Spotlight & Excerpt: River of Wrath + Giveaway

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River of Wrath by Alexandrea Weis & Lucas Astor
  • Title: River of Wrath
  • Series: St. Benedict series, Book 2
  • By: Alexandrea Weis & Lucas Astor
  • Genre: Mystery/Thriller/Suspense/Horror
  • Published by: Vesuvian Books
  • Publication Date: January 2023
  • Number of Pages: 270
  • ISBN: 9781645480174

Book Links: Amazon | Barnes & Noble | BookShop.org | Goodreads | Vesuvian Media Group


More secrets are about to be uncovered, beginning with the arrival of a handsome stranger, and the discovery of bones long buried beneath the river …

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Leslie Moore is struggling to get through her last semester at St. Benedict High. Even her relationship with her boyfriend Derek is falling apart. But after receding floodwaters from the Bogue Falaya River expose the bones of a woman, Leslie becomes obsessed with tracking down the killer.

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Sightings of an apparition haunting The Abbey send Leslie and her friends back to the scene of the horrors from last Halloween, but no one is prepared for what they find.

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After a stranger—the handsome Luke Cross—arrives in town, another girl goes missing, and the sheriff suspects the newcomer is hiding something. Leslie believes the Devereaux family is connected to everything going wrong in St. Benedict. And she means to uncover the truth, no matter the cost.

*

Not all secrets can be kept silent. Some eventually find their way home.

Read an excerpt:

