Series Tour with Trailer + Guest Post + Giveaway: The Cate Kensie Mysteries Series by Nellie H. Steele

The Secret of Dunhaven Castle by Nellie H. Steele

Series: Cate Kensie Mysteries #1

Publication date: July 2020

Synopsis: 

How in the world could she now own a castle?

Shy, introverted Dr. Cate Kensie never imagined that she would inherit a beautiful, and oddly quirky, castle nestled in the picturesque Scottish Highlands. Truthfully, she was sure that she didn't have any family left after her parents died in a car accident several years before, but then she had gotten the phone call, and her entire world had turned upside down.

That was when she discovered that she had family in Scotland, and her distant family member, Gertrude MacKenzie, had passed away, leaving her Dunhaven Castle and a golden timepiece with the mysterious phone call: ALWAYS KEEP AN EYE ON YOUR TIME.

Soon after she leaves the only life she's ever known in the US with her four-legged best friend, the adorable Riley, she quickly finds that owning this castle is not the fairytale she expected. Mysterious events occur that leave Cate wondering if her new home is haunted or if she's losing her mind.

Will Cate be able to unravel the mysteries of Dunhaven Castle before it's too late? Or will the secrets be too much for Cate to handle?

Find out if Cate can uncover the secrets her new home holds in The Secret of Dunhaven Castle!

Murder at Dunhave Castle by Nellie H. Steele

Series: Cate Kensie Mysteries #2

Publication date: June 15th, 2020

Synopsis:

If you could go back in time and clear your family's name, would you?

Dr. Cate Kensie, now known as Lady Catherine Kensie, the mistress of Dunhaven Castle, still can't believe her life. Somehow, moved to Scotland, inherited a castle that's more than meets the eye, and is the proud--and sometimes reluctant--owner of an amazing family heirloom. But there's a secret Cate must protect about her new life, a secret that no one but Jack Reid, the estate manager, knows of.

As Cate learns more about her new home, she discovers that in 1856 there was a murder at Dunhaven and non-other than her own ancestor, Randolph MacKenzie, was accused and convicted of the crime. However, the more she learns about the murder at Dunhaven, the more confusing things become. All of the evidence is there, but the answers still don't add up.

Will Cate have the courage to dive into a centuries-old murder to clear her family's name? Or will she find out the hard way that sometimes it's best to leave the past where it can't hurt you?

Find out in the nail-biting second installment of the Cate Kensie Mysteries series, Murder at Dunhaven Castle!

Holiday Heist at Dunhaven Castle by Nellie H. Steele

Series: Cate Kensie Mysteries #3

Publication date: December 1st, 2020

Synopsis:

Cate knew she had seen those jewels before.

As her eyes scanned the newspaper article from 1925, she is shocked to read about the theft of two priceless necklaces from her family's home. When Cate recognizes one of the stolen necklaces from when she traveled back in time to the year 1856 to solve a murder mystery, Cate knows there's only one thing left for her to do. Despite the hectic holiday season approaching, complete with two grand holiday events, Cate must travel to 1925 and unravel the mystery surrounding the jewelry theft.

However, things take an unexpected turn when she arrives. As Cate discovers more unanswered questions, she starts to wonder if there's a piece to the puzzle she has yet to uncover.

While Cate and estate manager, Jack, try to unravel the puzzle in the past, another mystery brews in the present for Cate. Strange and eerie nightmares centered around a bookcase in Dunhaven Castle's library disrupt Cate's sleep, rattling her mind even during her waking hours. She wonders if there are connected to the jewelry theft or if something darker lurks in Dunhaven's halls.

Can Cate solve the mysterious theft of her family's jewelry? Will the bookcase hold the secrets to the past? If it does, will Cate be able to decipher the clues on its shelves? Or is there something more sinister at work in Dunhaven Castle?

Find out if Cate has what it takes to solve the newest mysteries at Dunhaven Castle in Holiday Heist at Dunhaven Castle, book three of the riveting cozy mystery series Cate Kensie Mysteries.

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Trailer

Guest Post

Tell us about yourself.

I have always wanted to write a book. In middle school, I toyed with the idea of writing as a career. I didn't write my first book until my late thirties though! Life got in the way. In college, I bounced around majors, finally settling in Mathematics which were my favorite classes. I moved on to a master's degree in Computational Mathematics and finally, a Ph.D. in Statistics after realizing I loved teaching (I taught my first class in graduate school and loved it!).

