I have a release date for JAGGED FEATHERS!!
And I have a brand new, hot-off-the-press Book Trailer Video for Jagged Feathers!
AND, drum roll please……..
I just posted my one-thousandth blog!
Created in Canva by Jan Sikes
When I decided a few years ago to start blogging consistently, I only had a handful of followers and less than a handful of ideas to blog about.
Now, I have a little over 10,000 followers and am never lacking for content.
I’ve posted writing tips, marketing ideas, shared new releases from other authors, shared book reviews, supported blog tours, promoted indie music artists, shared personal stories, and incorporated my passion for all things metaphysical into my blog. So, now the process seems almost effortless.
I recently experimented with a Facebook Passion Page, only to soon realize I did not have the time or energy to support or build up another page. So, I’ve transferred all of my passions to my blog.
I am an avid reader, therefore love sharing reviews for the books I read.
I get a thrill of supporting other authors with their new releases or tours.
Exploring music history or sharing new music from indie artists brings me joy.
But what gets me more excited than anything else I blog about are my Monday posts with a motivational meme, a meditation, either rune or tarot card reading and a beautiful dragon card. My hope is to bring inspiration to someone’s day. We live in tumultuous and challenging times. We need all the help we can get to stay positive. I’ve recently incorporated a regular Wednesday post about gemstones and their metaphysical properties that runs along that same vein. I want to make the world a better place through blogging!
So, to celebrate my blogging journey and reaching 1,000 posts, I am going to give away some things. 🙂
$10 Amazon Gift Cards (Two)
Tiger’s Eye Gemstone (Two – U.S. Only)
Rose Quartz Gemstone (Two – U.S. Only)
Ghostly Interference eBook Format (One)
Voodoo or Destiny: You Decide eBook Short Story (Three to celebrate Halloween Month)
That’s eight ways you can be entered to win!!!
Winners will be announced next week!
Thank you for coming along with me on this journey! It’s been a fun ride so far!
Veteran Texas musician, Luke Stone, has cheated death more times than he cares to remember. He’s been everything from a simple farm boy to a rowdy roughneck, a singing star to a convict and finally a husband and father whose goals consisted of building a home and raising a family… which he did. Now, with a chance for a second music career, he knows the sand in his hourglass is running thin. His anchor in life and true love, Darlina, stands at his side, determined to help make the dream a reality. But, his aging body is sabotaging every effort and the only thing that keeps him going is sheer willpower and the love he has for Darlina. When faced with being confined to a wheelchair for the rest of his life, Luke draws on every resource to continue to function and…
Welcome back to another Wednesday Wonder! Today, I am featuring another very common gemstone, the Rose Quartz.
Rose Quartz is well-known for its pink lustrous color and is often used in jewelry making. I have lots of pieces of it and use it in different ways.
The stones in these pictures are raw and unpolished.
Rose Quartz is the Universal stone of love and is also called The Heart Stone.
It restores trust and harmony in relationships, encouraging unconditional love. Rose Quartz purifies and opens the heart at all levels to promote love, self-love, friendship, deep inner healing, and feelings of peace. Calming and reassuring, it helps to comfort in times of grief. Rose Quartz dispels negativity and protects against environmental pollution, replacing it with loving vibes. It encourages self forgiveness and acceptance invoking self-trust and self-worth.
Rose Quartz strengthens and balances the physical heart and circulatory system, and releases impurities from body fluids. It hastens recovery, reduces high blood pressure, aids chest and lung problems, heals the kidneys and adrenals, and alleviates vertigo. Rose Quartz has the power to increase fertility and to protect both mother and unborn fetus from miscarriage.
The Rose Quartz stone is strongly attached to both the heart chakra and the throat chakra. It can range in color. Some Rose Quartz crystals can be as pale as a new dawn and others can be almost violet in color. Boasting an earthly element and vibrating at the spiritual number of seven, Rose Quartz manages to occupy that space between being a thing of pure mystery while also being a comforting and gloriously grounding force.
