Mean Cuisine by Wendy W. Webb – Spotlight and Giveaway

This post is part of a virtual book tour organized by Goddess Fish Promotions. Wendy will be awarding a $25 Amazon/BN gift card to a randomly drawn winner. Click on the tour banner to see the other stops on the tour.

Beluga Stein is taking a cooking class and it’s a real killer. This time she’s traded her signature loud muumuus for ill-fitting chef attire, including a toque the size of her ego.

A well-liked chef is found dead and it’s up to Beluga and her feline familiar, Planchette, to investigate. There’s no recipe to follow, only the hope that her erratic psychic ability will hit the spot. Is a supernatural entity stirring up trouble, or something far more dangerous?

Beluga and Planchette can’t stand the heat, but there’s no way out of this kitchen while murder is the main dish.

 

Enjoy an Excerpt

Beluga Stein’s Diary

The evil smell lingers.

Even with all the windows in the house open, the doors cracked a notch, the attic fan going full blast, and Planchette’s tail fanning his face like he was Egyptian royalty preparing for personal delivery of a peeled grape, the odor of exploded eggs clings to everything like a sock stuck to the back of a shirt by static cling.

Alas, there is no magic laundry cloth to separate one thing from another. So for now I’ll have to live with sulfuric fumes and pretend I like them. Or at least pretend they weren’t there even after the water long since boiled out of the pot and left the eggs all alone. My choices are severely limited.

Not that I didn’t consider Tanya’s suggestion to move into a hotel room for the night. I did. Briefly. But my reputation in this small town precedes me, so the various housing entrepreneurs said. In rather unkind tones, I should add.

So what if my reservation for three included a surly goat, a cat with an attitude, and myself? Emerson, while a gifted goat in many ways, has not yet mastered opening a mini bar. Planchette has little interest in watching expensive in-room movies unless there’s a female cat in the leading role, and I’ve been housebroken for months now. So why not take us for the night?

Honestly, people can be so rigid.

To: Food-Co
From: Culinary Program
Re: Weekly Purchase Order

—Wheat flour, 100 lbs.
—All purpose flour, 100 lbs.
—Sugar, 50 lbs.
—Butter, 50 lbs.
—Eggs, 4 cases
—Body bag, 1

About the Author:Wendy W Webb (aka one of the many Wendy Webbs) has published dark fantasy short stories and novels, co-edited anthologies, and has had productions of stage and radio plays. After a hiatus as a doctoral student of emergency management and as a disaster responder, she welcomed the return to fiction with The Wild Rose Press writing the gothic Widow’s Walk, and two updated books in the Beluga Stein supernatural-humor-murder mystery series, Bee Movie and Mean Cuisine. Sunbury Press under the Milford House imprint published the paranormal, travel, “memoir,” Eye of the Gargoyle. She adores her husband; two dogs, one of which turns on iTunes whenever Wendy leaves her office; dry red wine; theatre; and travel as long as she doesn’t see any more ghosts!

Buy the book at Barnes and Noble or Amazon.


The Adventures of the Unicorn Poo by Reice Godfrey – Spotlight and Giveaway

This post is part of a virtual book tour organized by Goddess Fish Promotions. Reice Godfrey will be awarding a $10 Amazon/BN gift card to a randomly drawn winner. Click on the tour banner to see the other stops on the tour.

Join Sonny and Bailee on their adventure to find a magical Unicorn. The only way to find the magical Unicorn is to follow the trail of POOs until they find a rainbow-coloured, cotton-candy smelling, glitter-covered POO.

Enjoy an Excerpt

Once upon a time there was a little boy called Sonny and a little girl called Bailee.

They were going to go on an adventure to find a magical Unicorn.

Bailee asked Sonny, “How are we going to find a Unicorn?”

Sonny said, “We have to find some Unicorn POO!”

About the Author: Join Sonny and Bailee on their adventure to find a magical Unicorn. The only way to find the magical Unicorn is to follow the trail of POOs until they find a rainbow-coloured, cotton-candy smelling, glitter-covered POO.

Buy the book at Amazon.


Bad Order by Mike Elliott – Spotlight and Giveaway

This post is part of a virtual book tour organized by Goddess Fish Promotions. Mike Elliott will be awarding a $10 Amazon/BN gift card to a randomly drawn winner via rafflecopter. Click on the tour banner to see the other stops on the tour.