I took a position as a faculty member with a local college and after a decade of work there, I sat down and began my first book. It started as a birthday gift for my mom and a way to pass the time and settle my nerves while I waited for the results of a year-long promotion process. One creative writing certificate and 90k words later, I presented the gift to her. On her birthday, I hid the first draft of my first book and sent her on a scavenger hunt, collecting clues all over her house. When she found all the clues, they led her to a black binder with a puzzle on the front. The puzzle was a poem, informing her that I'd written my first novel and hoped she'd enjoy it!

After that, the stories kept flowing and I found that I enjoyed writing and wanted to continue!

A fun, quirky fact about me: I have twelve (yes, you read right, twelve) pets! Eight cats and four dogs, all rescues and some special needs. I can't say no to a furry face! Our latest addition, Lily, is a four-year-old Yorkie who was a "mill mama" used only for breeding for the first four years of her life. She'd experienced no life outside of a cage and very little human interaction. In one short year, it's amazing to see the change in her! She is very interactive with people now and curious about her world.

Nellie H. Steele lives in the South Hills of Pittsburgh with her family and her many fur-babies. When she isn't writing, she enjoys teaching Statistics at a local university or watching her dogs and cats play in the yard.

Nellie is the author of the Cate Kensie Mystery Series, a cozy mystery series following the adventures of Dr. Catherine Kensie, a history professor turned Scottish Countess, and her beloved dog, Riley, as they navigate their new lives in their quirky Scottish highlands castle, solving mysteries along the way! She is the creator of the Shadow Slayers series, a suspenseful series with a supernatural twist! Follow the Shadow Slayers through time as they fight to banish darkness from the world. Nellie also writes an adventure series, Maggie Edwards Adventures. Follow Maggie Edwards as she travels the world solving mysteries and finding unique treasures!

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Book Tour with Guest Post + Giveaway: Hunted by Sarah Biglow & Molly Zenk @SBiglowWrites @UnsinkableMoZe

Hunted by Sarah Biglow & Molly Zenk

Publication date: November 17th, 2020

Synopsis:

On the hundredth anniversary of being turned into a vampire, Edith Dorset joins her adopted daughters and their friends at the Heartsong Clan's annual Live Action Role Play recruitment event where she meets an eager young man named Dan Paxton. His older brother and Hunter, Darren, thinks Dan's merely chaperoning a trip to a nerd convention, but has no idea he's partnered with vampires for the weekend.

When Darren discovers Dan missing, he follows the only lead he has to the Heartsong Clan's residence on Tombstone Row. Edith and Darren's first meeting is uneasy because he lies his way into the Clan's house, claiming to be there to play on the side of humans. He's determined to keep his Hunter instincts in check, rescue his brother, and get it out of there.

An impromptu late-night encounter leads Darren and Edith to come clean with each other about who and what they are. Edith longs to keep Darren and his brother close, although it goes against Clan rules, and Darren is finding it harder than he thought to snuff out Edith and her family. Darren and Edith grow closer as they seek out the truth from her Sire, Mr. Heartsong.

While Darren uses all his Hunter skills to free his brother and be the hero, Mr. Heartsong banishes Edith from the Clan for her behavior towards Darren. No longer having Clan protection, Edith is faced with a terrible choice. Just as Darren returns with Hunter reinforcements, Heartsong and his Clan have vanished, along with Edith and her family. All that remains is a note from Edith, begging Darren to find them. And so, the hunt begins.

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Interview with Sarah Biglow

Can you, for those who don't know you already, tell something about yourself and how you became an author?

Hi, I'm Sarah Biglow and I'm a USA Today Bestselling author. I write primarily urban fantasy and cozy mystery. I dabble in paranormal romance, although admittedly most of my romance tends to be on the lighter side (as in it's there but it's not always the focal point). I have been publishing since 2015 and am so grateful to be on this journey with my amazing co-author Molly Zenk. We've been friends for over a decade and have been writing together for the last two years.

In terms of how I became an author, I was originally published by a small press in 2012 but when the publisher shut its doors, I made the decision to self-publish and have been on that journey ever since. I will say I've learned a lot in the last two years when I really started to take my career seriously. I've had to adjust my goals and expectations over time, but I think I'm really starting to get the hang of this author thing! I hope you'll think about coming on this wild ride with me by following me on social media and diving into some of my books.

How do you find time to write as a parent?