One of the ways I use this stone daily is to put it in my water purifier container in the refrigerator. And I always take it out of the water and recharge it under the full moon.
If you want to bring Rose Quartz into your beauty routine, then soak a polished crystal in a bowl or jar with fresh spring water and a handful of rose petals. Put the jar out into the sun for several hours so the water can become infused with the power of the Rose Quartz. Strain the water and add to a spritz bottle to mist your face morning and eve.
I’d love to hear from you. Do you have Rose Quartz among your gemstones, or in jewelry?
This week’s theme seems to be about creativity and ways to let that energetic exchange flow.
I was drawn back to the runes this week for a reading and chose to use my set of moonstone runes.
Photo by Jan Sikes
The first rune in the past position is actually the last rune in the Elder Futhark alphabet, Othala. If you remember from our rune study, this rune represents our heritage, tradition, or family ties. Perhaps we are being encouraged to revisit our roots, our deepest ingrained beliefs. Othala can represent maintaining a status quo, the way things have always been done. In an ever-changing world, however, it’s up to us to distinguish between what is useful to hang onto and what needs to be discarded so that you can live and grow in your own authenticity.
The rune in the present position is Mannaz and symbolizes humanity. It represents the characteristics that set humans apart from the rest of Earth’s living creatures—the ability to create for the sake of creativity itself. It can also indicate the need to either ask for or give support or assistance.
The rune in the future position is Eihwaz, which you might remember symbolizes the yew tree(both death and regeneration). It can indicate an ending that will lead to a new beginning. Maybe you’ve come to the end of a project and looking forward to the next. Or, you may find yourself needing to leave behind old ways to make way for new and more authentic ways of living. Again, it goes back to the first rune and doing things the ways we always have while expecting something to change. It won’t happen.
My takeaway from this reading:
It is time to step strongly into our own truth, separate from perhaps the way our parents taught us to live and grow into our higher selves. When we do that, the energetic flow of creativity increases and it’s always okay to ask for assistance or offer help when you see someone struggling. Once we reach an ending, there is always a new beginning. If we want to bring about change, we have to start with ourselves.
I love this dragon card for the week. While the theme started out with creativity, it ends with change. Perhaps the two are connectively intertwined.
After two years of delays and failed coordination attempts, I finally got to go up in a hot air balloon and mark that off my bucket list.
The entire process fascinated me, from setting the balloon up to taking it down.
The balloon company is Rohr Balloons. The owner, Brian, and his wife Sherry are personal friends. Their daughter is the same age as my granddaughter and the two girls have gone to school together since first grade.
Once the balloon is attached to the overturned basket, they set in place big diesel-powered fans to begin inflating it.
This is looking inside the balloon as it inflates
My fellow author friend, Judy Lowe, accompanied me on the flight.
Next, Brian tests the burners.
Brian Rohr
Now the balloon is fully inflated and ready to get set upright. Climbing into the basket was a challenge, but I managed. And we took off.
The liftoff is absolutely magical. There is no motion, no sound except for the firing of the burners and you slowly drift up and over the treeline. That was my favorite part! We rose to a little over 6,000 feet. Then I could see forever!
I loved looking upward into the balloon!
Looking up inside the balloon
We flew for close to an hour and a half. I hate to use the word flew because it was more like floated or drifted. Such an incredibly free feeling and a great way to gain a new perspective on life.
Close to the end of the flight, we did what Brian called a “splash and dash” where he touched the basket down on the surface of a local lake, then quickly rose back up and over the treeline and high line wires. That was fun!
The landing was a little rough. Brian instructed us all on how to brace for the landing and to be prepared for possibly tipping over. That had my heart racing just a little. But he managed to keep us upright and we all safely exited the basket.
Then, we were treated to a champagne toast, and refreshments while Brian relates the story of how that tradition got started. Apparently, in the early days of hot air ballooning, they literally burned wood or other objects to make the balloon rise. The pilots would often land in farmers’ fields and accidentally set fires. So they started bringing libations to appease the farmers. Whether or not that is true, it made for a good story and a toast to a safe landing.