“Come not within the measure of my wrath.”
~William Shakespeare

CHAPTER ONE

Sweat gathered under the brim of Kent Davis’s Stetson as he walked the sandy beach along the Bogue Falaya River. He didn’t feel the brisk January breeze or pay attention to the mutterings of the forensic team. The unease burning in his gut shut out all distractions. He rested his hand on his belt, brushing against his Louisiana sheriff’s badge. The rub of metal reminded him of the oath he’d sworn to protect and serve, but on days like this, he hated his job. Dispatch had initially deemed the early morning call from a frantic jogger a hoax. After an officer confirmed there was a body, Kent arrived at the scene to confront his worst nightmare—another murder. He already had three unsolved deaths weighing heavily on his department. Two high school students and a woman from out of town had died there in a matter of months. City leaders had been breathing down his neck for answers. Kent studied the black body bag the technicians carried. This was only going to make his job harder. His crew combed the beach, where receding floodwaters had exposed a young woman’s grave. From the looks of her bleached bones, partially covered in the remnants of a red dress, she’d been there for quite some time. He doubted they’d find anything admissible. There would be trace evidence, but no footprints, no debris, no blood, and no signs of struggle. He climbed the steep hill from the beach to the parking area, scanning for any clues. Everywhere was a potential crime scene. After years of being in law enforcement, he doubted he could see the world in any other way. “I don’t like this one bit, Bill,” Kent said, approaching the heavyset coroner waiting by the open doors of his van. “What’s there to like. We got a dead girl who’s been buried here a long time.” Dr. Bill Broussard removed a pair of black-framed glasses from his egg-shaped head. “You might find a lead in old missing persons reports.” “I’ll access the St. Tammany Parish database when I get to the station. Until then, she’s a Jane Doe.” Kent eyed the coroner’s van. “How long will it take to know something?” Bill cleaned his glasses and moved out of the way while a technician slammed the doors closed. He waited until the man climbed into the driver’s side before responding. “You realize workin’ with old bones makes it harder to identify the cause of death. Let me get her to the lab, then we’ll see.” “I got enough going on with Beau Devereaux, Dawn Moore, and Andrea Harrison.” Kent tipped back his hat. “This makes four bodies and no leads.” “As soon as people catch wind of this, the gossip mill will run wild.” Bill motioned to the van. “We already got enough rumors flying around about serial killers and rapists on the loose.” “But at least we know this isn’t a serial killer.” “Do we?” Bill flipped through a few pictures on his phone and showed Kent the screen. Kent looked at the bloody mess that had comprised the remains of Beau Devereaux. The golden boy of St. Benedict had been a football star and heir to the Devereaux fortune. The day Kent found his mutilated body along the river had been one of the worst of his career. Beau’s death, on the heels of the rape and grisly murder of Dawn Moore, had shattered his faith in their small town. He squinted at the picture. “What am I missing?” Bill pointed at Beau’s bruised and bloody neck. “Trachea isn’t midline. It’s in two pieces. In the autopsy, I discovered his neck had been broken.” Kent thought of the murder cases that cluttered his desk. “Same as the Harrison girl. Her neck was broken. Any chance wild dogs could have done this?” Bill’s meaty lips thinned into a line. “Harrison had no bite marks. Only Beau suffered extensive puncture wounds. For a dog to snap someone’s neck, it would have to be big and have impressive jaw strength. Until your men find me an animal like that, I’m leaving Beau’s death a homicide.” He wiped his damp brow. “What worries me is this woman’s bones show there might be a break in her neck, too. If that’s the case, someone around here could have a long history of murder.” Kent grew irate. He’d left the turmoil of working for the New Orleans Police Department to get away from the steady dose of homicides. Ten years ago, St. Benedict had been the answer to a prayer for him, his wife, and their two boys. He didn’t want to think such horror could have remained hidden for so long in the idyllic town. “Send me the preliminary results of the autopsy as soon as you get them.” Kent pinched the bridge of his nose, fighting off a headache. “I want it in my hand when I tell Gage Devereaux what we found. He might recall someone who went missing. He’s lived here all his life and is bound to have heard something.” Bill swatted at a passing fly. “He won’t be happy to hear about another body. You know how protective he is of St. Benedict.” “Yep. I expect this will piss him off.” The patriarch and owner of the biggest employer, Benedict Brewery, Gage oversaw everything in the town. Some called him a control freak—a trait many had seen in his son, Beau—but to Kent, Gage was thorough, detail-oriented, and would have made a great detective if he hadn’t taken over the family business. “He’s gonna ask you if this has anything to do with the investigation into Beau’s death.” Bill frowned. “What’re you gonna tell him?” Kent clenched his jaw. “We don’t know if any of these deaths are related.” “Yet,” Bill added. “Seems like an awfully big coincidence to me.” Kent pulled keys from the front pocket of his jeans. “There’re too many coincidences going on around here, and they all seem to center on this damned river. When can you get me a DNA report?” “Might take a while.” Bill scratched his head. “Budget constraints and the backlog of cases clogging the system have slowed everything down.” “How long are we talking? A week?” Bill snorted. “More like weeks. A long-dead Jane Doe isn’t exactly a priority. Otherwise, we could get a rush on it.” “Then we’ll just have to wait and see what we get back,” Kent grumbled. Bill went to the driver’s side of the van and spoke to the technician. He then waved at Kent before walking away. The sheriff waited as the van slowly eased onto the main road, with Bill’s black SUV following close behind. Alone, Kent removed his hat and gazed up at the tall pines rimming the parking lot. Cresting above the tallest of the trees was The Abbey’s single charred limestone spire—its twin lost in the fire. The serene place had witnessed so many atrocities—suicide, fire, and Dawn Moore’s murder. Kent would never understand what the Benedictine monks who founded the seminary ever saw in that cursed land. Legends about the abandoned abbey and its wild dogs had floated around the community for as long as anyone could remember. When the dogs appear, death is near. He’d never believed any of the stories until now. Kent feared there might be some truth to the legend, after all. And the worst was yet to come. *** Excerpt from River of Wrath by Alexandrea Weis & Lucas Astor. Copyright 2023 by Alexandrea Weis & Lucas Astor. Reproduced with permission from Alexandrea Weis & Lucas Astor. All rights reserved.
 

Author Bios:

Alexandrea Weis:

Author Alexandrea Weis, RN-CS, PhD, is an award-winning author, advanced practice registered nurse, and wildlife rehabber who was born and raised in the French Quarter. She has taught at major universities and worked with victims of sexual assault, abuse, and mental illness in a clinical setting at many New Orleans area hospitals. She is a member of the International Thriller Writers Organization and Horror Writers Association.

