Ann W. Jarvie has a B.A. in journalism and more than twenty-five years’ experience as an award-winning writer in advertising and public relations agencies, both in South Carolina and Chicago. She now lives near Phoenix, Arizona, where she spends part of her time as a freelance copywriter and the rest writing fiction.
The Soul Retrieval was inspired by Jarvie’s maternal grandmother’s fascinating life on Indian reservations, where she lived with her physician husband until his mysterious and untimely death.
www.annwjarvie.com
https://twitter.com/annjarvie1
https://plus.google.com/104972649617453739149/posts
https://www.facebook.com/ann.jarvie1
Inspired by a true story, The Soul Retrieval is a suspenseful tale of love, loss and healing
which follows traumatized southern beauty Henrietta Clayborn as she moves between her
home in a small South Carolina town and the New Mexico Native American reservation whose spontaneous healings keep drawing her physician husband back. Tortured by her awful secrets, Henrietta struggles to thrive in either locale, but it is her unlikely friendship with Joe Loco––an eccentric Native American mystic with an Elvis fetish and a gift for healing––that shows her the way to be whole again.
Set in the late 1950s, The Soul Retrieval is richly woven with spiritual insights but also deadly secrets, forbidden healings, a murder mystery, stunning scenery and an unforgettable cast of characters.
A story of transcendent and inspiring power that is both entertaining and enlightening, readers will be cheering for the uptight woman from South Carolina to push through her fears of the forbidden as she searches for truth and healing, faces great obstacles on the frontier of self and
ultimately becomes more than she ever thought possible.
After finishing the second nocturne, he looked up at her. “You know that I’ve been researching the high incidence of spontaneous healings here, right?” Jeff was both a lead physician and medical researcher at the Medichero Indian Hospital. He reached for a pack of cigarettes from the pocket of his short-sleeved white shirt.
“Uh-huh,” Henrietta said. She barely heard what he said. How am I going to get into it? How am I going to tell him? She had asked herself these questions at least a million times. She picked up a pen and notebook from the coffee table, trying to keep her hands busy.
Jeff smoked in silence a moment before continuing. “There’s more to it than even I imagined.”
“More to what?” she asked. She absently doodled on the page without looking up. How am I
going to tell him?
Jeff blew smoke. “The spontaneous healings that I’m so interested in ... the medicine men here seem to be doing something real to affect the recoveries.”
Now he had her attention. “They are?” She looked at him. “Like what?”
Instead of answering, Jeff got up and turned toward the bay windows that cradled the piano in a small alcove off the living room of the doctor’s cottage. His silhouette against the bright morning light was a man-shaped eclipse, his muscled edges luminous and blurred by the smoldering tobacco. It gave him an unworldly appearance, and Henrietta was reminded about how often she felt like an outsider here, and even back home.
Tuesday, March 31, 2015
Tuesday, March 17, 2015
#BookBlast: Reconciled for Easter by Noelle Adams @NoelleAdams3
Noelle handwrote her first romance novel in a spiral-bound notebook when she was twelve, and she hasn’t stopped writing since. She has lived in eight different states and currently resides in Virginia, where she teaches English, reads any book she can get her hands on, and offers tribute to a very spoiled cocker spaniel.
She loves travel, art, history, and ice cream. After spending far too many years of her life in graduate school, she has decided to reorient her priorities and focus on writing contemporary romances.
Social Media: Website: http://noelle-adams.com/Home_Page.html Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/NoelleAdamsAuthor Twitter: https://twitter.com/NoelleAdams3 Goodreads: http://www.goodreads.com/author/show/6572847.Noelle_Adams Book Trailer for Reconciled for Easter: http://youtu.be/uRCv460Clr0 Embed code:
Blurb:
Excerpt:
Social Media: Website: http://noelle-adams.com/Home_Page.html Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/NoelleAdamsAuthor Twitter: https://twitter.com/NoelleAdams3 Goodreads: http://www.goodreads.com/author/show/6572847.Noelle_Adams Book Trailer for Reconciled for Easter: http://youtu.be/uRCv460Clr0 Embed code:
Blurb:
Abigail has been separated from her husband for almost two years.
After a marriage that brought her only insecurity, she seeks a life now of
peace and independence with their six-year-old daughter. Thomas wants to put
their marriage back together, because he liked the wife he used to have, but
she never wants to be that person again.
She might need his help with their daughter and start to enjoy his
company again, but she just can't trust him with her heart. Even when she
discovers that her heart still wants him for a husband.
Buy links:
Excerpt:
She was leaning back against the counter, and Thomas was
standing far too close to her. Once again invading her personal space. And this
time she easily recognized his tone as snide. “What the heck is your problem?”
Thomas had one hand on the counter beside her, bracing
himself as he stood just a few inches away from her. She would have scooted
over, but that would have been a surrender.
His green eyes were intent on her face, and she saw his
nostrils flare just a little. “You smell like him.”