It was a fabulous experience that I look forward to repeating.
If you’d like more information about balloon rides in North Texas, here are some links for you.
I became a fan of Mae Clair’s writing with the first book I read. She is not only a talented storyteller but a friend and fellow blogger at Story Empire. I am super thrilled that she has released this new collection of short stories! I’ll let her tell you about it!
And because I am letting Mae Clair have my blog today, there will not be a Wednesday Wonder until next week. 🙂
Hi, Jan. Thanks for hosting me today and allowing me to share my newest release with your readers. Things Old and Forgotten is a collection of short fiction that includes stories in several genres—magical realism, fantasy, speculative, even two that touch on mild horror.
When I was in tenth grade, my English teacher gave me his Lord of the Rings book collection to read, and an entire new realm unfolded before my eyes. Prior to that I’d been reading mostly science-fiction, but the discovery of epic fantasy was unlike anything I’d encountered before. I was hooked and spent the next decade devouring books of wizardry, magical artifacts, and enchanted realms. To this day, I still love a good epic fantasy or sword-and-sorcery novel. When it came time to put together my collection of stories for Things Old and Forgotten, I couldn’t resist including a few fantasy tales. Below is the opening from Kin-Slayer, one of the fantasy tales included in my collection.
I will permit the ghosts their share.
****
I remember the ocean, glittering with a thousand faceted eyes, sunlight bright as diamonds on the surface. The scent of salt heavy in the air as it twined with the black smoke of cooking fires and the reek of fish left to dry beneath the sun. My home was nestled in a simple village. Small and secluded, Ceadon squatted on a bluff overlooking the water, her nexus a ragged sphere of thatch-roofed hovels.
She was a giddy perch, erected high on a pinnacle of wind-blasted rock. As children, E’ana and I often sat on the edge, watching the tide roll from shore as it carried our father and the other fishermen from sight. In the evening, we would meet them on the beach, anxious to ogle the day’s catch—seaweed-draped pots brimming with lobster and crab, nets so heavy they hugged the sand as the men unloaded a bounty of bluefish and tuna.
It was a modest life, fitting and welcome in those idyllic days of childhood. But childhood, like all things, fades with the passing of time.
At fifteen, E’ana was chosen as a First Daughter, one of the select betrothed to the Leviathan. Though I found the prospect disquieting, E’ana trembled with excitement. She slept little that night, tossing and turning.
I could stand her restlessness no longer. “You’ll make a fine bride, E’ana.”
She twisted in her bed to face me. “I wondered if you were awake.” Her voice sounded watery, as though she’d been crying. A black nebula of hair tumbled over her shoulders. “What if he doesn’t choose me? Atalayah, it would destroy Father if I were passed over! He was so proud of me today.”
Beyond the walls of the hut, wind played over the dunes, conjuring sand into fleeting demons. Wind can sound like water when it chooses—merciless, powerful. It made me think of dried fish heads twined with kelp and hung from doorways as protection against gales. Of the Elders huddled in their shacks. They feared the wind almost as much as the denizens of the deep, but there was no sky god to placate and bribe with virgin flesh as they did with the sea.
“It isn’t a failure to be passed over, E’ana. Many of the First Daughters have lasted as long as three seasons. The matrons speak of a few who survived all five and were permitted to marry.”
“What men would have them?”
My anger flared. “Better to wed flesh than die in the sea!”
“Atalayah!”
“I’m sorry. That was jealousy speaking.”
The lie appeared to pacify her.
“And what have you to be jealous of, sister? You may never be a First Daughter, but you are a First Sword. One would be hard-pressed to name the greater honor.”
“As you say.” I had no further words, knowing they would fall on deaf ears. In time, I heard the evenness of her breathing, signaling sleep. Inwardly, I seethed. Didn’t she realize the luxuries of a First Daughter—the finest fish of the day’s catch, the best seat at village festivals, even the perfumed silks imported from the south—were simply bribes to soften the blow? The Elders told her she was destined for immortality, but she was an offering, nothing more. The Leviathan might protect us from sea dragons and merrows, but its cost of tribute was too high.