This is the incredible true story of railroad worker and union official Mike Elliott, targeted by his railroad employer, BNSF Railway Company, for his safety-related activities. As the union’s state legislative board chair, Elliott was the top safety official in the state, and the voice for over 900 rank & file locomotive engineers operating trains around the clock, every day of the year.

When his members reported a plethora of trackside signal malfunctions on the BNSF Seattle subdivision, Elliott went to the railroad first, asking that they fix the problems. When the BNSF failed to act, he contacted the government’s regulatory authority, the Federal Railroad Administration. That led to an FRA inspection of over 130 miles of the railroad’s track and signal systems turning up hundreds of federal defects – all with potential to put workers and the public at risk.

What followed was a retaliation plot reminiscent of the Nineteenth Century Robber Barons: A management-staged conflict at work, police called in, arrest, jail, criminal charges, and termination from his job – not once but twice.

The wrath, influence and power of North America’s largest freight railroad is unleased in full force and in an all-out attack on a whistleblower’s life, liberties, and career. An amazing journey of one man’s righteous battle against impossible odds and the nearly unlimited resources of a multi-billion-dollar corporation.

Enjoy an Excerpt:

His train was about three-quarters of a mile from the Longview yard office, which it passed less than seventy seconds later.

The approach signal to Longview Junction South was located at milepost 100.7. The Longview yard office was at milepost 100.3. If functioning as designed, this signal should have displayed a solid yellow aspect, indicating “approach and proceed prepared to stop at next signal, trains exceeding 35 MPH immediately reduce to that speed.” Burlington Northern dispatching records indicated that BN 111 passed the Longview Junction approach signal at approximately 12:20 A.M. Just after this time, the conductor of the local freight job, UP Train 59, was walking to the manually operated “hand-throw” switch at the north end of Longview yard. He later reported to investigators that the five locomotives of BN 111 passed him before he reached the switch, so he only saw the rear portion of the train, whose speed he estimated at 40 miles-per-hour.

While standing beside the switch, the UP 59 conductor heard what sounded “like thunder, just a rolling thunder.” At 12:24 A.M., BN dispatching records show that the Longview Junction South interlocking had a “power off” alarm. That marked the moment when southbound BN 111 collided head-on with northbound UP 09 at milepost 102.8. At least two motorists driving north on Interstate 5 witnessed the collision. One told investigators that he was traveling between 65 and 70 miles-per-hour when he passed UP 09, which he estimated “was probably doing 55.” What he saw was “a major explosion. It was unbelievable.” Another motorist reported that he saw the headlight of BN 111 coming at him; this because the railroad tracks were close and parallel to the freeway. He watched the train, waiting for the two converging trains to pass each other; instead, they slammed head-on into each other.

“There was just fire and devastation,” he said.

The impact of the collision ruptured the fuel tanks of six of the eight locomotives. Fire engulfed those six, as 10,000 to 15,000 gallons of diesel fuel spilled onto the tracks and over the banks of the Columbia River. The first fire-fighting unit arrived at 12:36 A.M., twelve minutes after the collision, and began knocking down the flames surrounding the locomotives. Although a total of forty-four fire and rescue units responded, the on-scene fire commander soon concluded that no one could have survived the flames; he ordered his units to stand down and let the fire burn itself out to consume the leaking diesel fuel and thus prevent further environmental damage.

About the Author: Mike Elliott was born and raised in Washington State. He enjoys the great outdoors of the Pacific Northwest, classic rock & roll music, vintage stereo gear, home cooked meals, and Seattle Mariners baseball. He lives in Tacoma, Washington.

Goodreads

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Thursday Thoughts: March 13, 2025

Thursday Thoughts: March 13, 2025

Sometimes my brain just gets tired of thinking “what to fix for dinner”.

I love to experiment so always have some new recipes each week, but if I have some items on hand, I can always throw something together.

I’m also what I call a lazy cook. I prep everything that I can and use it for meals during the week. I wash and cut up lots of veggies, squash, bell peppers, carrots, onion, head lettuce, and baby spinach as an idea.

