7/26/17

Ken Fry Religious Mystery Thriller Series Spotlight & Giveaway

We are excited to feature an historical mystery series from author Ken Fry in our book spotlight today!  Check out some of his religious thrillers, learn about the author--and enter for a chance to win a $20 Amazon gift card in the book tour giveaway at the end of this post!

The Lazarus Succession
by Ken Fry
Genre: Historical Mystery Thriller

AMAZON UK TOP 10 RELIGIOUS MYSTERY
A modern-day suspense thriller with a medieval mystery.

✚ A LEGEND TO SLAUGHTER FOR... ✚
✚ A TRUTH TO DIE FOR... ✚

The Lazarus Succession takes readers to the ancient scene of Christ's greatest miracle, to medieval Spain, and back to modern-day Europe. In typical Ken Fry style, nothing is as it seems and a surprise awaits at every turn of the page.

According to legend, Annas Zevi, an artist who witnessed the raising of Lazarus, was told by Christ to paint what he saw. Over the centuries, his completed works has vanished, along with every other painting depicting Lazarus' resurrection. They were rumoured to be sacred icons with miraculous powers.

International Art Recovery Experts, Broderick Ladro and Ulla Stuart, are hired by a disgraced High Court judge, Sir Maxwell Throgmorton, to locate a long lost medieval painting by Spanish artist Francisco Cortez. Like Zevi, his work is said to be divinely inspired.

Throgmorton's client, a wealthy Spanish Condesa, is terminally ill and the icon is her last hope. She will pay and do whatever it takes to find the missing work of Cortez. 
Unbeknown to the Condesa, Throgmorton seeks to make a vast personal fortune from the discovery of the paintings, and use it to reclaim his place in society. 

Ladro and Stuart learns of Throgmorton's deceit and attempts to thwart his plans. As they delve deeper into the mystery of the missing Cortez painting, they discover a secret that changes their lives forever.

Just as it changed the lives of everyone it touched across the centuries.

✚ Praise for The Lazarus Succession ✚

"...the supernatural elements, and their effect on the characters, are pure genius. Even an old cynic like me was entranced. The addition of a little historical flavour, in the shape of frequent glances into a beautifully depicted medieval Spain, gives the novel context, and a timeless magic I found addictive.This is polished fiction of the highest calibre, and I'm more than happy to award 5 stars." - Stuart Kenyon, author

"...this is an excellent novel with many twists and turns, the pacing is perfection, the characters are wonderful and the ending couldn't be better. If you want a riveting tale that will hold you in thrall from the first page to the last, then this is your book." - Carol Marrs Phipps, author

"The Lazarus Succession has a great historical and religious foundation combined with a dynamic plot, twists, and turns. Ken Fry knows how to keep the reader's attention and trigger their emotional response." - Lilah E. Noir, author




The Patmos Enigma
by Ken Fry
Genre: Historical Mystery Thriller

With the success of his UK Top 10 bestselling religious mystery, The Lazarus Succession, Ken Fry once again crafts a cunning and explosive historical thriller unlike any you've read before.


Tel Aviv, Israel. Archaeologist Joshua Agar makes a stunning discovery when on one of his excavation sites, they unearth an ancient ossuary, untouched since the day it was buried. Evidence and analysis reveals that the contents of the find appear to be the six of the Seven Seals mentioned in the bible's Book of Revelation.

The Seventh is missing.

Meanwhile, a mysterious man has been walking the Earth for millennia. He waits... amassing knowledge and power, seeking to bring about the one event that would release him from his endless existence. With the discovery in Tel Aviv, his waiting might soon be over.

Joshua Agar and his team, Professor Simon Rockwell and Dr. Rachel Carver soon realises the significance of their find. An ancient society known as The Keepers awakens, and they are after the Seven Seals. For it has been told, that whosoever breaks the seven seals will have unimaginable power and control over the new world promised through the Second Coming of Christ.

