Spotlight & Author Interview: What’s Not True, by Valerie Taylor

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Join Us for This Tour from September 15 to October 12!

 

 

Book Title:  What’s Not True by Valerie Taylor
Category: Adult Fiction 18+ 
Genre: Women’s Fiction, Chick Lit
Publisher:  She Writes Press, 321 pages
Release date:  August 2021
Content Rating:  PG-13 + M What’s Not True has several sex scenes and some bad language.


What’s Not True…is an enthralling, character-driven story that will appeal irresistibly to fans of women’s fiction…Taylor’s prose is crystalline…she does not waste words, rather using them to create a tense, nerve-shredder that
offers full entertainment to readers.”
Readers’ Favorite 5-star review

Book Description:

With her court date set for her divorce and her plans with the younger man in the rearview mirror, Kassie O’Callaghan shifts attention to reviving her stalled career. But things get complicated when she unexpectedly rendezvous with her former lover in Paris. After a chance meeting there with a colleague and a stroll along Pont Neuf, Kassie receives two compelling proposals. Can she accept them both?

But Kassie’s decision process screeches to a halt when her soon-to-be ex-husband has a heart attack, forcing her to fly home to Boston. There, she confronts his conniving and deceitful fiancée—a woman who wants not just a ring on her finger but everything that belongs to Kassie. In the ensuing battle to protect what’s legally and rightfully hers, Kassie discovers that sometimes it’s what’s not true that can set you free.

Though a standalone novel, What’s Not True is the sequel to What’s Not Said (September 15, 2020).

 

You’ll Also Love The Award-Winning First Book in This Series:

 

WHAT'S NOT SAID by Valerie Taylor

Book Details:
Book Title:  What’s Not Said
by Valerie Taylor
Category: Adult Fiction 18+ 
Genre: Women’s Fiction, Chick Lit
Publisher:  She Writes Press, 300 pages
Release date:  September 2020
Content Rating:  PG-13 + M:  has several sex scenes and some bad language.

2021 International Book Awards Finalist in Fiction: Women’s Fiction
2020 Canadian Book Club Awards Finalist in Fiction
Chosen as an August 2021 Pulpwood Queens Book Club selection
Featured by the international NoMo Book Club in May 2021
“Taylor’s dialogue is snappy and contemporary . . . A witty and often amusing marriage drama.”

Kirkus Reviews

Book Description:What’s Not Said is a story about Kassie O’Callaghan, a middle-aged woman on a mission to divorce her emotionally abusive husband and start a new life with a younger man she met while on a solo vacation in Venice. When she learns her husband has chronic kidney disease, her plans collapse until she pokes around his pajama drawer and discovers his illness is the least of his deceits.

Then again, Kassie is no angel. The separate lives they lead collide head-on into a tangled web of sex, lies, and DNA. As she helps her husband find an organ donor, Kassie uncovers a secret, forcing her to decide whose life to save: her husband’s or her own.

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Author Interview:

What’s the biggest challenge you faced in writing the WHAT’S NOT Series?

After I decided to continue the story within a series, I found some online resources on how best to do that, and I studied them. I learned that I needed to develop the characters more deeply and introduce or expand secondary characters. Then, I discovered my biggest challenge was to maintain the voices of the characters in What’s Not Said and create voices for the characters in What’s Not True who were either new or who became more critical to the story.

At times, your writing is hysterical. Are you that funny in real life?

I’m tickled pink that many readers say my stories make them laugh, even though most agree my characters are very flawed and the situations they find themselves in are mind-boggling. In my own life, I try not to be too serious and to find some humor in my days. Though I can’t tell a joke, I grew up watching a lot of comedy shows, like Lucy, Jack Benny, Milton Berle, Dean Martin and so on. I guess I’m dating myself. But it’s the simple comedy and one liners that bowl me over and that I try to infuse into my stories.

What research did you do for your novels?

Both What’s Not Said and What’s Not True required a bit of research. There are scenes in Venice and Paris that I needed to describe. I’d visited both in years past, so I still had those memories and photos. Coincidentally, I vacationed in Venice just a few months before I submitted the final What’s Not Said manuscript to my publisher, so I took the chapter featuring Venice with me. I read it there and kind of walked through the scene to be sure I’d gotten it right. I did!