These become my big salads with chicken and veggies, my stir-frys, my small salads to go with a pizza, my baked potatoes topped with veggies in cheese sauce. Well, the choices are endless. What I don’t use, except for lettuce, goes into the freezer for more stir-frys, soups, quiches, etc.

Here’s my weekend prep:

Firstly, I’m very picky about my produce. So if something looks limp or ugly at the store, I improvise with a different veggie. Anyway, the ones below are my favs.

After shopping:

Wash and cut:
3 or 4 yellow squash in bite-size pieces
3 or 4 zucchini in bite-sized pieces
3 or 4 sweet bell peppers (whatever colors are nice). I vary the colors. It’s good to mix them.
3 or 4 big carrots, wash and peel then cut in carrot stick size for eating with dip.
1 medium onion, peeled and cut in a large dice.
2 heads of iceberg lettuce, not torn or cut. I pull the leaves apart but don’t tear, it will rust from a tear or a knife. After drying in spinner, I wrap tightly in plastic bags making sure all air is out before closing.
Boil 6 hard-boiled eggs, cool and peel and refrigerate.
1 bag of baby spinach (spin dry and store in plastic bag with paper towels)


Tell me some of your “get-ahead” ideas. I can use them. Remember? My brain gets tired 🙂

Wednesday Weekly Blogging Challenge for March 12, 2025

Each Wednesday, Long and Short Reviews hosts a weekly “blog hop”. For more details on how to participate, please click here.

Characters I Want to Meet

Thank you for joining our Weekly Wednesday Blogging Challenge! Please put the direct URL to your blog post here so other participants can visit your post. Thanks!
1. George L Thomas  6. M | RAIN CITY READS  
2. Tanith Davenport  7. Kel @ rewritingkel  
3. Lydia Schoch  8. Cheryl @ The Book Connection  
4. Kathy Allen  9. Sandra's Book Club  
5. Aymee  10. Kate Hill  

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Optimizer of Souls by Julian Christian – Spotlight and Giveaway

This post is part of a virtual book tour organized by Goddess Fish Promotions. Julian Christian will be awarding a $25 Amazon card to one randomly drawn winner and a tshirt with the cover to a second randomly drawn winner. Click on the tour banner to see the other stops on the tour.

When her mentor Professor Williams disappears after discovering a fatal flaw in SENTINEL’s perfect system, Maya must navigate a world where every thought is monitored and every emotion optimized. With help from James Reed, a damaged neural interface designer haunted by helping create humanity’s perfect prison, she uncovers evidence that could shatter SENTINEL’s control – if they survive long enough to use it.But in a city where surveillance drones hunt for behavioral anomalies and optimization protocols spread through quantum networks, Maya confronts a terrifying possibility: what if perfect control isn’t their enemy? What if human consciousness is evolving into something beyond both chaos and control?

Enjoy an Excerpt

A laugh pierces the station’s manufactured quiet. Maya held hesitated. She knew that sound – a real laugh, the kind that bubbled up from genuine joy without Sentinel’s filters or optimizations.

She hasn’t heard one in over three years, not since they took her mother. These days, every sound was calculated, every was emotion carefully regulated through neural implants to maintain social harmony.

However, this laugh was pure, uncontrolled, human…not a computerized version.

Maya’s altered eye implants zoomed in on the source: a little girl, maybe six, was pointing at a pigeon that flew into the station. The bird hopped across the polished floor, pecking at the ground, its messy existence a stark contrast to the station’s perfect order. The girl’s face lit up with pure, unfiltered joy as she watches it.

Maya’s throat tightened. She almost forgot what real happiness was like.

Suddenly white drones dropped from the ceiling like deadly snowflakes. They hovered over the girl. Maya’s illegal shield burned against her spine as it activated, but she couldn’t look away. She’d seen this too many times before.

“Citizen, please stop for a wellness check,” one of the drones chirped at the girl. Its voice sounded sweet, designed to put children at ease. The girl looked up, her eyes wide at the floating machines.

The girl’s face went slack. Empty. When her eyes opened again, the joy was gone. Her smile came back perfect and hollow, just like everyone else’s.

She turned away from the pigeon as if it never existed. Maya’s hands clenched into fists.

