K., and its sequel, Ready or Not (both from Young Dragons Press), are available wherever books are sold. The Chambered Nautilus, third in the L.U.C.K. trilogy, will follow. She serves as a judge for kidlit writer competitions and shares her author journey in engaging visits to schools and libraries. Her popular PR Tips for Authors workshop features a step-by-step guide to building a digital author media kit. Non-fiction credits include collaboration on the travel book Only in New York. A long-time publicity consultant, she owns Laura Segal Stegman Public Relations, LLC. www.LauraStegman.com

 

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BOOKS BY MY FRIENDS

Posted on by Joy Held

This article may contain affiliate links which may result in the author receiving a commission when readers purchase items through the links.

Today we’re featuring authors LAURY A. EGAN, ALLE C. HALL, LYNN SLAUGHTER, and LINDA BALLOU.

BOOK: The Firefly

AUTHOR: Laury A. Egan

GENRE: Romance and coming of age portrait

BLURB: 1964: A dark summer night on a still black lake. A lantern is lit at the end of a dock. A blond girl in white appears and begins to dance, her body illuminated like the fireflies surrounding her. A second girl emerges from a house and is beckoned forward. The two meet, swim, and then kiss, beginning an ethereal romance and a young woman’s journey into adulthood. Robin Bennet, 14, has been abandoned at a lakeside rental. Her parents argue and leave, each believing the other has remained with Robin. Alone, Robin discovers someone has been sleeping in the house and stealing food. A fifteen-year-old, Kieran, the charming intruder, invites himself to dinner. He is the brother of the beautiful girl who magically appeared on the dock the night before. After he departs, the “Firefly” returns, but in the morning she has disappeared, leaving Robin on a quest to find her all the while pursuing her dream of becoming an architect. Heat rating: 2

ABOUT THE AUTHOR: Laury A. Egan is the author of eleven novels, The Firefly; Once, Upon an Island; Wave in D Minor; Turnabout; Once, Upon an Island; Double crossed; The Swimmer; The Ungodly Hour; A Bittersweet Tale; Fabulous! An Opera Buffa; The Outcast Oracle; and Jenny Kidd; in addition to a collection, Fog and Other Stories. Four limited-edition poetry volumes have been published: Snow, Shadows, a Stranger; Beneath the Lion’s Paw; The Sea & Beyond; and Presence & Absence. Eighty-five of her stories and poems have appeared in literary journals.

BOOK: As Far As You Can Go Before You Have to Come Back: A Novel

AUTHOR: Alle C. Hall

GENRE: Literary fiction

BLURB: As Far as You Can Go Before You Have to Come Back is a-girl-and-her-backpack story with a #MeToo influence: Carlie is a child sexual abuse survivor. As a teen, she runs away to Asia. Falling in with an international crew of Tai chi-practicing backpackers, Carlie’s journey becomes one to find the self-respect torn from her as a child and the healthy sexuality she desires. Trigger warnings for: child sexual abuse, addictions, and suicide.

ABOUT THE AUTHOR: Nominated for The Pacific Northwest Booksellers Book Award, Alle C. Hall’s debut literary novel, As Far as You Can Go Before You Have to Come Back was winning prizes before its publication, including the National League of American Pen Women’s Mary Kennedy Eastham Prize. The novel was also submitted by the publisher for The National Book Award. Hall lived in Asia and traveled there extensively. She has a daily Tai chi practice that spans 35 years.

BOOK: Missed Cue

AUTHOR: Lynn Slaughter

GENRE: Mystery

BLURB: While dealing with her own messy personal life, Lieutenant Caitlin O’Connor investigates the most complicated case of her career, the suspicious onstage death of a revered ballerina.

ABOUT THE AUTHOR: After a long career as a professional dancer and dance educator, Lynn earned her MFA in Writing Popular Fiction from Seton Hill University. MISSED CUE (Melange Books) is her first mystery for adults. She is also the author of four award-winning young adult romantic mysteries: DEADLY SETUP, LEISHA’S SONG, IT SHOULD HAVE BEEN YOU, AND WHILE I DANCED. Lynn lives in Louisville, Kentucky, where she’s at work on her next novel, serves on the board of Louisville Literary Arts, and is an active member and former president of Derby Rotten Scoundrels, the Ohio River Valley chapter of Sisters in Crime.

 

LINDA BALLOU

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