Abigail gasped, mostly from shock and outrage but also with
the faintest trace of arousal at the intimacy of the words. “What?”
“I said,” he gritted out, edging even closer until the
fabric of his shirt brushed against her arm and one of her breasts, “you smell
like him.”
“Well, what do you expect?” she demanded, her anger blazing
quickly. No one could rile her up like Thomas could. “I spent the evening with
the man.”
Something grew even tenser in his expression. “Did you?”
She knew him well enough to understand the resonance in his
words. “Damn you, Thomas,” she said in a harsh whisper, making sure her voice
didn’t carry past the kitchen. She’d never used such language before they’d
gotten separated. “You have no right to act this way.”
Clearly Thomas too was conscious of not waking Mia, since
his murmur was thick, rough, and soft. “I’d like to remind you of the fact that
you’re still my wife.”
“And what makes you think I need any sort of reminder of
that?
His lips tightened into white. “I saw him walk you to the
door.”
She sucked in an indignant breath and clenched her fists at
her sides. Thomas was still far too close. She could feel the heat radiating
off his body, sense the leashed tension in his stance, hear the fast, uneven
breaths he was taking. “So someone isn’t allowed to be polite to me now,
because I’m still your wife?”
Thomas made a guttural sound and braced his other hand on the
counter, imprisoning her in between his arms. He leaned forward, pushing her
back, and he rasped against her ear. “That man wasn’t just being polite. You
know it as well as I do.”
She was so angry now she could hardly think straight, and it
was worse to know that he was right. She’d been foolish in not recognizing what
Jim was thinking long before now.
But worst of all was a familiar feeling building beneath her
belly. She knew how to recognize it. Knew it was triggered by the proximity of
Thomas’s lean, hard body, his familiar scent flooding her senses, his piercing
eyes and thick voice.
Her body was primed for sex with him, even as she wanted to
scratch lines down his slightly flushed face.
Noelle will be giving away a $25 Amazon or Barnes and Noble gift card during the tour!
Monday, March 16, 2015
#Interview with @LouiseLyndon1 for Of Love and Vengeance
Louise grew
up in country Victoria, Australia, before moving to England, where for sixteen
years she soaked up the vibrancy of London and the medieval history of England.
She has since returned to Australia and now lives in Melbourne.
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What is your story's heat level? How do you approach the sex scenes?
Of Love and Vengeance has a ‘sensual’ heat level. I’m OK writing sex scenes, I mean, I don’t get embarrassed by them or anything. I get more embarrassed if someone I know reads them! I do a very rough draft of sex scenes and then go back and layer the scene. I have to be careful because I have a tendency to add an extra limb here and there!
How do you maintain activity as a writer when sitting at a desk all day?
I make sure I go to the gym prior to writing – otherwise if I
didn’t do that I wouldn’t move for hours, possibly days on end. If I’m deep
into a scene often I don’t notice the time fly so I am often surprised when I
look at the clock and realize six hours have whizzed by. I’ll get up and walk
through the house or go outside and walk to the end of the street.
What is it that you loved about the main characters in your story?
One of the main things I love about Laila is even though she is
from ‘medieval’ times, I think a lot of women will be able to relate to her.
She has a birthmark down the side of her face and has self-image issues, which
I am sure we’ve all suffered (or are still suffering) with. So she learns how
to love herself before she can love others. And she is strong! She can look
after herself, thank you very much, but she isn’t too strong that she won’t
allow others to look after her every now and then.
What do you feel is your strongest type of writing? Humor? Angst? Confrontation scenes? Action? Sex? Sensuality? Sweet Romance? And why?
I love writing confrontation scenes. You can really let rip and get so much out – especially if the scene involves the ‘baddy’. You can push things a lot more, I feel, than if you are writing a non-confrontational scene.
Finally, tell us a little about your newest release!
My newest release, Of Love and Vengeance, is about a few
things really. Firstly, it’s about prejudices, mainly about how we can tar an
entire group by either misconceptions or by the behavior of a few. Both the
hero and heroine are guilty of doing this, so we get to see how they deal with
this. It’s also about acceptance, not just of each other, but of yourself as
well. Laila, the heroine has a birthmark that covers one side of her face, and
she really struggles with loving herself because of it. So we also see how she
learns to love herself.
Excerpt:
She has been
writing the moment she picked up a copy of Diana Gabaldon's first Outlander
novel twenty something years ago. She thought to herself, 'this is what I want
to do' - not travel back in time, but become a novelist! She has always had
snippets of dialogue and scenes floating around in her head with characters
screaming at her to bring them to life.
In 2013,
Louise won first prize in the Crested Butte Sandy Writing contest – Historical
category for her story, The Promise, which is now called, Of Love and
Vengeance.
When not
writing, she can be found covered in mud, crawling under barbed wire and
hoisting herself over twelve foot walls - under the guise of competing in
Spartan races all over Australia.