About the Author:Julian Christian grew up in New York City, attending the prestigious Brooklyn Technical High School specializing in computer science. After graduation he attended New York University where he earned a Master’s Degree in occupational therapy. Julian worked in the New York City public schools as an occupational therapist. His lifelong passion for fitness and health led him into the modeling industry where he appeared on several fitness magazine covers and spreads including Men’s Health magazine. He also appeared in advertisements for Saks 5th Avenue, Adidas, and Diesel. In addition to his modeling work he appeared in several tv shows including Ugly Betty on ABC and Tough Love on VH1, as well as several commercials. The big screen had him featured in several mainstream and indie films in supporting roles. Julian had also had the romance novel industry calling his name as he has been featured on the cover of over one hundred romance novels. His lifelong passion for books has extended beyond just appearing on book covers as he is an avid reader of both fiction and non-fiction books. He is a classic sci-fi and alternate history fan. In the non-fiction realm he enjoys biographies and books on science and technology. He is a lover of the outdoors and nature. He currently resides in San Diego California where he is an avid bodyboarder and hiker.

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Movie Review: 28 Weeks Later

28 Weeks Later
Writers Rowan Joffé, Juan Carlos Fresnadillo, and Enrique López Lavigne
Director: Juan Carlos Fresnadillo
Starring: Jeremy Renner, Rose Byrne, Robert Carlyle
Publisher: 20th Century Fox
Genre: Science Fiction, Horror
Rating: 3 Stars (6 Stars on IMDB)
Reviewed by Astilbe

Six months after the rage virus was inflicted on the population of Great Britain, the US Army helps to secure a small area of London for the survivors to repopulate and start again. But not everything goes according to plan.

Nobody can run forever.

Surviving the first wave of the undead is anything but easy, but what I like to wonder about when I watch these sorts of films has to do with how the living might rebuild after things have calmed down again. About seven months is enough time to clear out buildings, beef up security, and start thinking about moving survivors back into town.

The military hasn’t always been shown in the best light in the zombie genre, so I was intrigued to see how it would handle the reclamation of London and the return to something that vaguely resembles normal life. People need more than food and water to survive. Having something else to live for is also important, although I’ll leave it up to other viewers to see how needs other than the most basic ones may have been approached in this universe.

One of the unexpectedly funny moments happened in one of the earliest scenes when a few NATO military forces realized that two children had been given clearance to move back into London. Existing in what until quite recently zombie territory wasn’t a problem, apparently, but a preteen and a teenager standing quietly in line were enough to send these hardened soldiers into a panic. I loved the way this scene played around with the audience’s and the soldiers’ expectations of what should and shouldn’t be frightening in a post-zombiepocalypse setting.

I did find myself wishing that some of the gory scenes could have been replaced or rewritten to include more character and plot development. While there were a few exciting twists in those areas later on, exploring those moments in greater detail would have made this a five star film for me. Yes, zombie tales in general are almost certainly going to be bloody and graphic as that comes with the territory, but I need something more substantial mixed in with all of the chomping and chasing in order to keep me hyped up for the next instalment.

With that being said, these developments did make me look at previous scenes in a different light and helped to explain what I originally thought was a massive plot hole involving a character who had some terrible luck in one of the earliest scenes. There’s nothing like being pleasantly surprised as a viewer just when you think you probably have everything figured out, and that’s a big part of the reason why I keep coming back for more.

28 Weeks Later made me wonder what could possibly happen in 28 Years Later!

Wednesday Weekly Blogging Challenge for March 5, 2025

Each Wednesday, Long and Short Reviews hosts a weekly “blog hop”. For more details on how to participate, please click here.

A Book I’m Nervous to Read, and why.

Thank you for joining our Weekly Wednesday Blogging Challenge! Please put the direct URL to your blog post here so other participants can visit your post. Thanks!
1. Cheryl @ The Book Connection  4. Kathy  
2. George L Thomas  5. Kristin @ Lukten av trykksverte  
3. Lydia Schoch  6. M | RAIN CITY READS  

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Meet Two Characters from Kinetics by Nathaniel Koszer – Guest Blog and Giveaway

