Category Archives: Excerpt
RELEASE DAY BLITZ ~ Uneasy in New Orleans by Carol Carson
It’s a Big Easy Mystery with Uneasy In New Orleans
UNEASY IN NEW ORLEANS has everything you love about the French Quarter, delicious food, sexy men, mystery, gossip, trouble, and dead bodies…Well maybe not all of what people love about the city. However Finnigan Jones is dealing with all of these things and more. UNEASY IN NEW ORLEANS is the first in a new series called the Big Easy Mysteries from multi-published author Carol Carson.
To learn more about Carol Carson and her books check out her new website!
Giveaway:
Grand Prize: 2 Winners Will Receive 2 $35 gift card to Amazon or B&N
a Rafflecopter giveaway
About UNEASY IN NEW ORLEANS
FINNIGAN JONES HAS A PASSION FOR COOKING AND A PECHANT FOR TROUBLE.
Dead bodies aren’t on Finn’s New Orleans walking tour of cemeteries and haunted houses. Ditto disappearing bodies. Now she has to explain to Detective Jack Boyle how her missing corpse has turned up in the Mississippi putting her smack-dab in the middle of a murder investigation.
Unfortunately, another of Finn’s odd jobs is taking questionable photos for Jack’s PI brother, Tommy. After she snaps shots of a dubious pair of lovebirds, they stalk her, then kidnap her. Now Finn’s dealing with two lunatics intent on killing her. Or driving her crazy. She’s not sure which.
Because lunatics and smokin’-hot brothers aren’t enough trouble, she’s gossiping, yes gossiping, with a chef ghost at culinary school, cat-sitting her aunt’s six felines and attempting to corral her wayward teenage sister.
All Finn wants is to survive school and become the best chef in the world.
FINN’S LIFE IS ABOUT TO GET EVEN MORE COMPLICATED.
On Sale in Digital Now:
Amazon | Barnes and Noble | Smashwords
Add UNEASY IN NEW ORLEANS to your TBR pile on Goodreads!
Excerpt
She heard a faint noise. She wasn’t alone. A tall stranger whose face looked familiar came toward her, his strides long and deliberate. “You the one takin’ pictures of me?”
“No,” she automatically lied.
His tone left little doubt about how he felt about her. ‘Dislike’ would be too kind.
‘Outraged and highly motivated to harm her’ seemed more likely. Which was when she remembered why he looked familiar. Franco, the wandering husband she’d photographed last night in all his pants-around-his-ankles glory. It took a nano-second to register the thought that he shouldn’t have known where to find her before extreme terror kicked in.
Closer to the stairs than Tommy’s office, Finn managed to dash past him in her rarely-worn heels.
He grabbed at her but she ducked. She reached the outer door and twisted the doorknob. He yanked her from behind, and pulled her toward him. A nasty blast of stale breath hit her in the face. The knob slipped from her sweaty hand. She wrenched her backpack off and screamed. She swung it and connected with his head. He grunted and lost his grasp on her.
Finn took advantage of the moment and wrenched open the door. She scrambled out to the landing. With one foot on the first step, he jerked her by the back of her sweater. She screamed bloody murder again and swung around to hit him.
Tommy appeared and yanked Franco up, smashing him in the jaw. The man stood in the tiny space swaying. Finn took advantage. She swung her backpack. This time, Franco sidestepped. And she hit Tommy full force.
He lost his balance, arms cartwheeling in the air as he reached for the rail. He missed and tumbled down the steps, crashing against each riser with a horrible thump until he lay crumpled at the bottom. Franco raced down the stairs, hurtled over Tommy’s prone body, then disappeared up the dark alley.
Finn flew down the steps, her backpack forgotten. Tommy lay at the bottom, his eyes closed, his jaw clenched.
She knelt by his side, her breath jerking in and out. She patted his cheek, and prayed he wasn’t dead. She couldn’t take two dead bodies in one day, no matter how insensitive it sounded.
He opened one eye and squinted at her, his face pinched. “Hell, I, I broke my…damn it all to hell…my damned leg.”