The sky had grayed with dawn before I found the peace to sleep.
BOOK BLURB:
A man keeping King Arthur’s dream of Camelot alive. A Robin Hood battling in a drastically different Sherwood. A young man facing eternity in the desert. A genteel southern lady besting a powerful order of genies. A woman meeting her father decades after his death.
These are but a few of the intriguing tales waiting to be discovered in Things Old and Forgotten. Prepare to be transported to realms of folklore and legend, where magic and wonder linger around every corner, and fantastic possibilities are limited only by imagination.
Thanks again for hosting me, Jan. In honor of my love for autumn—a fantastic time to curl up with a book—Things Old and Forgotten will be on sale for .99c through October 31st.
Welcome to another Monday post! Today’s motivational quote comes from a piece of writing Rick Sikes did in 1977. For all his Texas cowboy ways, he was a deep thinker and writer.
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Today’s meditation is to help bring a positive focus to our day.
Today, I was compelled to go back to the Tarot cards for a message for the week.
Photo by Jan Sikes 10/4/21
The Five of Cups shows a man in mourning. Three cups are overturned in front of him and he is disappointed in something. But it’s all a mindset. If he would only turn around, there are two more upright cups awaiting him. So, it can indicate regrets or loss. This card is in the past position, which I am glad for! The Seven of Cups could not be more opposite! It is a card of new opportunities, choices, and at times, possibly illusions. When the Seven of Cups appears in a Tarot reading, you have many options and opportunities from which you can choose. But be careful! You are prone to illusion and unrealistic ideals. It is always wise to evaluate your options and dig below the surface to discover what’s involved with each choice. Often, the Seven of Cups can be a sign of wishful thinking and projecting into the future about what you would like to create, rather than taking action here in the present to make it happen. For example, you may wish for a fitter, more healthy body, until it’s time to get out there and exercise ( Oh my Lord! That’s me!).
We end by looking to the future of the week with the Page of Swords. This card is full of energy, passion, and enthusiasm. When this card shows up in a Tarot reading, you are bursting with new ideas and plans for the future. You may be excited about starting a new project, pursuing a new approach, or learning something new. You have so much energy that you feel as though you could do almost anything – and you can! The challenge, however, is whether you can keep it up. As with all Pages, the beginning always looks promising, but you need something else to follow through and keep up the pace.
My takeaway: Don’t mourn or wallow in what you may perceive as losses or regrets. Instead, look forward to the many options in front of you, but choose wisely, then let the energy of the Page of Swords launch you into your choice.
This week’s Dragon Card is incredibly gorgeous! How many of you were aware that we have a Causal Chakra? I only recently learned of it. It is situated on the back of the head.
I didn’t read as many books this month as I normally do, but I did manage to finish my current WIP, so I call that a win. Here are the books I did read!
Rancher Staten Kirkland, the last descendent of Ransom Canyon’s founding father, is rugged and practical to the last. No one knows that when his troubling memories threaten to overwhelm him, he runs to lovely, reclusive Quinn O’Grady…or that she has her own secret that no one living knows.
Young Lucas Reyes has his eye on the prize—college, and the chance to become something more than a ranch hand’s son. But one night, one wrong decision will set his life on a course even he hadn’t imagined.
Yancy Grey is running hard from his troubled past. He doesn’t plan to stick around Ransom Canyon, just stay long enough to learn the town’s weaknesses and how to use them for personal gain. Only Yancy, a common criminal since he was old enough to reach a car’s pedals, isn’t prepared for what he encounters.
Ransom Canyon by Jodi Thomas embodies the very essence of the heart of Texas. Staten Kirkland owns a ranch in the panhandle that includes the deep canyon where a hundred years ago, Spanish and Anglo traders negotiated with the Comanches for the return of hostages. The author does a great job of describing the setting, from the smells to the sights and sounds
But the way Thomas wrote this story reminds me of watching a spider weave an intricate web, one thin strand at a time. Each chapter is written from a major character’s point of view, and each character in the story has major life events happening simultaneously.