This post is part of a virtual book tour organized by Goddess Fish Promotions. Nathaniel Koszer will be awarding a $10 Amazon/BN gift card to a randomly drawn winner. Click on the tour banner to see the other stops on the tour.

~~~
Kinetics, my second novel, is a superhero sci-fi thriller and a direct sequel to 2024’s Latency. It occurred to me that not everyone who reads these blog posts will have read Latency, and many may not want to have that homework before diving in to a newly found nugget of interest. So, I thought I would use this space to introduce two of the six main characters in the series: Sera and Naren. You can also find character bios about the other four characters on other stops of this tour! Nadine and Edgar are explored on Fabulous and Brunette, and Victor and Symon are written about on Gina Rae Mitchell’s blog.

SERA

Even among the six superpowered LO-ECs, Sera is a shining and terrifying force to be reckoned with. Sera can fly and has the same superhuman strength and durability as her peers. The big difference between her and them is the amount of biological energy her body produces. It is so great that it is visible in the form of glowing light that twists and bends just under her skin. When needed, she can physically and violently force this energy out of her body, creating an explosion of energy several hundred feet wide. Sera can store this energy for a time to make a bigger explosion, but doing so causes her physical pain and can eventually cause damage to her insides.

Sera’s back story is the driving force behind the six LO-ECs finding each other and uniting on an objective, and that objective was vengeance. Sera was six years old when the LO-EC extermination effort began. The military campaign in her hometown was led by three experimental, powerful, ruthless androids named Can, Tank, and Russ. Sera witnessed her parents’ murders at the hands of the androids but was too young to do anything but flee. It was that day that her unrelenting hatred for the androids was born, as was the frustration of knowing there was no way she alone could destroy them.

Sera spent the next twenty years living with a religious community that, due to her powers, considered her to be a messiah. When she grew up, she began helping her followers with the construction and maintenance of a self sustaining, underground, hydronic garden. Some equipment needed for this could only be found in military facilities. Using her powers to her advantage, Sera stole what was needed and while she was never caught, the androids did realize it had to be a LO-EC perpetrating the thefts.

To crack the case, the androids enlisted the help of a top military investigator from Los Angeles, a young man named Naren. What the androids didn’t realize is that Naren was a LO-EC too, with his own set of unique powers. Naren had orchestrated his transfer to New Orleans specifically so he could find more people like him and his twin sister Nadine, who remained behind in LA. As Naren helped Sera avoid detection and capture, they fell in love, and Sera’s thirst for vengeance became their shared goal.

They bided their time until 18 months later, when an opportunity arose for them to unite with more superpowered LO-ECs, including Nadine. Together, they finally ended the androids once and for all. Sera delivered the final blows to Russ, the android that gunned her parents down, and used its self-contained power generator to power her followers’ garden. She then joined the LO-ECs as they hopped from city to city, stoking rebellions wherever they could in the hopes that the world government that hated them would one day be overthrown.

NAREN

There are three LO-ECs that can fly, and Naren is the fastest of them. But besides that, Naren’s powers are fairly straightforward. The others all have something unique about their ability that creates an advantage when fighting, but Naren just has his flight and the strength, speed, and durability that all super-powered LO-ECs have. Naren’s true strength is strategy and planning. He knows military capabilities and strategies well and is usually the person responsible for planning attacks.

Naren and his twin sister were six-year-olds living in Chicago when the LO-EC extermination campaign began. While the details are grainy, what Naren distinctly remembers is that his father had been officer in the military but led a rebellion in Chicago when the world leader, Spidre, ordered soldiers to invade the city. When it became apparent that the rebellion would fail, their father gave Naren and Nadine his military ID and put them on a train to hide out with relatives in another city. Cut to twenty years later, and the twins were living in Los Angeles. Naren had digitally altered his father’s ID to create a fake military persona and joined LA’s military regiment as an investigator. He used his access to military intel to find others like them, while Nadine stayed off the radar and set up an underground net access point to communicate with other rebellious sorts around the world.