In What’s Not True, there’s a dinner scene at a restaurant in the Eiffel Tower. I used the Google machine to provide me with a description of the restaurant and the menu.

In What’s Not Said, the antagonist, Mike, has chronic kidney disease. I spent time researching various health care websites to inform me about the disease. There are numerous hospital scenes in both novels. I watched Grey’s Anatomy reruns to get me in the writing mood for those.

How would you describe your ideal reader?

Hopefully, you are my ideal reader! With 85 million mature women in the United States alone who are looking to read about characters they can relate to, I believe there are a fair number of women who would love my stories and my characters. I recognize, though, that my writing is not for everyone. Some women don’t like the sex scenes, though I tried to be as discreet as possible and not go full 50 Shades of Gray.

That said, one reviewer recently wrote: “Taylor’s easy writing style is like chatting with friends over coffee or a martini.”

Now that two books in the WHAT’S NOT Series are published, what’s next?

Since What’s Not True ends in a cliffhanger, I just have to move forward with book three! I’m about twenty-five percent into the new manuscript, which means I’m heading into what I call the muddy middle. It’s the place where the main characters get fully developed and conflict and tension escalate. The middle occupies about fifty-percent of the story. Once that’s done, I’ll be in the homestretch. And because book three will be the last of the WHAT’S NOT Series, this time I’ll try not to leave you all hanging!


Meet the Author:

Valerie Taylor was born and raised in Stamford, Connecticut. She earned a B.S. Marketing degree and an MBA from Sacred Heart University, as well as a graduate certificate in health care administration from Simmons University (formerly Simmons College). She had a thirty-year career in the financial services industry as a marketer and writer. Valerie is a published book reviewer with BookTrib.com; and a member of Westport Writers’ Workshop, Independent Book Publishers Association, and Women’s Fiction Writers
Association. She enjoys practicing tai chi and being an expert sports spectator.

website ~ twitter ~ facebook ~ instagram ~ goodreads


Tour Schedule:Sep 15 – Viviana MacKade – book spotlight / guest post / giveaway
Sep 15 – Cover Lover Book Review – book spotlight / giveaway
Sep 15 – I’m All About Books – book spotlight / giveaway
Sep 16 – 
Review Thick & Thin – book review of WHAT’S NOT SAID / author interview 

Sep 16 – Pick a Good Book – book review of WHAT’S NOT TRUE / author interview / giveaway
Sep 16 – 
AllBookedUpReviews (instagram) –book review of WHAT’S NOT TRUE

Sep 17 – fundinmental – book spotlight / giveaway
Sep 17 – Amy’s Booket List – book review of WHAT’S NOT TRUE / giveaway
Sep 21 – Welcome To MLM Opinion’s Reviews – book review of WHAT’S NOT TRUE
Sep 21 – @twilight_reader – book review of WHAT’S NOT SAID
Sep 23 – Book Corner News and Reviews – book review of WHAT’S NOT SAID / giveaway
Sep 23 – 
Review Thick & Thin – book review of WHAT’S NOT TRUE / guest post

Sep 24 – Book Corner News and Reviews – book review of WHAT’S NOT TRUE / giveaway
Sep 27 – Sadie’s Spotlight – book spotlight / author interview / giveaway
Sep 27 – Sefina Hawke’s Books – book review of WHAT’S NOT SAID
Sep 28 – Cheryl’s Book Nook – book review of WHAT’S NOT TRUE / giveaway
Sep 29 – Sefina Hawke’s Books – book review of WHAT’S NOT TRUE
Sep 29 –
Falling Into A Good Book – book review of WHAT’S NOT TRUE

Sep 30 – @twilight_reader – book review of WHAT’S NOT TRUE
Sep 30 –
StoreyBook Reviews – book spotlight / guest post / giveaway 

Oct 1 – Celticlady’s Reviews – book spotlight / guest post / giveaway
Oct 1 – Books for Books – book review of WHAT’S NOT SAID
Oct 4 – Locks, Hooks and Books – book review of WHAT’S NOT SAID / giveaway
Oct 5 – Locks, Hooks and Books – book review of WHAT’S NOT TRUE / giveaway
Oct 6 – Splashes of Joy – book review of WHAT’S NOT SAID / giveaway
Oct 6 – Books Lattes & Tiaras – book review of WHAT’S NOT TRUE
Oct 7 – Splashes of Joy – book review of WHAT’S NOT TRUE / author interview / giveaway
Oct 8 – Jazzy Book Reviews – book spotlight / giveaway
Oct 8 – Books for Books – book review of WHAT’S NOT TRUE
Oct 12 – 
Books and Zebras  – book review of WHAT’S NOT TRUE