Quinn has loved Staten Kirkland since they were in school together twenty years ago. But Staten’s heart is closed after the death of his wife, followed by the untimely death of his son. Quinn owns a lavender farm and while she is an accomplished pianist, refuses to use her talent and it is shocking to find out why. Perhaps one of the most interesting characters in the story is Yancy Grey. He’s spent most of his adult life in and out of prison. Now he wants to be normal and has landed in Crossroads, Texas to start anew. No one has to know his past. When a retirement community hires him to fix up their dilapidated cottages, it is a huge turning point for him. Of all the characters, I found myself rooting the most for him. He was a good man, he just needed a chance to prove it.
As the story unfolds, Quinn and Staten have fallen into a comfortable routine that doesn’t have any requirements or promises. While they are lovers, they are first and foremost friends. What happens to shake them both out of their comfort zones is perfect. I won’t leave any spoilers, I will just say it is a piece of the web that is beautifully woven.
Lauren is just turning sixteen and being the daughter of the small town’s Sheriff has disadvantages. She is a beautiful girl and I loved her part of the story, as I did Lucas Reyes, an ambitious young man determined to make a good life for himself.
I cannot say enough good things about this book. It’s so easy to picture it as a movie or a TV series, and I can guarantee it would be one I would binge-watch. If you love stories that are layered and multi-dimensional, as well as beautifully written, you will love Ransom Canyon! I highly recommend it!
Ralph Thyme, an addicted gambler and his wealthy grandmother’s only acknowledged heir, discovers he has an elder sister, Olivia, who was sold at birth. Suppose Olivia discovers her true identity and claims half the inheritance he craves? How far will he go to eliminate the threat? Olivia escaped childhood sexual abuse. Despite horrific memories, nightmares, and fear, she is determined to save a stranger’s little girl from the same fate, and the solution she offers takes all her courage… and then some.DCI Croft investigates a heinous case of rape, murder, and mutilation. Next to die, are a private detective and his pretty daughter… and then another woman… and another. Can DCI Croft identify and capture a psychopathic killer hell-bent on eliminating anyone who stands in his way before he murders his sister… or is it already too late for Olivia?
This story is not for the squeamish or faint of heart. It is a thriller and it’s intense. While it is totally fiction, it is also chillingly realistic. Ralph Thyme is only twenty, but an addicted gambler and sole heir to his grandmother’s large estate. At least that’s what he thought until he finds a diary entry written in his grandfather’s hand. He has a sister. Now, he must find her and eliminate her, because he will not share the inheritance with anyone. That is his motivation to begin a killing spree. Unfortunately for many victims, he keeps killing the wrong Olivia. DCI Gerald Croft is working overtime to catch this killer, but unfortunately, he keeps arresting the wrong men. The story unfolds multiple plots simultaneously. Sophia suffered child sexual abuse at the hands of her parents from the time she was a baby. She’s so damaged, she cannot tolerate a man being near her. But when she sees the same terrified and desperate look in the eyes of Mark Nicholl’s child, she cannot stand idly by and let the little girl suffer the same abuse that she did. DCI Croft has a difficult family situation, with a special needs child. He is torn between family and work. Ralph Thyme discovers, once he’s killed his first victim, that he enjoys it and even craves it. The author did a superb job of letting us inside his demented psyche. She also included BDSM, an interracial marriage, pedophiles, and graphic violence in the story. As I said, it is not for the faint of heart, but if you like a good thriller that will keep you turning pages, you will enjoy this cat and mouse chase between the killer and the detective. The book has a satisfying conclusion.
I’ve been in this life for fifty years, been trying to work out its riddle for forty-two, and been keeping diaries of clues to that riddle for the last thirty-five. Notes about successes and failures, joys and sorrows, things that made me marvel, and things that made me laugh out loud. How to be fair. How to have less stress. How to have fun. How to hurt people less. How to get hurt less. How to be a good man. How to have meaning in life. How to be more me.