The frantic hunt for the Seventh Seal begins. Through dusty caves, ancient churches, and even within the most secretive vault on earth, they search for clues to the possible resting place of the missing seal.

The archaeologists are not alone. Another ancient secret brotherhood called the Guardians have long protected the Seven Seals, since the time John of Patmos entrusted to them the Seventh. Using their resources, they attempt to discover the identity of The Grand Keeper and impede his plans for global upheaval.

As scientists, the archaeologists perceive their discovery as a historical relic and not a religious find. But with the forces aroused by the unearthing of the artefact, they start to question if there is indeed truth in the story.

The Patmos Enigma will take you on a journey of wonders and thrills as it hurtles from dark truths to enlightening revelations as the war between science and mysticism commences.


**Releases August 6th, 2017***




Amazon bestselling author, Ken Fry, holds a university Master's Degree in Literature and has extensively traveled around the world. The places and events are reflected in his stories and most of his tales are based on his own experiences. 


He was a former publisher before deciding to retire and devote his full time to writing. He now lives in the UK and shares his home with 'Dickens' his Shetland Sheepdog. 

Fry has published 7 suspense thrillers with more to be released in 2017. Red Ground, The Lazarus Succession, Suicide Seeds, The Brodsky Affair, Dying Days, and 2 short stories, Check Mate and Is That You, Jim?

Join Ken Fry's Circle of Readers and get free books and discounts: 
http://www.booksbykenfry.com




Follow the tour HERE!

Nightlord Series Spotlight & Giveaway

This morning, we have an urban fantasy series in our book spotlight!  Check out the books of the Nightlord series--and enter for a chance to win a $10 Amazon gift card in the book tour giveaway at the end of the post.

Sunset
Nightlord Series Book 1
by Garon Whited
Genre: Urban Fantasy, Paranormal  

Eric didn't ask to be a vampire. In fact, he didn't even believe in them. Then he meets a beautiful woman, wakes up with a hangover, and bites his tongue with his own fangs.


Which pretty much settles the question.


Now he's trying to hold down his day job while learning the rules of the Undead -- the most important being that bloodthirsty urges and predatory instincts are a real bitch. 


Upside; Eric has the beautiful Sasha to teach him the ropes, including the magic he'll need to survive.


Downside; they're being hunted by members of the Church of Light, who are determined to rid the world of vampires.


When Sasha is killed, and Eric is thrust into an alternate world in his quest to avenge her death. There he becomes a Nightlord, fights a dragon with the help of his magical steed, Bronze, and upchucks a sword named Firebrand. 


But things get really interesting when Eric finally finds Tobias, head of the Church of Light. Soon Eric finds himself at the center of an epic battle at the literal edge of the world in a fight to keep a terrible darkness at bay.


"When you fall off the Edge of the World into hordes of demonic Things from the Outer Darkness, you really start to wonder about your life choices."
--Eric, part-time undead, expectant father, and short-term astronaut.




Shadows
Nightlord Series Book 2

“I’ve awakened in a stone box about the size of a large coffin… I’m filthy, everything aches, and, by the various so-called gods, I smell awful.

“I’ve woken up in worse places.
“Hmm. What does that say about my life choices?”
—Eric, amateur magician, part-time vampire, and accidental king.



It's not easy, being King. Especially when you've got an allergy to sunrise and sunset, a fire-goddess for a mother-in-law, demonic adversaries, random assassins, and a basement full of insecurities to cope with.
Add to that his daughter, the fire-priestess/princess, a couple of lightly-deranged professional magicians, a whole city full of wizards, and enough squabbling princes to resemble a kindergarten argument.
It's enough to make a man want to just go home.
Luckily for Eric, he has the world's fastest pet rock, a smart-mouthed sword, and a horse that not only understands him, but likes him anyway.