Oct 12 – Adventurous Jessy – book review of WHAT’S NOT TRUE / giveaway

 

Enter the Giveaway:
 

WHAT’S NOT TRUE Book Tour Giveaway

 

Spotlight: Gloria + Giveaway

gloria

Gloria -Ebook cover

 

Gloria
by Katherine Shaw
Suspense

For all intents and purposes, Gloria Harrison has the perfect life: a rich husband, a beautiful home, and all the free time she needs to work on her art. And yet, she is deeply unhappy. Initially resigned to be pushed around by her snobbish, manipulative husband, Greg, she discovers a shocking truth about him she simply cannot ignore, and has to get out.

As Gloria’s world unravels around her, she has to team up with friends new and old to escape not only her husband’s clutches, but also the country, even if that means giving up everything.

Gloria must rediscover who she used to be and realise her true worth to finally free herself from Greg’s stranglehold forever, or risk losing the person she holds most dear in the world – her daughter.

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Kobo
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Author Bio :
Katherine Shaw is a multi-genre writer and self-confessed nerd from Yorkshire in the United Kingdom, spending most of her time dreaming up new characters or playing D&D. She has a passion for telling the stories of underdogs who must rise up to defeat the hardships they have been dealt in life, often with a focus on female protagonists. She is currently working on her debut novel Gloria, a contemporary domestic thriller launching in September this year, alongside several short story projects that are in the works. You can find out more at her website (www.katherineshawwrites.com), and she is always happy to chat on Twitter (@katheroony).

Gloria - Author photo 2

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Schedule:

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Giveaway:

Gloria Giveaway PRize

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*Terms and Conditions –UK entries welcome.  Please enter using the Rafflecopter box below.  The winner will be selected at random via Rafflecopter from all valid entries and will be notified by Twitter and/or email. If no response is received within 7 days then Rachel’s Random Resources reserves the right to select an alternative winner. Open to all entrants aged 18 or over.  Any personal data given as part of the competition entry is used for this purpose only and will not be shared with third parties, with the exception of the winners’ information. This will passed to the giveaway organiser and used only for fulfilment of the prize, after which time Rachel’s Random Resources will delete the data.  I am not responsible for despatch or delivery of the prize.

 

Book Blitz & Excerpt – The Yakuza Path: One Thousand Cranes, by Amy Tasukada

one thousand cranes

BOOK BLAST

Book Title:  The Yakuza Path: One Thousand Cranes

Author: Amy Tasukada

Publisher: ‎ Macarons & Tea Publishing

Release Date: December 12, 2017

Genre: Gay thriller (not a romance)

Tropes: Bad boys, tragic hero 

Themes: Mafia, betrayal 

Heat Rating: 1 flame    

Length:  130 pages

It is book 3 in The Yakuza Path series and can be read as a standalone but it’s worth reading the previous books to follow the ongoing storyline.

This book does not end on a cliffhanger.

Goodreads

 

Buy Links 

Amazon US  | Amazon UK

Kobo  |  Apple Books  |  B&N  |  Google Play  |  Books2Read  

 

When a body goes missing, a young Yakuza’s life hangs in the balance…

 

Blurb 

Aki Hisona’s latest promotion is a cause for celebration. But because his new job is working as the personal secretary for the Yakuza’s Kyoto-based godfather, it’s also a cause for dangerous envy. He takes an invitation from a friend for congratulatory drinks, but Aki never thought the night would end with a deadly knife fight…

Aki is tasked with disposing of his friend’s corpse, but there’s one problem: the body is missing. As body parts surface around town, it’s only a matter of time before the police piece together the clues. But keeping one step ahead of the cops may not matter if Aki can’t solve the mystery before his cold, unforgiving godfather boss does…

One Thousand Cranes is a pulse-pounding thriller in the ongoing series of Japanese mafia stories. If you like gritty settings, page-turning whodunits, and accurate portrayals of Kyoto traditions, then you’ll love Amy Tasukada’s gripping tale. 