Recently, I worked up the courage to sit down with those diaries. I found stories I experienced, lessons I learned and forgot, poems, prayers, prescriptions, beliefs about what matters, some great photographs, and a whole bunch of bumper stickers. I found a reliable theme, an approach to living that gave me more satisfaction, at the time, and still: If you know how, and when, to deal with life’s challenges—how to get relative with the inevitable—you can enjoy a state of success I call “catching greenlights.”
Often, when we think of celebrities, we see them as living privileged jaded lives. In Greenlights, Matthew McConaughey shows us how he started out in life at the bottom of the pile. Born into a highly dysfunctional family, he describes one scene he remembers when his mother and father got into a knock-down-drag-out fight in the kitchen, then wound up making love on the kitchen floor. They were divorced twice and married three times (the same two people). But Matthew learned what love looked like and what it didn’t. Of course, we know his somewhat Cinderella story and rise to fame and fortune, but what impressed me the most throughout this book was his incessant need and quest for spiritual enlightenment. He went to extremes to follow dreams (literal and perceived). The things he realized along the way are shared in a raw and honest way. Tidbits of wisdom mixed with common sense make this book more than a memoir or biography. It’s hard to define it. Is it a self-help book? Maybe. Is it a man’s journey from poverty to fortune? For Sure. Is it a roadmap for finding all the greenlights? I’d say so. But most of all, I’d say this is a book of raw and uninhibited inspiring honesty. That’s what I felt the most.
Here’s one of my favorite passages found on page 259: “An honest man’s pillow is his peace of mind, and when we lie down on ours at night, no matter who’s in our bed, we all sleep alone.” Truth! And this one: “We all have scars, we’ll get more. So rather than struggle against time and waste it, let’s dance with time and redeem it.” This book is filled with stories, memories, confessions, life lessons, and spiritual wisdom. It gives lots of food for thought. I enjoyed it!
The Fever Field is a burial ground that is far older than the inhabitants of the Flowing Lands realize. We first saw it in the prologue of Journey 1, Forlorn Peak. Now we learn more about the place where ancient evil was buried and forgotten, until that moment in the prologue when it broke free. On the cover of Journey 3, The Fever Field, Emlyn has turned to look toward Zasha. Much of this third installment is told from Zasha’s point of view. We’ll get better acquainted with the sisters in the Society of Deae Matres who traveled with Zasha. Also, we meet a tall, intriguing north-man and the most mysterious adherent of the Deae Matres. The youngest of all the Society, Zasha encounters some resistance from the other sisters traveling with her. She also runs into trouble of her own. Meanwhile, Emlyn’s uncertain situation with her family combines with the threat posed by the Brethren of Un’Naf. What is the greater danger, her loved ones, or the fanatics? In Journey 3, Emlyn’s circumstances reach a tipping point. There seems to be no good choice for her. How can she survive?
In this installment of Emlyn’s journey, she manages to barely escape what would be a sure death at the hands of the Brethren. With the help of the silver-haired entity from her dreams, she makes it to the camp of Deae Matres. We learn more about the mission of the Deae Matres and more about Zasha. She is such a free spirit and deep thinker and she doesn’t hesitate to stand up to the older women. The fever field is an ancient burial ground and I am intrigued to know more about it and the purpose it serves in the story. There are lots of teasers in this part of the story.
Previously, Journey 3, The Fever Field left Emlyn on the run. Will the Society of Deae Matres be willing to help? After all, in Journey 1, they rejected her father’s plea to take her away. Journey 4, The Old Road features Boabhan, the Society’s most enigmatic adherent. Emlyn finds herself in another kind of danger when the archvillain from the prologue of Journey 1, Forlorn Peak returns to the story in this installment. Plus, she still has not outrun the Brethren. Meanwhile, Emlyn isn’t the only one at risk. This Journey finds many of our friends in harm’s way. This Journey is notably longer than the others. Some parts of the story needed to be told together, in one volume. Come, be a part of the Journeys of Dead of Winter.
