Spotlight: Designs on Forever by Susan Carlisle

Contemporary Romance

Published: September 2020

As a model, Mallory Andrews’ good looks had worked for her for years, but now she’s determined to prove she’s a talented historical interior designer. To do that she must remain unwavering in her focus regarding her current project, the restoration of a historical English manor house turned hotel. The problem is, she keeps getting sidetracked by the handsome and charming grandson of the owner.

Renowned hotel magnate and business consultant, Evan Townsend is retained by the board of his estranged grandmother’s company to make recommendations regarding the failing hotel that could put his grandmother into bankruptcy. His first chore is to terminate the work Mallory is doing. She launches a campaign to prove the changes she has made and others she has planned will benefit his grandmother’s financial bottom line. Evan’s mounting attraction to the beautiful and clever Mallory has him reconsidering his stance on her present work, yet he remains resistant to her requests not to sell the hotel so her work can continue. If only he could be as unaffected by her kisses.

Both fear the other is using the sexual magnetism between them to get what they want. Can Mallory and Evan design a way to break through the walls of half-truths and what-ifs to build a lifetime of love?

Buy on Amazon

About the Author

Susan Carlisle’s love affair with books began when she made a bad grade in math in the sixth grade. Not allowed to watch TV until she brought the grade up, Susan filled her time with books. She turned her love of reading into a love of writing romance. Susan has currently authored more than thirty books for the HarperCollins Harlequin medical imprint. Her Modern Masters of Their Castles trilogy is under her own imprint. Her heroes are strong, vibrant man and the women that challenge them.

In her past life Susan has been a full time mother to four children, a high school substitute teacher and now when she isn’t writing she is busy being a fun grandmother. She lives near Atlanta, Georgia, with her husband of over thirty-five years. Susan loves castles, traveling, sewing and reads voraciously. Visit her at www.SusanCarlisle.com

Connect:

Website: http://www.SusanCarlisle.com

Twitter: http://twiter.com/SusanCarlisle1

Facebook: http://Facebook.com/SusanCarlisle

Instagram: http://Instagram.com/SusanCarlisle

Spotlight: Life in Increments by Andy Hueller

Meet Philihp. He’s in middle school, and he’s in love with Auburn Brown. He doesn’t know how to talk to anyone about it, not even his cousin Graham, with whom he shares movie quotes and other obsessions. But no matter. Philip comes to know, as certainly as anyone can know anything, that destiny, fate, cosmic powers, the universe--they’ll bring him and Auburn together in the end. All he has to do is pay attention to life’s patterns, to live his life in manageable, predictable, proper increments, and the world will reward him.

Meet Auburn. She’s a talented soccer player, a loving sister and daughter. She has very little idea Philihp exists. She’s busy adjusting to a new school, worrying about her brother, and trying to figure out who she’s supposed to be when everything she ever knew feels uncertain.

This is a love story. A true love story, in the ways that truth and love matter most. There are loving families here. Loving friends. Philihp and Auburn live in the same great big scary beautiful world you do. A world that may or may not be predictable or fair but is full of love if you look and listen for it. When all is said and done, this just might be a story about romantic love, too. You’ll have to read to find out.

Buy on Amazon

About the Author

Andy Hueller is the author of Dizzy Fantastic and Her Flying Bicycle, Skipping Stones at the Center of the Earth, How I Got Rich Writing C Papers, and other books for children and young adults. He lives and teaches in Minnesota’s Twin Cities. He happens to be impossibly lucky. The universe has gifted to him an outrageously wonderful family, its best job (teaching middle-school English), and, through his books, opportunities to tell stories even to people he’s never met. You can learn more about Andy at andrewhueller.com.

Connect:

Website: http://www.andrewhueller.com

Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/andrewhueller/

Spotlight: Unlocking: A Memoir of Family and Art by Nancy L. Pressly

Paperback: 224 pages

Publisher: She Writes Press; Illustrated Edition (May 5, 2020)

While recovering from a near fatal illness, Nancy Pressly discovers a treasure trove of family material stored in her attic. Haunted by images of her grandparents and her parents in their youth, she sets out to create a family narrative before it is lost forever. It takes several more years before she summons the courage to reconstitute a path back to her own past, slowly pulling back the veil of amnesia that has, until now, all but obliterated her memory of her childhood.

In this sensitive and forgiving meditation on the meaning of family, Pressly unravels family dynamics and life in a small rural town in the 1950s that so profoundly affected her, then moves forward in time, through to her adulthood. With an eye attuned to visual detail, she relates how she came into her own as a graduate student in the tumultuous sixties in New York; examines how she assumed the role of caretaker for her family as she negotiated with courage and resilience the many health setbacks, including her own battle with pancreatic cancer, that she and her husband encountered; and evokes her interior struggle as a mother as she slowly traverses the barriers of expectations, self-doubt, and evolving norms in the 1980s to embrace a remarkable life as a scholar, champion of contemporary art, and nationally recognized art museum strategic planning consultant. Full of candor and art-inspired insight, Unlocking leaves the reader with a deep appreciation of the power of art and empathy and the value of trying to understand one’s life journey.

Buy on Amazon

About the Author

Atlanta Portrait Photography

Nancy L. Pressly, a graduate of Goucher College, received her master’s degree in Art History from Columbia University. She began her career at the Metropolitan Museum of Art and subsequently held curatorial positions at the Yale Center for British Art and the San Antonio Museum of Art, where she organized several important exhibitions, most notably the acclaimed Fuseli Circle in Rome: Early Romantic Art of the 1770s.