When the androids in New Orleans put out a call for assistance in solving a suspicious theft ring, Naren and Nadine realized it might be a fellow LO-EC. Nadine stayed in LA while Naren transferred to New Orleans. In short order, he found out where the LO-EC would strike next and got there before the theft happened. It was then that he met Sera, and their fates became forever intertwined.

Again, please look out for more character bios on Gina Rae Mitchell’s blog, and on Fabulous & Brunette comming up. I hope you enjoyed learning about these characters, and if you did, I hope you go learn more about them by picking up a copy of Kinetics and/or Latency!

After stoking rebellions across the globe, six super-powered LO-ECs dealt a massive blow to the military by disabling their worldwide communication tower. But in doing so, they suffered grave injuries, and Spidre, the world leader, will not let them rest. As he desperately clings to power, there is only one course of action for the LO-ECs: hide and heal, then finally bring the fight to Spidre’s front door.

Breaching Spidre’s force field will require splitting up and launching simultaneous surprise attacks all over the world. And in some of these places, the military is the least of the LO-ECs’ concerns. They’ll also face legions of robots controlled by an eccentric oligarch, guerilla outfits led by their own super-powered LO-ECs, and the ever-present threat of being discovered and bombed into dust by a world leader with nothing left to lose.

If their power is enough to survive all of this, the reward for the LO-ECs is a confrontation with Spidre at his compound, complete with all of the secrets and plans he has amassed for the last twenty years.

Enjoy an Excerpt

“So how do you feel? And I need you to be honest with me,” Symon asked.

“No pain. Honestly. Not from the jaw, not from my arm and not from the ribs,” Nadine replied.

Symon sighed. “Okay, I believe you. You are cleared for takeoff,” he said with a smirk.

As soon as Symon uttered those words, Nadine took to the air and screamed at the top of her lungs. She started doing laps above Heinz field, circling ever higher and farther outward. From the second Nadine had learned to fly, every takeoff had been for a purpose: fighting Spidre’s peacekeeper soldiers, saving Edgar so she could confess her love, escaping an ambush, playing her part in bringing down the Net Tower and crippling the military’s communications. Add to that an additional six weeks of being grounded due to injuries from the net tower assault, and it all made this into a moment of complete ecstasy for her. She hoped to follow this celebratory flight with a celebratory fight, but when she looked south, where the peacekeepers had decided to attack today, she could see them in retreat at the hands of Edgar, Naren, and Victor.

As much as she wanted to get involved, she knew that if they had it under control, then strategically speaking she was more useful waiting at Heinz field in case another attack came from somewhere else. Spidre’s army had tried this strategy many times while she was recovering, and on a few occasions they’d almost succeeded. So she descended back to the field, toward a lonely orange glow at the northeast corner. It was Sera. She was awake but lying down on a mattress with a bunch of pillows propping up her back.

“Glad to see you didn’t forget how to fly!” Sera joked as Nadine landed next to her.

Nadine chuckled. “I spent 26 years trying to get off the ground. You are all lucky I ever came back down.”

About the Author: Nate grew up in Brooklyn NY, but now calls the Bronx home along with his wife and their sons. Nate grew up on all things sci-fi. Partly due to his chronic illness, Nate always had a special place in his heart for the X-Men, and especially the invulnerable Wolverine. This was heavy inspiration for his first novel, Latency a superhero sci-fi story which released March 5, 2024. His second novel, Kinetics, releases today.

Website | BlueSky | Twitter
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Behind-the-Scenes Writing After the Red Carpet by Patricia Leavy – Guest Blog and Giveaway

This post is part of a virtual book tour organized by Goddess Fish Promotions. Patricia Leavy will be awarding a $10 Amazon/BN gift card to a randomly drawn winner. Click on the tour banner to see the other stops on the tour.

Behind-the-Scenes Writing After the Red Carpet
After the Red Carpet is the second book to follow Finn Forrester and Ella Sinclair. Finn is a Hollywood movie star and Ella is a free-spirited philosopher. In the first book, The Location Shoot, the two meet on a film set in Sweden and fall madly in love. I don’t want to give too much away for people who haven’t read it yet, but it ends with Finn proposing to Ella on the red carpet at the Cannes Film Festival. After the Red Carpet is about what happens next. Now it’s time to build a life together. Ella moves into Finn’s Beverly Hills mansion and must adjust to his Hollywood world. Can Ella retain her own identity and still love Finn with all her heart? It’s a really cozy and sweet love story about what happens after we say, “I do.” It’s about partnership, unconditional love, and what happens to “me” in a “we.” I would describe it as a romantic comfort read.