AUTHOR LINKS:
WebsiteBlog
What is your story's heat level? How do you approach the sex scenes?
Of Love and Vengeance has a ‘sensual’ heat level. I’m OK writing sex scenes, I mean, I don’t get embarrassed by them or anything. I get more embarrassed if someone I know reads them! I do a very rough draft of sex scenes and then go back and layer the scene. I have to be careful because I have a tendency to add an extra limb here and there!
How do you maintain activity as a writer when sitting at a desk all day?
What is it that you loved about the main characters in your story?
Aymon, I love his strong moral compass. While he’s very loyal to
his king, he also knows the difference between ‘right and wrong’ and he uses
his morals to guide him to make his own decisions, regardless of whether or not
it could cost him his life.
What do you feel is your strongest type of writing? Humor? Angst? Confrontation scenes? Action? Sex? Sensuality? Sweet Romance? And why?
I love writing confrontation scenes. You can really let rip and get so much out – especially if the scene involves the ‘baddy’. You can push things a lot more, I feel, than if you are writing a non-confrontational scene.
Are you
social media savvy? If so what do you suggest for others? If not, why not?
I would class myself as a social media addict. I spend way too much time on Facebook and Twitter. I always like to try anything new that comes out. I think it’s important for writers to have a presence on the internet. And I think it’s important to build that presence in advance of having any work available. Social media is now a fact of life and I believe you should utilize it to its fullest.
I would class myself as a social media addict. I spend way too much time on Facebook and Twitter. I always like to try anything new that comes out. I think it’s important for writers to have a presence on the internet. And I think it’s important to build that presence in advance of having any work available. Social media is now a fact of life and I believe you should utilize it to its fullest.
What are
some things from your life or things you have observed that you've infused into
your stories?
I mentioned earlier the self-image issues that Laila experiences in my book, Of Love and Vengeance. Well, I drew from personal experience and infused that in the story. I tapped into the ‘issues’ I’ve experienced and gave them to Laila.
I mentioned earlier the self-image issues that Laila experiences in my book, Of Love and Vengeance. Well, I drew from personal experience and infused that in the story. I tapped into the ‘issues’ I’ve experienced and gave them to Laila.
If you
had an unlimited budget, where would you like to visit for story-related
research?
Up until two years ago, I lived in the UK for sixteen years. I would LOVE to be able to go back there for research purposes.
Up until two years ago, I lived in the UK for sixteen years. I would LOVE to be able to go back there for research purposes.
Any fun
facts about the research for your book?
I had LOADS of fun staring at pictures of Chris Hemsworth (I’ve
based my character, Aymon, on him). So yes, it was extremely tough looking at
pictures of him, especially the shirtless ones, but hey, someone has to do it!Finally, tell us a little about your newest release!
BLURB:
Forced to marry Lord Aymon to ensure her young nephews
survival, English Lady Laila vows undying hatred for the Norman she holds responsible
for the deaths of so many innocents. Discovering Aymon has committed an act of
treason gives her the chance to seek vengeance he deserves. But can Laila let Aymon die at the hands of
the king once she learns the truth?
A hardened Norman warrior, Lord Aymon has lived through
atrocities no man ever should. With the invasion of England over, all he wants
is a quiet life and a wife who will give him heirs and obey his every command.
Instead, he finds himself wed to feisty and outspoken Laila. But when she
learns the truth of his treasonous act, can Aymon count on her to keep his
secret?
BUY LINKS:
Laila heard them long before she saw them. Their angry,
frenzied shouts and thunderous roars filled her ears. With her hands tied
securely behind her, she was dragged up the lane toward Tyburn Gallows, where
she was to be hanged for a crime she did not commit. The mob sounded blood
thirsty. Large. Frightening.
There was no sign of Aymon. Or Hugh. Had they left her alone
to die?
Her chin trembled and her nails dug into her palms.
She suddenly fell to her knees and screamed until she tasted
blood at the back of her throat. She kicked out and tried to crawl free as her
hair was almost torn from the roots as she was pulled up and shoved along the
lane.
Her eyes burned with her tears.
“I am innocent!” Laila screamed.
They came around a corner, and that’s when she saw them.
There must have been a least two thousand men, women, and children, hungry for
her blood. And when they saw her, they erupted into a wild fever of roars and
cries for a slow and painful death. Their thirst had been piqued, and now it
must be sated.
Laila was shoved into the center of the clearing.
She glanced wildly around in a desperate search for Aymon’s
towering, bulky frame. She could not see him.
But what she could see was the Tyburn Tree. The gallows she
was to be hanged from. The executioner, hooded, stood beside the tree as he
waited patiently for her. Laila’s mouth suddenly went dry.
Louise will be awarding a $15 Amazon or Barnes and Noble GC to a randomly drawn winner via rafflecopter during the tour, and a $15 Amazon or Barnes and Noble GC to a randomly drawn host during the tour.
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