Have I found time to write as a parent? It's still a work in progress with an almost eighteen-month-old. I do my best to get up early and write before I have to start work (I have a full-time day job, too) and when he goes to bed sometimes I'll try to write then. On weekends, I do my best to take advantage of nap time, but let's be real, that doesn't always happen either. Sometimes, mama just needs a nap herself! But it really has become much more of a balancing act/spinning plate scenario since the little guy came along.

Which of your novels can you imagine being made into a movie?

I can absolutely see my Seasons of Magic (urban fantasy) series being made into a movie. I've actually talked about my dream cast on the series Facebook fan page, I think in particular it would be fascinating to se ehow the visual effects department would adapt and show the way magic is used in that universe. But I could also see Hunted being made into a trilogy of shorter films (there are two more books coming soon). It's got action, romance, mystery, drama and a unique premise that I think would lend itself to a visual medium. I could also see both of my current cozy mystery series being maybe short-run special event miniseries for TV. Like the Hallmark channel or something fun and light like that.

Can you tell us a little about the characters in Hunted?

Hunted follows Darren and Edith, two people on opposing sides of a centuries-long conflict who are more connected than they realize when they first meet. Edith has been a vampire for 100 years after the death of her fiance during World War I. And Darren is driven by revenge against all vampires because vampires killed his parents. There are other supporting characters like Edith's adopted daughters and Darren's younger brother who round out the cast and provide a lot of innocence and some much-needed comic relief. But they are also people dealing with grief and loss as well as identity, position in society and what it means to love your fellow man.

What did you enjoy most about writing this book?

I loved building the world and the backstory for this series with my co-author Molly Zenk. It was our first foray into co-writing and we just had a blast coming up with the rules for our vampires (they can only turn seven people with that person's verbal consent before they turn to dust). I really enjoyed the social justice aspect of the story as well. Our vampires exist out in the open, but they are treated as second class citizens after losing the Civil War. They've been subjugated to government land (similar to the Native tribes in reality) and forced to take government benefits. So, it was really ripe for something big to kick off and I think we did a good job of showing that despite surface differences, they are all people.

Sarah Biglow is a USA Today Bestselling author of cozy mysteries, urban fantasy and paranormal romance. She lives in Massachusetts with her husband and son. She is a licensed attorney and spends her days combatting employment discrimination as an Investigator with the Massachusetts Commission Against Discrimination.

She is a self-professed TV junkie and in her spare time (what's that?), she runs a TV recap blog with her best friend (and sorority sister), Jen. Sarah currently enjoys an array of TV shows including (but definitely not limited to) This Is Us, The Good Doctor, Doctor Who, Lucifer and any show with Chicago in the title by Dick Wolf.

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USA Today Bestselling Author MOLLY ZENK was born in Minnesota, grew up in Florida, lived briefly in Tennessee before finally settling in Colorado. She graduated from Flagler College in St. Augustine, FL with degrees in Secondary Education, English, and Creative Writing. She writes across genres but primarily YA, romance, historical, and urban fantasy/paranormal. She is married to a Mathematician/Software Engineer who complains about there not being enough "math" or info about him in her author bio. They live in Arvada, CO with their daughters.

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Book Tour with Guest Post + Giveaway: The Melody of Three by S.D. Reeves @SD_Reeves

The Melody of Three by S.D. Reeves

Series: The Evercharm Trilogy #1

Publication date: December 2nd, 2019

Synopsis:

Sorcerer Christaan De Rein's return to Liverpool does not go well, starting with the fact that his trusted apprentice, Higgins, dies on the way. Then again, Higgins dies a lot. Of course, Rein doesn't expect to be welcomed with open arms after being banished for nine years, but a cryptic summons from The Musician herself cannot go unanswered.

But when Rein arrives all is in chaos. People with fairy blood are turning up dead. The Forum Magicae is undone and the Curators sieged.

And in another world altogether, where Earth is just a legend, a girl named Niena and a cursed lyre hold the key to saving both realms. Or destroying them.

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Guest Post

If you knew you'd die tomorrow, how would you spend your last day?

There's a poet in me that would spend the time with my wife at a pond, lazily watching the wind blow the reeds, letting the sound of ducks farting waft over us as we partake of some pastries. Utter nonsense. Thankfully, I am a pragmatic man. No, I will ready a horse with barding, and myself don my assortment of the finest LARP ready armor and weapons. I, as my forefathers before me, will then sack Euro Disney.