In 1984 she became Assistant Director of the Museum Program at the National Endowment for the Arts; was a visiting Senior Fellow at the Center for Advanced Studies in the Visual Arts during the fall of 1992; and in 1993 founded Nancy L. Pressly & Associates, a nationally recognized consulting firm specializing in strategic planning for art museums. She has authored numerous publications, most recently a book titled Settling the South Carolina Backcountry (2016.)

She and her husband, also an art historian, live in Atlanta, Georgia, close to their son and two grandchildren.  They have lived in England, traveled extensively throughout Europe, and most recently toured Morocco, Ireland, and the Baltic. In addition to writing, Nancy is an avid cook, passionate gardener, and an enthusiastic potter.

Find out more about Nancy at her website, and connect with her on Facebook.

Spotlight: Temple of Eternity by R. Scott Boyer

YA Fantasy

Release Date: September 24, 2020

Publisher: Main Street Publishing

Deep in the rain forests of Guatemala, an ancient Mayan temple holds a mythical secret. The legendary Fountain of Youth lies within, but not all myths are fairy tales. The temple ruins have been seized by the Core, a sinister cult determined to unlock the mysteries of immortality.

When their captured friends are spotted near the temple, Bobby and his cousin Jinx must journey into the dark heart of the jungle to save them. Harnessing their extraordinary abilities, the boys will undertake an epic quest to fulfill a centuries-old prophecy.

Cut off from their allies, Bobby and Jinx combat supernatural barriers, raging rivers, and deadly beasts. They’ll face savage natives, vengeful ghosts, and ruthless mercenaries who can conjure a person's darkest fears.

Past and present will collide, with the power of eternity on the line. Can Bobby fulfill the prophecy and lay the temple’s spirits to rest?

Buy on Amazon

About the Author

Scott Boyer grew up in Santa Monica, CA and graduated from the Haas School of Business at UC Berkeley in 1996. In 2008, he became fascinated with the idea of blending young adult fantasy with new-age/spiritual fiction and spent the next six years crafting his first novel, Bobby Ether and the Academy, which won critical acclaim for blending Eastern spiritual philosophies with a fun, fast-paced adventure style.

Connect:

Website: https://www.rscottboyer.com/

Twitter: https://twitter.com/RScottBoyer

Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/BobbyEtherSeries/

YouTube: https://youtu.be/Y_qZrVxHqnw

Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/rscottboyer/

Spotlight: Delayed in Zurich by Margot Swan

The Vagabond Series Book 1 

Genre: New Adult Romantic Comedy 

Evie Mason is a planner.Get her degree—check. Go on the perfect holiday—check. Start her dream job—ready and waiting when she gets back—check!Fox Evans is an adventurer.No roots. No responsibilities. No plans. Except one—he promised his baby sister, he’d be at her wedding—a promise he intends to keep.Life plans and weddings are put at risk when a blizzard delays them both in Zurich.Neither was looking for love but the heady combination of chocolates and alcohol makes sparks fly. When the snow thaws, and it’s time to say goodbye, perfect-plans and promises can’t be ignored.Will Evie and Fox find their way back to each other, or will it only ever remain a brief stopover romance? 

Excerpt

They strolled through the streets holding hands, and Evie gloried in the feeling of his fingers intertwined with her own. She adored feeling the heat where their shoulders met and sharing the experience of the sparkling lights along the Champs-Élysées as they cast an enchanting glow to the midnight hour. Cars were still rushing past and cafes and bistros were open, laughter and music spilling out of the doors.

She didn’t know what he had planned, but it didn’t matter, all she cared about was being with Fox, and experiencing Paris with him. 

Buy on Amazon

About the Author 

Margot Swan has always been able to lose herself between the pages of a book--to become a part of the story.It has been one of her dreams to become an author, to weave her own stories and create spectacular worlds. Stories carried her through tough times, and books were her best friends when friends were scarce.Margot Swan lives for a Happily Ever After. She's been called a sappy romantic, and she wears that badge with pride. Love stories are life, and the books she reads and writes need to be blissful.Now, after years of encouragement, she's a writer of Contemporary and Paranormal Romance. 

Website * Facebook * FB Group * Instagram * Bookbub * Amazon * Goodreads 

a Rafflecopter giveaway

Spotlight: Breathe Again: Choosing to Believe There's More When Life Has Left You Broken by Stacy Henagan

Publisher: Thomas Nelson (September 22, 2020)

What Do You Do When It Seems God Hasn’t Come Through for You?

When the miracle-working God whom Pastor Stacy Henagan loved and served did not answer the prayers on behalf of her terminally ill one-year-old daughter as expected, she was left crushed with grief and struggling to understand.

• How could a loving God allow this to happen?

• What do you do when it seems God has let you down?

• Is God trustworthy?

Rather than choosing to remain in overwhelming pain and doubt, Stacy emerged with a much greater belief that God is good and trustworthy, even when we don’t think His plans make sense.

Buy on Amazon | Audible

About the Author

Stacy Henagan is copastor of Keypoint Church in northwest Arkansas, a multicampus church she founded with her husband, Casey. Stacy also hosts an annual women’s conference and speaks at other events in the United States and overseas. Stacy and Casey have four children: Haven, who is waiting for them in heaven, and Holland, Hayes, and Hudson.

Connect with Stacy: Facebook | Twitter | Instagram