“An awful lot of young ladies seem to be up all night, wandering around the halls on the off-chance they’ll bump into the King when he’s in the mood for a snack. Since when did I become sexy? And why didn’t anybody warn me it was going to be work?”
—Eric, elder geek and occasional idiot.



Orb
Nightlord Series Book 3

We all have inner demons. We fight them all the time. Some of us achieve inner peace by coming to terms with them.

But how do you come to terms with inner demons that tear free and become outer demons?
Eric has been a vampire for nearly a century, and his demons are more than metaphors. While they controlled him, he was the Demon King. Now he has to avoid the monsters in his own mind, as well as angry nobles, fanatical religions, assassins, magi, other vampires, criminal organizations, and the neighborhood gossip.
He wants two things: To find Tort, and to have someplace to call home.
It may be too much to ask.




Knightfall
Nightlord Series Book 4

It's not easy, being King. You can't always rule a kingdom and still do what needs to be done.

Eric--or King Halar, also known as the Demon King--has more than enough problems without the crown.
But quitting the job of King isn't easy, either--unless you want to be beheaded. Most people regard that as an unsatisfactory way to quit. Even vampire lords tend to be cautious about guillotines. A King who loses his head has a real problem... or none at all.



It's time to sort some of these problems out, settle a few more, and kill the rest.
But at what cost?



"Knightfall" is the fourth book of the "Nightlord" series. It picks up exactly where the previous book, "Orb," ends, and carries on with an adventure of epic proportions!




Garon Whited was supposedly born in either 1969 or 1970; the original birth certificate is suspiciously unavailable and other records do not agree. 

After spending some years in college playing with computers, he finally joined a radical group of jellyfish herding nomads. Having fought zombie dolphins, quasi-corporeal spirits, and brain-sucking mole rats, he is uniquely qualified to write fantastic fiction. His subsequent attempts at professional salsa repairman and ley line salesman met with similar success. He claims to live in Texarkana, on Earth, but people have been known to disagree.



Follow the tour HERE for exclusive excerpts and a giveaway!

7/25/17

Go Minimalistic With Your Home Design

Aiming for a minimalistic design in your home is a great idea, particularly if you’re planning on selling anytime soon. With a minimalistic design, you can make sure property looks larger and more roomy with plenty of space. It’s great if you have a home that is a little too cramped and helps you diminish the cutter completely. But how do you achieve the minimalistic design?

Keep Things Off The Floor

You can start by thinking about your furniture. When choosing your furniture, you want to make sure that you keep the floor as clear as possible. There are plenty of ways to do this. You might decide to purchase some occasional chairs for your home. These often have designs with high legs that take most of the area of the chair off the ground, elevating it and freeing up floor space.

Another possibility to consider would be the TV. if you can, avoid buying a unit for the TV to rest on. Instead, get a frame and attach the TV with all the drives to the wall. That way, you can keep a space in your home like the living room free and clear. There are plenty of other ways to keep the floor clear too. Rather than having carpet make sure you opt for wood or laminate flooring. By doing this, you can avoid a thick, full carpet intruding on the look of a room.

Choosing Colors Carefully

The colors in your design can definitely impact whether you get a minimalistic feel. For instance, you should aim for lighter, brighter colors. Cream or white walls are great because they create a blank canvas appearance. As well as this, they make a room appear to be both clean and contemporary. You can see below how white walls can bring out the key features of the room and make them the main focal points of a space.


You should consider the colors of your furniture as well. Clashing is a great way to highlight just how spacious a room Is. For instance, you could choose coal black furniture to clash with walls painted white.

Limit The Amount Of Furniture

Of course, the key factor for a minimalistic design is making sure that you limit the amount of furniture in each room to the bare minimum. If we’re thinking about the living room, the number of seats should match the number of people in the home. So, if you have a family of four, you should only have four seating areas in the living room. Follow this design choice, and you’ll be able to keep your room clean, clear and completely minimalistic.