 

The Yakuza Path Series

BOOK 1 – Blood Stained Tea

BOOK 2 – Better Than Suicide

BOOK 3 – One Thousand Cranes

BOOK 4 – The Deafening Silence

BOOK 5 – Flowers of Flesh and Blood

BOOK 6 – Releasing in November

 

 

Excerpt 

Shoda squeezed Aki’s arm. “Don’t think you’re getting out of buying me a beer that easily, Mr. Hot Shot Secretary.”

“We got to find a place first.”

“There should be one up another block.”

The streets were quiet, except for trash workers, but they avoided even glancing toward Aki and Shoda. Even without the inward-facing arrows of the Matsukawa crest pinned on their shirts, they could never lose their yakuza swagger.

“I’ve been trying to suck up to the ward leader in the redlight district,” Shoda said.

“You think the ward leader will move you there when your apprenticeship is over?”

“I think so, but who the fuck knows. I do everything they want, and I still feel like I haven’t gotten anywhere.”

“It hasn’t gone unnoticed. There have been a few times Father Murata talked about how he wished all the recruits were as dedicated as you.”

Shoda tugged on his ear. “I just gotta spend another six months cleaning toilets. Then probably another doing the same thing at one of the Kyoto wards. I joined the yakuza, not a maid service.”

Aki laughed. “I felt that way, too. It takes time. People have to learn they can trust you before they hand over bigger duties.”

“Is that so?”

“Wherever you go, I wish you the best. You’ll make a name for yourself.”

Even with the good wishes, Shoda’s face remained tight. “It was easier for you.”

The two passed through a narrow alley reeking of rotting fish and piss. The yellow trash bags took up so much space they had to walk single file.

“Maybe if I’d taken it up the ass, too, I would’ve gotten a cushy job answering phones by now,” Shoda said.

“I don’t just answ—”

“So you still have to suck his dick, too? Maybe we could both take turns. The fag might want some variety.”

Aki’s mouth slackened. “Shoda, you’re drunk.”

“And more clearheaded than ever before.”

Shoda snatched a handful of Aki’s chin-length hair and jerked him back. The world spun, and the first of the sun rays blinded Aki. Then Shoda’s fist connected with the side of Aki’s

face, and he fell onto the stuffed trash bags.

“Shoda!” Aki cried out while all the hours of training he put in at the boxing gym fluttered away like a paper trapped in a whirlwind.

“B-but we’re friends,” Aki managed to say. “Why? Why are you doing this?”

Shoda grunted and drew his arm back again. “Huh? High school grad can’t figure it out? You think you’re better than the rest of us, don’t you?”

Aki held up his arms, covering his face, but Shoda delivered a blow to his wrist that sent a shock wave of pain throughout Aki’s body. But it didn’t hurt as much as their breaking friendship.

“No! I never thought that,” Aki pleaded.

“I’m going to fuck you up so bad Father Murata won’t want to look at you. You two-toned freak!”

Another punch landed on Aki’s stomach. The beer sloshing in his gut churned up his throat. His thoughts swirled as he slid down the trash bags and vomited. It splashed back onto his white hands.

Shoda kicked him in the ribs. A trail of acid followed the rest of the contents of Aki’s stomach. Even with the copper taste of blood mixing with acid in his mouth, Aki knew the scuffle had to be a misunderstanding. They were best friends. Shoda just got a little hotheaded.

Aki wiped his mouth as Shoda stumbled back. Sure, Aki trained on a punching bag, but he never sparred with an actual person, let alone struck his best friend.

“Sho…”

 

About the Author 

International best-selling author Amy Tasukada writes thrilling times of crime, love, and gore. Readers who crave diverse characters, unique settings, and edge-of-your-seat action will devour her Yakuza Path series. Readers who seek less blood and more love will swoon over the Yakuza Path Romance and Would it Be Okay to Love You? Series. Amy is an atheist, queer author who enjoys drinking tea, Japanese street fashion and visual kei music.  Her calico cat, O’Hara, is never far from her side. Amy lives in North Texas, but is always planning her next trip to Japan.

 

 

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