In this fourth installment of the series, we learn more about some of the Deae Matres characters. I particularly liked Boabhan, always dressed in green and eyes sensitive to sunlight. While at times, she appears fragile, at other times, she has unimaginable strength. Add that she is a shapeshifter, and you have a fascinating character. Danger lurks both in this world and beyond the veil. In this segment, Emlyn comes face-to-face with Arawn, Mythical King of Hell, and he is terrifying. But she is safe with the Deae Matres and is experiencing unknown freedom for the first time in her thirteen years. As the story unfolds, we learn more about the mysterious staff and rune symbols as well as each member of the traveling party. I am looking forward to the next segments and going deeper into the story!
I received this book complements of NetGalley and the publisher, William Morrow and Custom House.
The blurb for this book drew me in and it was promoted as “Paper Moon meets Badlands.” I have to add my own spin on that. To me, it was more like “Where The Crawdads Sing” meets John Steinbeck.
I’ve read a lot of books this year and this one is landing at the top of my “best books” ever list! I don’t think I’ve met such horribly flawed characters.
A baby girl without a name, unwanted, discarded at birth like a piece of garbage, who never knows acceptance or love through the many foster homes is the main character. “The policeman who had found her as an infant had supposedly named her Katherine, but the only time she heard her name spoken was when a teacher called roll or a social worker handed her off to a new foster family.“
At thirteen, she ran. She has one tiny piece of paper that tells her of an aunt who lives in Pecan Hollow and that’s where she blindly heads. Starving, she steals food from a gas station, then attempts to steal a bag of food from a Mustang parked outside when she gets caught. Instead of Manny turning her over to the authorities, he takes her in. She struggles when he asks her name and finally tells him it’s Kit. He feeds her. He grooms her for his wants and needs. Like in Paper Moon, she distracts the victims while Manny steals. She finally knows what it feels like to be loved, wanted, and useful.
But Manny’s petty theft escapades soon escalate to more and they became known as the Texaco Twosome for the string of armed robberies across the state. As Kit grows and develops into a teenager, her infatuation for Manny grows. He has not made any sexual advances toward her, and that is his one redeeming quality.
That eventually changes and Kit gets pregnant. Manny insists on an abortion. I don’t want to reveal too much about this story, but Manny gets caught in an armed robbery while Kit escapes. She arrives in Pecan Hollow at her aunt’s house with nothing but a baby inside her. It’s here she puts down roots.
Kit is tough. And her daughter, Charlie, refers to her mom as “bat-shit crazy.” Kit cannot feel pain. She only knows she is wounded when blood flows. But the pain that rests in her heart makes up for the lack of physical pain.
This story is well-written, gripping and I absolutely devoured it. The plot twists and thriller ending left me reeling. Kudos to this author for such a tremendous debut novel. While Caroline Frost is a new author to me, I can promise I will be reading everything she writes! She’s that good!
The book is set for release in February, 2022 but is available now for pre-order.
I might add that this author doesn’t have a lot of followers on Twitter, but seems to really appreciate each one, so you might consider following her.
The story that catapulted me into the writing world is featured today on Colleen Chesebro’s blog site! I am deeply grateful for the beautiful reviews! Please stop by and leave a comment and share!!
A hot Texas summer, dim-lit honky-tonk bars, a young naïve fledgling go-go dancer and a wild rebel Texas musician set the stage for this story. 1970 in Abilene, Texas finds young Darlina Flowers trying to figure out how to fit into the world she is most attracted to—the nightlife, live music and go-go dancing. Luke Stone, a veteran Texas Musician, believes he’s lost all reason to care about his music career, his health and most especially his heart. A chance meeting with Darlina changes everything. But, is it too late? Has fate already determined the outcome? Join Luke and Darlina on a passion-filled journey up and down Texas roads while Luke and his band entertain crowds along the way.
Can Darlina Flowers ever hope to fit in to this strange new world and even more important…
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