BLP REVIEW ~ Tracy
I’ll start by saying that Uneasy in New Orleans was a fairly decent read but it did leave me wanting – for all I enjoyed the book overall, I felt a little ‘uh, that’s it?!’ when I hit the last page……
From the blurb we had the heroine gossiping with a ghost chef – I love PNR so I would have liked more when it came to these interactions. There was mention of 2 smokin’ hot brothers so I was kinda expecting (and looking forward to) a bit of romance ~ not so much going on there!!
There was some action, a bit of adventure and a little mystery but it all felt somewhat anti-climatic when we got to the bottom of that too!
Finn’s aunt and younger sister were quite fun and were likeable characters.
There were some laughs and lighthearted moments and the writing was pretty good, there were just some things that took the book down a bit in my opinion.
The ex-bf – I couldn’t quite understand why he had made an appearance and that was never cleared up (maybe something that will be disclosed in book 2?!)
There was mention of a third sister – to be honest, I was kind of at a loss to understand why her character was even mentioned for the most part (again, maybe she’ll be more involved in the second book!)
A couple of things happened and I found the outcome to not be quite what I was expecting… I’ve always said when you read a book you sometimes have to suspend belief/reality but given the incidents I felt a more ‘real’ reaction/outcome would have been better!!
I will pick up the second book when it’s released because there was the possible beginnings of something that I’d be interested to see played out – and as I said I did think it was overall an enjoyable read – my only hope is that we get a bit more background and insight into the characters in the rest of the series (and maybe some explanations to things that happened previously that were mentioned but not expanded on!)!!
I rate Uneasy in New Orleans a 3.5*
Author Bio:
Multi-published author Carol Carson was born and raised in central Iowa. She is a former finalist in the Romance Writers of America’s Golden Heart contest and is an avid bookworm who actually enjoys doing research. Her other passions include travel, American history, the Kansas City Chiefs, the St. Louis Cardinals and dark chocolate. She has lived in Colorado and Kansas, and currently lives with her husband in a log home on the outskirts of St. Louis, Missouri. Write to her at carol.carson@centurytel.net or check out her website.
Connect with Carol: Website | Facebook | Twitter | Goodreads | Amazon
Share this:
RELEASE BLITZ – My Lady Faye by Sarah Hegger
Author: Sarah Hegger
The fair Lady Faye has always played the role allotted her. Yet the marriage her family wanted only brought her years of abuse and heartache. Now, finally free of her tyrannical husband, she is able to live her own life for the first time. But someone from the past has returned. Someone she has never been able to forget. The Warrior
After years of servitude as a warrior for King and Country, Gregory is now free to pursue his own path: to serve God by becoming a monk. The only thing stopping him is Faye. Gregory has loved Faye since the moment he saw her. But their love was not meant to be. How can he serve God when his heart longs for her? He can neither forsake God nor the woman he loves.
The Promise
The ache in Gregory’s knees brought him closer to God. Hunger gnawed at his belly and reminded him of his connection with the Lord. For three days, he had fasted and prayed, waited for God to show him the way to enter into service.
God remained silent.
He must pray harder and keep at it until he had his answer. God’s way was not always the way of man and His divine timing did not always answer the impetuous call of sinners.
Something clattered through the bars of his cell.
Gregory started, but kept his eyes closed. He could afford no distractions in his wait for God to deign to speak with him. Sweat broke out on his brow. He bowed his head. “Dear Father in Heaven…”
Another skittering across the floor and Gregory opened his eyes.
A pebble lay almost within reach at his knees, a pale trespasser against the dark stone floor of his bare cell. A thin pallet rested against one wall, stripped of linen except for a rough blanket. On the opposite wall a tiny barred window overlooked the fields were they worked each day. Above it, a stark wooden cross served as a reminder that all here was by Grace alone. Beneath the casement stood a plain wood table and a bench.
The Abbey bell tolled Terce over the undulating chant of the monks reciting the second of the Little Hours of the Divine Office. Father Abbott had understood his need for private meditation, but he would be expected at Lauds.
“Psst!”