Limit Shadow

Finally, if you want a room with a minimalistic design to look stunning, you need to make sure it’s as bright as possible. The best way to do this would be to limit the level of shadow in a room. To do this, it’s worth in investing in LED overhead lights. This will ensure that your room is always beautifully lit and shows off the full amount of open space in the room.

Take this advice, and you’ll have mastered a room design just like the one in the picture below. 

Killer Party Book Tour & Giveaway

This morning, we have another cozy mystery in our book spotlight!  Check out Killer Party, A Tourist Trap Mystery from author Lynn Cahoon!  Don't forget to enter for a chance to win a print copy of the book in the book tour giveaway at the end of this post!

KILLER PARTY
by Lynn Cahoon

Genre: Cozy Mystery 
Pub Date: 7/11/2017


For a gang of old college buddies, the quaint resort town of South Cove, California, is the perfect spot for a no-holds-barred bachelor party. But for Jill Gardner—owner of Coffee, Books and More—this stag party is going to be murder . . .
After a few months of living with her boyfriend Greg, Jill is still getting used to sharing such close quarters, but she’s got no hesitation about joining him for a weekend at South Cove’s most luxurious resort. While Greg and his college pals celebrate their buddy’s upcoming wedding, Jill intends to pamper herself in style. But when the groom is found floating facedown in the pool, Jill must find the killer fast, or she might not have a boyfriend to come home to any more . . .




New York Times and USA Today best-selling author Lynn Cahoon is an Idaho expat. She grew up living the small town life she now loves to write about. Currently, she’s living with her husband and two fur babies in a small historic town on the banks of the Mississippi river where her imagination tends to wander. Guidebook to Murder, Book 1 of the Tourist Trap series, won the 2015 Reader’s Crown award for Mystery Fiction.



Follow the tour HERE for exclusive excerpts, guest posts and a giveaway!

Giant Gardens Made Easy

garden.jpg

When you imagine your perfect home, does it come with a huge garden? For many people, a large house with a spacious garden is their dream. All that space means that your kids will have plenty of room to run around and play ball games! But there is one downside to getting the big garden of your dreams - you will have to maintain it. Even if the garden is fairly simple, and just a large lawn, you will still need to mow it every week through the summer.

However, a big garden doesn’t necessarily mean big work, though. Especially not when you follow these useful tips that can help make giant gardens easier to maintain.

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Get Some Extra Help

If you work full-time and spend most of your spare time looking after your kids, you will probably have hardly any time to tend to your garden. And the time you do spend working on your garden is probably not enough to see to the whole space. There is one easy way around this, though - just hire a professional gardener to come and help out. Most gardeners are happy to just spend a few hours a week in a client’s garden. So, don’t feel that you have to waste money on hiring a full-time gardener if you can’t afford that expense.

Think About Landscaping

If you change the style of your garden, you might find that you can create an outdoor space that is a lot easier for you to maintain. It’s worth having a chat with one of the Surrounds landscaping companies to see how they can help you create a simple garden that won’t need too much looking after. For instance, they might suggest that you remove part of your lawn and replace it with some paving slabs or wooden decking. They will also be able to inform you of the types of plants and flowers that don’t require too much attention.

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Collect Rain Water

It’s worth setting up some systems that can help you collect rainwater to use in your garden. You will then find that you always have easy access to water for your garden, and you will no longer have to stand around waiting for your watering can to fill up with water from the tap! If you have a shed, you might want to add some guttering that leads down to a large barrel. Over time, this will fill up with useful rain water!

Go For Evergreens

Are you sick of having to dig out dead plants from your flower bed every once in awhile? Or maybe you’re tired of pruning your bushes and shrubs? Well, you just need to swap all these plants that require hard work for some evergreens. Evergreens require hardly any maintenance and are happy just growing on their own. They grow very slowly throughout the year and will fit into any space you want them to go into!

Big gardens don’t have to bring you out in a sweat! Just use these useful tips, and you will find that you hardly ever have to work in yours.
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