March Movers and Shakers for Fleet Life and EHDirectory

Here are the books which made it to the March Issues of local magazines.

Fleet Life has the following books on page six of it’s magazine, for the online version go to http://www.fleetlife.org.uk, load the online directory and turn to page 6

The Dead Lands by Dylan J Morgan

I Listened To My Heart by Rosemary Gallagher

Motherlove by Thorne Moore

The Haunting Of Secrets by Shelley Pickens

The Song of the Cypress by Tonia Parronchi

Elvetham Heath Directory has the following books on page of it’s magazine, for the online version go to ehd.org.uk, load the online directory and turn to page 6.

S.C.A.R.S by Julia Ibbotson

The Broken Angel by Monica La Porta

Just Two Weeks by Amanda Sington-Williams

White Horizon by Jan Ruth

Mind Over Murder by Cary Allen Stone

Rosie’s Book Review Team #RBRT Karen reviews The Haunting Of Secrets by Shelley Pickens

Today we have a review from team member Karen, she blogs at https://mytrainofthoughtson.wordpress.com/

Karen chose to read and review The Haunting Of Secrets by Shelley Pickens

My Opinion

The book introduces you to 16-year-old Aimee. She doesn’t like to touch people as she automatically learns all about their past when this happens.

With The Haunting of Secrets, Shelley R. Pickens has created an intriguing story of a girl who tries to keep to herself. Her secret is only known to Mary who adopted her four years before and to her friend Dejana. When a bomb explodes at lunch time, life is getting harder. Some classmates are killed or hurt and when trying to get to safety, someone touches her arm. This boy knows that she now knows his secret. The Haunting of Secrets is a very gripping read with a three-dimensional main character; the more I learned about her, the more I liked her. Shelley R. Pickens develops the story in a great way – it gets more and more thrilling as the story proceeds. I was drawn into the story right away, was really close to Aimee and all events. I’m looking forward to reading the sequel! The Haunting of Secrets is a great read for young adults as well as fans of paranormal and mystery reads.

This a book to read again. Highly recommended.

Find a copy here from Amazon.co.uk or Amazon.com

Rosie’s Book Review Team #RBRT Noelle reviews The Haunting Of Secrets by Shelley Pickens

Today we have a review from team member Noelle, she blogs at http://saylingaway.wordpress.com

Noelle chose to read and review The Haunting Of Secrets by Shelley Pickens

The Haunting Of Secrets – Shelley Pickens

The Haunting of Secrets by Shelley Pickens is really a YA novel, but I decided to give it a read because the premise – a high school girl who sees and feels all the memories of anyone she touches –seemed rather intriguing. Also, I’ve found a lot of other YA books very enjoyable (think the Harry Potter series, the new volumes of which I anticipated as much as my daughter).

This book indeed held my interest, and I had a hard time putting it down – but looked forward to picking it up again, like a treat. The author has teenagers pegged: their brattiness and snide senses of humour, their brutal honesty, and of course their bullying. There were also rare kindnesses, providing sweet spots in the narrative. The action moved briskly and the author provided a few tantalizing hints of whom the villain might be.

Sixteen year old Aimee protects herself from touch by dressing as a Goth in long black pants, long sleeve black shirts and black gloves. During her escape from the high school’s cafeteria following the explosion of a bomb in the room, her clothes are torn and she inadvertently makes skin contact with another student. This student is a butcher of young girls and the memories that flood Aimee’s mind are devastating. Worse, she has no idea who this boy is. Worse yet, he knows that she knows.

Aimee is faced with a conundrum: how can she find this person and how can she identify his victims without revisiting his terrifying memories. She is helped in her search by her one friend, Dejana, who is willing to overlook Aimee’s idiosyncrasies and who brings in another student to help in the search. During this time, Aimee is bewildered, flattered and ultimately warms to the attention paid her by Logan, a handsome young jock who wants to protect her from her demons and the killer who begins to stalk her. The author does a great job portraying a first love with its angst and tremulousness.

If there is anything of a drawback to this book, it is the fact that there was a great deal of narrative, particularly at the beginning. In other words, a lot of telling instead of showing, and there were areas where this repeated later in the book. The dialog is great, and I would have liked to see more of it as a way of telling the story.

That being said, this book was really enjoyable and the ending had a kicker of a twist. It kept me on the edge of my seat and since it is obvious from the ending there will be a sequel, I am looking forward to reading it!