Not God at all, unless the Almighty had grown a set of large hands and gripped the bars of his cell so tightly His knuckles turned white.
A dark head popped over the lip, followed by dark eyebrows and the sharply drawn planes of a face many a lass considered handsome.
“Garrett?” Gregory’s knees creaked as he rose. Sharp pain lanced through his long-frozen muscles. Three days, most of which spent on your knees, would turn any man’s limbs into a grandfather’s. “Is that you?”
“Aye?” Garrett blinked away a sweat droplet that snaked down his brow and into his eye. His face turned redder. “Only could you come down, I am not sure how much longer I can hang on.”
“Did you climb the side?”
Teeth clenched, Garret said, “Aye and I am about to go tumbling on my ass, so get down here.”
Garrett’s head disappeared from view as he scrabbled down the side of the two-story dormitory.
If Garrett was here, something was amiss at Anglesea. Sir Arthur might have sent him with news. My Lady Faye. His blood thrummed in his ears. Fresh sweat prickled over his skin as he wrenched open his door and trotted down the empty corridor. He took the stairs three at a time. Unease spurred him into a run.
From the chapel the monk’s voices called and responded in prayer as he entered the kitchen yard. Singing voices reminded him he had left his former life behind, but he needed to check all was well.
Garrett appeared out of the dark shadows around the dormitory.
The smell of incense hung heavy in the air.
“What is it?” Gregory closed the distance between them.
Garrett’s expression was grim, his shoulders tense. “You must come.”
“To Anglesea?”
“Aye.” Garrett turned and motioned him to follow.
Gregory took a step and froze. He couldn’t go with Garrett. Outside these walls was not his life anymore. His calling lay here at the Abbey. “I cannot.”
Sharp strides driving divots into the soft, bare earth, Garrett strode back to him. “You must come. Sir Arthur sent me for you.”
Sir Arthur would not have sent for him if it weren’t urgent. Sir Arthur had sponsored him as a postulant to the Abbey and he owed the man for that. But he owed God his obedience and he had put his former life aside. “My place is here now.”
“Your place is where you are needed.” Movements sharp and jerky, Garrett gestured to outside the Abbey.
He didn’t want to ask the question. It did not concern him. Yet, his stubborn gut demanded an answer. “What has happened?”
Garrett clasped his arm. “It is Faye.”
“What?” His muscles bunched in response. The words rasped from his throat. Dear Father, please do not let her be…
What? Hurt, or worse, reconciled with Calder. He grabbed the other man’s tunic, twisting his hand in the fabric.
Garrett shrugged him off. “I will explain as we ride.”
He couldn’t go. He couldn’t not go. Again, the same tussle within him. Faye or the Abbey, his lady versus his God. It never ended.
Garrett stepped closer until his face was inches away. “Beatrice is worrying herself sick. She carries our first child and if I have to tie your saintly ass on a horse, you are coming with me. Faye needs you.”
Faye needed him. The confusion cleared. It was all Garrett need say. Clean, crisp purpose flooded his being. “Do you have a horse for me?”
Garrett’s grim face softened into a smile. “Come on, before one of your monks catches sight of me and tosses me in there.”
Born British and raised in South Africa, Sarah Hegger suffers from an incurable case of wanderlust. Her match? A hot Canadian engineer, whose marriage proposal she accepted six short weeks after they first met. Together they’ve made homes in seven different cities across three different continents (and back again once or twice). If only it made her multilingual, but the best she can manage is idiosyncratic English, fluent Afrikaans, conversant Russian, pigeon Portuguese, even worse Zulu and enough French to get herself into trouble.
Mimicking her globe trotting adventures, Sarah’s career path began as a gainfully employed actress, drifted into public relations, settled a moment in advertising, and eventually took root in the fertile soil of her first love, writing. She also moonlights as a wife and mother.
She currently lives in Littleton, Colorado, with her teenage daughters, two Golden Retrievers and aforementioned husband. Part footloose buccaneer, part quixotic observer of life, Sarah’s restless heart is most content when reading or writing books.
She loves to hear from readers and you can find her at any of the places below.
Book Loving Pixies 