If you knew you'd die tomorrow, how would you spend your last day?

The worst kind. Picture a world where everyone is forced to wear shoes one size too small. Where roving bands of Imperial Inquisitors scour the land, inflicting upon the populace a ceaseless march of the worst sort of memes. Where butter is currently, and even the sweet escape of death is polluted -- as the solemn death dirges are replaced by the upbeat crooning of Rick Astley.

When did you realize that you wanted to be an author? When did you first consider yourself a writer?

I was sitting in math class some odd twenty years ago, thinking to myself "this is mind-numbingly boring, but not really painful. If only I could add the long wait times, to the feeling of grinding a lemon in my eye, daily..." Soon after I discovered writing, and editing, the query letter dance - but only then did my dream come true!

No, really, I have been dabbling since my early teens. It was only when I was pushing towards the time when I could drink legally, that it clicked for me. On the plus side writing is a profession that goes well with potential alcoholism.

The second question is a bit more difficult to nail down, and it also depends; on my mood, on the time of the day, or if I have eaten anything. I.E. I am saying there are days where, even now, I don't consider myself a 'real' writer. It apparently is a common problem, and I am no exception.

Once upon a time I didn't consider myself a writer until I was published. The goal line moved to being traditionally published. Then an award-winning author. Then to some nebulous financial baseline.

Nowadays? I just write, and try not to think of the existential stuff.

Besides writing, what other secret skills do you have?

I enjoy taking blocks of wood and torturing myself with carving them until the abomination comes out to resemble something close to the boat. I don't know why I continue to do this, but it was born out of reading Patrick O'Brian's Aubrey-Maturin series. Afterwards I just had to have a model boat, so I made one.

You were born in Alabama but now live in Switzerland, how have these life experiences influenced your writing?

That would be a book by itself. A deep, boring, and weird book with a lot of references to cheese... But a book, nonetheless. Perhaps in the simplest of ways it helped instill within me a "I am going to do this no matter what," mentality that helps me complete goals. In a more complex, deeper assessment I think moving from a place with a lot of wide-open spaces, to a crammed country like Switzerland has created within me a desire to roam. And there are a lot of beautiful, inspiring places to visit in Europe.

Your work contains a lot of humor - why do you take this approach?

I believe in balanced writing. For instance, having parts of beautiful prose peek out over quick, terse text. In this case the humor is to balance the darkness. And the Melody of Three can get dark, and very scary at times. 

Tells us about your main characters, what makes them Tick?

Christaan De Rein is eccentric, fussy, but also brave and witty. He is known as The Inspector, representing his role among other Artisans (Sorcerers) in the Curatorium. But there is a lot more to him from his title. He has a long history of love, loss, and well, plain living that he carries with him. In short, I tried to make him human and grounded -- as grounded as an old fop that doesn't age can be.

Niena is a dreamer, and a bit naive -- though the latter is fast changing, as she is learning not to trust others so quickly. She is strong willed, compassionate, but also unsure of herself. Her bravery is a subtle affair. I like to think of her as any typical teenager, thrust into a position of too much attention and danger.

What do you think about the current publishing market?

That is a loaded question, and one I've devoted more than a few blog posts too. The short and sweet of it, rather saturated. But I am not just talking about just the number of books. There is a glut of related publishing services, all promising miracle solutions. And the sad part of it, is that for every valid one there are 10 scams, helping to create a weird tango where it is easy to publish a book, but harder to get noticed.

This also has the alarming effect of suppressing independent authors. There will always be those that are one and done, broken down by the amount of work to initial results ratio. Well, when editing, promotional, and organizational services fail you (because they weren't legitimate), it can add to the stress. This increases the literary graveyard. So, while the barrier to entry is lesser, the fence to hop over for financial success is a bit more difficult to manage. And any time taken out to research a company is time that could be spent elsewhere.

My personal suggestions to aspiring authors is to read the related writing forums and groups (20booksto50k facebook group is solid for marketing), and to invest in a newsletter early on. For the latter Storyorigin is free, and will give you a lot of opportunities to grow your reader base, get reviews, and others.

Curses of Scale by S.D. Reeves (The Evercharm Trilogy Prequel) -

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Stephen Reeves was born in 1980 in Huntsville, Alabama. He currently resides in Switzerland with an undetermined number of cats greater than zero, and a propensity for nonsense. On those cold nights where the wind steams off snowbanks, he is known to write award-winning fantasy novels. And curse his wife's cold feet.

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