Find a copy here from Amazon.co.uk or Amazon.com

Rosie’s Book Review Team #RBRT Cathy reviews The Haunting Of Secrets by Shelley Pickens

Today’s book review is from team member Cathy, she blogs at http://betweenthelinesbookblog.wordpress.com

Cathy chose to read and review The Haunting Of Secrets by Shelley Pickens

The Haunting Of Secrets – Shelley Pickens

For all that she is caring and warm-hearted, Aimee is a loner and keeps people literally at arm’s length. It took her only friend, Dejana, a year to break through her reserve. Aimee is cursed with the ability to see, in detail, the memories of anyone she touches skin to skin. To others she appears to be weird and insular but the Goth attire of all black with long sleeves and gloves, whatever the weather, is her protection from personal contact.

When a bomb explodes in the school cafeteria, Aimee inadvertently touches someone in the ensuing confusion and chaos and is assaulted by horrific memories of torture and murder. Aimee doesn’t know who she touched, but realises it must be one of her fellow students who is the sadistic killer of her visions. She must find him before he kills again and enlists the help of Dejana and a new friend, Leah, who is a computer whizz. As Aimee recalls the killer’s memories and the friends’ gathering of information increases, it becomes apparent the killer is stalking Aimee and she is to be his next target.

Aimee is the main protagonist. She is very strong-willed and a definite survivor considering how her life has been up to this point. Most of the story is told from her perspective with occasional passages from the killer’s point of view as well as one or two others. Aimee, Dejana and Leah are the strongest characters and are at the forefront, and as the story progresses more is revealed through the memories Aimee has absorbed and the mystery and tension build quickly. I did have my suspicions as to the killer’s identity but the other twists were a complete surprise.

I enjoyed the book very much, although it was quite graphic and gory for the YA genre, but maybe that’s just my squeamishness surfacing. Even so, I would recommend this for older teens. Having said that, it’s a solid debut novel with good pacing and a distinct concept. I’ll be interested to see where the sequel takes Aimee.

Find a copy here from Amazon.co.uk or Amazon.com

Good Deeds Challenge, Year 2, Week 31

Welcome to my second Year of Good Deeds, a challenge I set myself during April 2013. I decided to do at least one Good Deed a day for a whole year, now I am into my second year.

This week I’ve been doing the following;

November 16th – Day 16 of the Mystery November book tour and it was the turn of Tracy Lawson from Dallas, Texas and her book Counteract. http://wp.me/p2Eu3u-5OA

This afternoon we are hosting a birthday tea for the in-laws.

November 17th – My morning helping at school. The Sand Bluff Murders by C.M. Albrecht is today’s book on the Mystery Tour http://wp.me/p2Eu3u-5Nv

November 18th – Day 18 of the Mystery Book Tour and it the turn of Gregg Bell and his book Jamie’s Gamble http://wp.me/p2Eu3u-5NG

Busy day today, My Mother’s birthday and my parents Golden Wedding Anniversary, my brother is travelling from his farm in Cornwall and we are taking them out to dinner this evening.

November 19th- Up early today and cleared out the lounge ready for delivery of a new sofa and chair, all ready for the 7am to 6pm delivery slot! Caught up on loads of paperwork and twiddled my thumps until 3.45pm, spent the evening trying out all the new seating positions, well you have to don’t you when it’s new!

Today’s book on the tour was Center Point by Robert Clark. http://wp.me/p2Eu3u-5Ow

November 20th – Promised to help chase a payment for a friend when I next go to work. The book today on the mystery tour is Prime Deception by Carys Jones. http://wp.me/p2Eu3u-5Np

November 21st – Finished reading The Gift Horse by Leslie Stilton and wrote out my review. Today’s mystery book was Steps into Darkness by Ben Woodard. http://wp.me/p2Eu3u-5S8

November 22nd – Read and reviewed Home For Christmas by Jan Ruth The mystery book today was The Haunting of Secrets by Shelley Pickens. http://wp.me/p2Eu3u-5Qe

Mystery Book Tour Day 22 #MysteryNovember The Haunting Of Secrets by Shelley Pickens

Today on our Mystery Book Tour we have Shelley Pickens and her book The Haunting Of Secrets

Where is your home town?    

 

I had the distinct misfortune of living in one of the most humid places on earth – Columbia, SC! But as the capital of South Carolina, it is also a beautiful, safe place to grow up and build wonderful childhood memories. Though, to this day, I still won’t eat our beloved state crop – Okra! YUCK!

How long have you been writing?  

 

I can’t honestly remember a time when I was young that I haven’t thought about writing some poem or short story after my mind has revealed its latest creative idea. Yet, after a teacher in my master’s program demolished my writing style, I couldn’t write for a good decade. It wasn’t until I saw a television special highlighting the Journey of one of my favourite authors – J.K. Rowling – that I became inspired enough to pick up my pen once again and begin writing novels. With my best friend’s encouragement, I jumped blindly and not so bravely into the world of publishing this past July.