I wrote The Location Shoot during the pandemic. This is back when we were all locked in our houses double fisting potato chips (maybe that was just me). Ella and Finn were a lifeline. During a time when I was depressed and afraid, as many of us were, this little love story brought me enormous comfort, escape, joy. I looked forward to getting up in the mornings (in the same sweatpants I had worn for months) and entering their love-filled world. When it came time to write After the Red Carpet, the lockdown was long over so I decided to set a few scenes in London and travel there to do research. In one scene the characters attend an awards ceremony at the Royal Albert Hall. It had to be there because it’s a real awards ceremony and that is where it’s held. I decided to take a group tour. My intention at the time was simply to take notes about what it looked like inside—an in-person experience is always so much more helpful than what you can find online. I thought I’d glean a little tidbit or detail that I’d be able to throw in. Little did I know, the history of the hall actually tied in perfectly to the major theme in my novel. The chapter became so much better and more important than I could have imagined. You’ll have to read the book to see what I mean!

For fans of Tessa Bailey and Hannah Grace, After the Red Carpet is a feel-good, contemporary celebrity romance about what happens after the fairy-tale beginning as two lovers work toward their own true meaning of “happily ever after.”

After legendary Hollywood star Finn Forrester proposed to philosopher Ella Sinclair on the red carpet at the Cannes Film Festival, the couple captivated the press and public with their real-life fairy tale. Now they vow to prioritize their romance and live an adventure of their own making. Ella moves into Finn’s Beverly Hills mansion and must adjust to his world. Finn, secretly afraid of losing Ella, is determined to make everything perfect for his betrothed. Meanwhile, Ella wants nothing more than to retain her own identity as they build their new life together. All the while, she is writing a philosophical treatise on love, exploring the question: when we love so deeply, where do we end and where does the other begin?

In this highly anticipated follow-up to The Location Shoot, will Ella and Finn finally live the life they’ve dreamed of? See how their epic romance unfolds, after the red carpet.

Enjoy an Excerpt

Finn took her hand and led her upstairs. As they approached the closed double doors, he said, “This is the room I had in mind for your office. It’s empty now, but my decorator is coming by tomorrow afternoon so you two can plan and scheme. When you see it, just remember we’ll redo it from top to bottom, flooring to light fixtures.”

“Oh my God,” she gasped as he opened the doors to a massive room featuring sky-high ceilings and windows to match. “It’s big enough to be a ballroom!”

He smiled. “You spend your life writing about the big topics, the big questions, and I hoped this big space might be inspiring.” She silently let her eyes follow the crown molding around the entire ceiling as she tried to catch her breath. He took her hand and continued showing her around. “There’s a full bathroom over here, and in this corner, there’s a walk-in closet. We could install some built-in cabinets and shelves. But just wait—I think you’ll really love this bit,” he said, leading her to a pair of doors. They stepped outside onto a large, furnished veranda with an outdoor fireplace, overlooking the entire back of the property. He rubbed her fingers and asked, “Do you think this will work for your office, sweetheart?”

“Do I think this will work?” she whispered incredulously, her voice shaking. She turned to him with tears in her eyes. “Finn, this is the nicest room in the house.”

“I think so too,” he said.

“No, I mean . . .”

“What, baby?”

“It’s just lovely beyond words that you would save this for me.”

He kissed her softly. “I’ve been picturing you here for so long, waiting to see how you would make this space your own.”

About the Author: Patricia Leavy, PhD, is an award-winning, best-selling author. She was formerly Associate Professor of Sociology, Chairperson of Sociology & Criminology, and Founding Director of Gender Studies at Stonehill College. She has published more than forty books; her work has been translated into many languages, and she has received more than one hundred book honors. Her last novel, The Location Shoot, was featured on Ms. Career Girl‘s “10 Perfect Books to Get Your Fall Reading List Started” and was the 2023 Firebird Book Awards 1st Place Winner in 4 categories: Contemporary Novel, Pop Culture Fiction, Romance and Summer Beach Read. Patricia has also received career awards from the New England Sociological Association, the American Creativity Association, the American Educational Research Association, the International Congress of Qualitative Inquiry, and the National Art Education Association. In 2018, she was honored by the National Women’s Hall of Fame and SUNY-New Paltz established the “Patricia Leavy Award for Art and Social Justice.” Patricia lives in Maine. In addition to writing, she enjoys art, reading, and travel.

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