What is your favourite sub-genre of mystery?  

Must I just pick one? 😉 I love reading romance, anything YA or Paranormal and almost anything Dystopian. Though I do love a great mystery, I can’t quite get into horror books. The only exception to that is Dean Koontz’s Odd Thomas series. I’m totally in love with goofy Odd!

Where is The Haunting of Secrets set?   

The Haunting of Secrets takes place at a high school in rural Georgia. The setting is based off of the actual high school at which I currently work as a Spanish teacher. ¡Arrrriba!

Can you introduce us to Aimee?    

Aimee is a strong willed survivor who chooses to live her life alone and away from others. She is the epitome of a Goth girl with long blonde hair dyed black, a nose ring and covered head to toe in black clothes to deter people from interacting with her. She loathes all human contact because she’s cursed. Her curse is that if she touches you, she absorbs all of your memories, all of your secrets. She has great inner strength and truly does desire friendship yet lives a lonely life for an obvious reason: she doesn’t want to absorb any more horrible memories. But after reliving the gruesome memories of a killer, Aimee now decides she must reach out for help to catch the murderer hiding amongst them.

Who or what is responsible for the school bombing? 

Sorry, no spoilers!! Who or what set off the bomb in the cafeteria that fateful day isn’t revealed until the very end of the book. I guess you’ll just have to read it to find out! J

What does Aimee see on that fateful day? 

Sadly, it isn’t what Aimee sees that day, but what she DOESN’T see. On that fateful day of the bombing, as Aimee and a few others are running for their lives to get out of range of the falling rubble, a fellow student grabs on to her bare arm for support. She instantly absorbs every memory that person ever had, including memories of him torturing and killing young girls. Aimee blacks out from the sheer horror of the images and awakens with no idea who had touched her. Now it’s up to her to figure out if this secret is worth the sacrifices that she will have to make to bring a killer to justice.

How does Aimee protect herself from the one who hunts her? 

As you read through the novel, you see that the killer is very aware that Aimee possesses his darkest secret. For all that Aimee is strong willed and a survivor, she soon realizes that she’s no match for a seasoned killer. Having lived her life cloaked in darkness, she has never quite learned how to interact well with those that live freely basking within the light. To protect herself and the ones that she loves, she must gather all of her strength to ask others to aid her in searching for a killer among them.

Tell us what you are working on at the moment.

Since the sequel is completed and contracted to be released April 2015, I am taking a break from the Secrets trilogy and am currently working on a short story novella on a romantic proposal to be included in an anthology to be released next June via Satin Romance – an imprint of Melange Books. When they first approached me about writing a romantic story as part an anthology my first question was, “So, I guess that means I can’t kill anybody, huh?”

Where can readers find out more about you? 

If you are interested in my story “The Haunting of Secrets” (and I hope you are!) please visit any or all of the sites below. The coolest is my book trailer done by the video class at my high school with actors from drama! Too cool!

When I’m not writing or teaching, you can find me surfing Facebook or twitter for all the latest news, tidbits and gossip! I share all my new adventures in life and in writing on both Facebook and Twitter. I am sorry to say that I am very new at blogging but post as much as I can when I’m not running around taking my hot mess kids to either baseball or soccer.

Publisher: http://www.fireandiceya.com/

 

Website: www.shelleypickens.com Shelley will be running a quick answer question from her website or her Facebook to win a copy of her book in e-format (Mobi – Worldwide)  or paperback (US only)

 

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

 

Twitter: https://twitter.com/shelleypickens

 

Goodreads: https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/22798155-the-haunting-of-secrets

 

Book Trailer: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cQvKX0rb-Zg

 

BUYING LINKS FOR US AND UK:

Amazon US: http://www.amazon.com/The-Haunting-Secrets-Shelley-Pickens/dp/1612359299/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1412615352&sr=8-1&keywords=the+haunting+of+secrets

Amazon UK: http://www.amazon.co.uk/dp/B00M2E3IVK/ref=nosim?tag=bookdire-21&linkCode=sb1&camp=2378&creative=8430

Barnes and Noble: http://www.barnesandnoble.com/w/the-haunting-of-secrets-shelley-r-pickens/1119986452?ean=9781612359298&offerid=239662

Smashwords: https://www.smashwords.com/books/view/459523?ref=booksdirect

Publisher Site: http://www.fireandiceya.com/authors/shelleyrpickens/hauntingofsecrets.html