Catch Up With Alexandrea: stbenedictseries.com Goodreads BookBub – @AlexandreaWeis Instagram – @st.benedictseries Twitter – @alexandreaweis Facebook – @StBenedictSeries

 

Lucas Astor:

Co-author Lucas Astor is an award-winning author and poet with a penchant for telling stories that delve into the dark side of the human psyche. He likes to explore the evil that exists, not just in the world, but next door behind a smiling face. Astor currently lives outside of Nashville, TN.

Catch Up With Lucas: Instagram – @lucasastorauthor

 

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Cover Reveal: Stars Like Gasoline, by Jessika Grewe Glover

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Stars Like Gasoline
by Jessika Grewe Glover
Publication date: April 24th 2023
Genres: Adult, Thriller

When Celia, a Florida art curator, purchases the haunted house of her brother’s deceased fiancé, the spirits threaten her life and her career. To rid the home of the malevolent ghosts, she enlists the help of her brother, Oscar, and Adrian, the best friend of Oscar’s late fiancé, who’d been killed as an Afghanistan veteran. The three are about to be thrown into a chasm of events involving a dead French artist, a Dutch aerospace heiress, and a missing Japanese painter who is presumed to be dead. Not to mention a stalker that begins to threaten Celia and Oscar.

The link between these events appears to be a hidden journal from the 1980s Celia discovers in the home, belonging to a dead, but revered French artist. As Adrian helps decipher the clues, an attraction burns between him and Celia, raising the stakes of the game someone is playing. A game that no one might make it out of alive.

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Author Bio:

Jessika Grewe Glover is the author of Another Beast’s Skin, the first book in a contemporary fantasy trilogy. She grew up in Miami dreaming of magic and other realms in which to escape the heat. She currently resides in the Los Angeles area with her British expat husband, two kids, and the world’s fastest bulldog.

Website / Goodreads / Twitter / Facebook / Instagram / TikTok


Spotlight & Excerpt: Scavenger Hunt + Giveaway

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I am thrilled to be hosting a spot on the SCAVENGER HUNT by Chad Boudreaux Blog Tour hosted by Rockstar Book Tours. Check out my post and make sure to enter the giveaway!

 

Title: SCAVENGER HUNT

Author: Chad Boudreaux

Pub. Date: January 31, 2023

Publisher: Morgan James Fiction

Formats: Paperback, eBook

Pages: 296

Find it: Goodreads, Books2Read 

 

Blake Hudson just wants to serve his country well as a lawyer for the United States Justice Department—but when an unknown threat begins plotting his downfall, he must find who is setting him up before it costs him his life.

Scavenger Hunt is a suspense novel chronicling the plight of Blake Hudson, a Justice Department lawyer assigned to a clandestine counterterrorist group created to bypass onerous legal requirements. After the group mysteriously disbands, Hudson becomes the scapegoat and is transformed from hunter to hunted. As he searches for answers and attempts to piece the puzzle together, people are following him, trying to kill him. 

Written for fans of fast-paced thrillers, dry humor, political gamesmanship, and Clue-like twists and turns, Scavenger Hunt carves out a distinct niche best described as a hybrid of the Robert Ludlum classics and works by Brad Meltzer. Blake Hudson’s story addresses issues that have shaped recent elections and continue to frustrate interest groups and government leaders, while featuring the inner workings of the U.S. Department of Justice Building—arguably the most important and misunderstood agency in the federal government. Author Chad Boudreaux’s unique voice and page-turning storytelling packs a plot-driven punch that readers won’t be able to put down.


Excerpt:

Chapter 1
Washington, DC

Blake Hudson swallowed the final drops of his fourth cup of coffee, grabbed the sports section from the morning paper, and rushed to gather his things after spending too much time engrossed in The Washington Post. He couldn’t be late. His boss didn’t tolerate tardiness or excuses, and after just five months on the job, Blake could ill afford any unforced errors. And to be sure, Blake’s participation in today’s meeting would be more important than ever. He had learned some shocking information, leaked to him during a phone call with a judicial clerk at 2:30 a.m., that, if true, could upend today’s vital courtroom hearing involving the terrorist mastermind Omar Saud. Worse yet, it had the potential to place in jeopardy the already-fragile security posture of the entire country.
It was 6:34 a.m. He didn’t have time for the subway, and Uber and Lyft were in short supply. He’d need a taxi.
As Blake scampered from one room to another in search of his wallet, Judge followed him around the bottom floor of the nineteenth-century, two-story row house. The mammoth black dog despised being abandoned. Judge craved to plunge headlong into the wild adventurism beyond the front door. But Blake was dapper from head to toe, dressed in a pinstriped suit and spit-shined dress shoes instead of athletic shorts and sneakers. For the canine, the culmination of context clues was a dispiriting sign that Blake was off again to Nowheresville. Blake realized that Judge’s outlook was bleak. Judge’s frantic movements in the house evidenced his growing discouragement.
To Blake’s knowledge, Judge was the only Great Dane on Capitol Hill. After watching the clumsy beast slip and slide into one wall after another, Blake understood why. The narrow homes in the area, coupled with postage-stamp backyards, were inconducive to pets towering six feet tall on their hind legs. But Blake wasn’t complaining. With a huge dog and a modest salary, he was lucky to have found a place to rent in the nation’s capital. That his landlord was on sabbatical in Europe for a year and had never laid eyes on Judge, only added to his good fortune.
But Blake knew that good fortune came in finite quantities. Another reminder that he couldn’t be late to work.
Remembering that he’d left his wallet at the office, Blake tossed his newspaper on the front windowsill and hurried down the long, narrow hallway to his bedroom. The clip-clop of paw-beats behind him sounded like the echoes of a bass drum. Once he reached the bedroom, he sifted through the aged Folgers coffee container that sat atop his hand-me-down dresser, scooping out just enough quarters buried among the sticky pennies, nickels, dimes, and old movie stubs to get him to the office. Darting back toward the bedroom door, he bulled past Judge and raced to the front of the house. Upon reaching the front door, he patted his pants and coat pockets until he located his access badge and phone.
And then he waited.
The extended hallway allowed Judge ample room to gain momentum. It took a moment for his oversized paws to establish traction on the waxed and worn pinewood flooring. But when that happened, the situation became dangerous. Blake heard him coming—like a runaway locomotive. Judge barreled down the hallway, then slammed on the brakes at the turn, slid, and then . . . a monstrous thud.
“Judge?”
Judge groaned and scrambled to his feet. For five seconds, the two just stared at one another.
“Look, I know we didn’t take a walk this morning. I’ll be home at lunch today. No pet sitter. We’ll go for a walk.”
The trigger-word “walk,” accentuated by Blake, normally piqued Judge’s interest and caused him to scamper to the hook near the back door. That hook anchored Judge’s most prized possession—the leash. The leash, in turn, was the instrument of hope, spurring more excitement than a T-bone steak. But there was no excitement now. Judge just gazed at the leash.
It was the guilt treatment.
Staring into the mirror over the fireplace, Blake ran his fingers through his short, light-brown hair and fiddled with the Windsor Knot on his gold necktie. “Judge, don’t look at me like that. You know I’m late.” Kneeling, he opened his arms. “Come here, boy.”
Temptation proving unbearable, Judge lowered his head and waggled toward Blake, his tail flailing from side to side. Blake grabbed Judge’s ears and then wrapped his arms around his thick neck. “Remember, you’re my best friend.”
Judge opened his mouth as if to smile, his thick, pink tongue draped over his lower lip and his head bobbing up and down in rhythm with his heavy, happy breaths.
The cajoling complete, Blake scurried from the house in search of a cab. He was running out of time.

Excerpt from Scavenger Hunt by Chad Boudreaux. Reprinted with permission from Morgan James Fiction


About Chad Boudreaux:

Chad Boudreaux has a broad range of government, legal and corporate experience. Prior to serving as the Executive Vice President and Chief Legal Officer of the nation’s largest military shipbuilder, he served as Deputy Chief of Staff for the U.S. Department of Homeland Security, where he advised Secretary Michael Chertoff on almost all significant matters facing the newly established Department. Before working for Homeland Security, Boudreaux served in several high-ranking positions at the U.S. Justice Department, where he was hired the night before the September 11, 2001 attacks. During his time at the Justice Department, Boudreaux focused most of his time on matters relating to terrorism and homeland security. His career in the government lead him to write his debut novel, Scavenger Hunt, coming out January 2023.

 

Website | FacebookInstagram | Goodreads | Amazon


Giveaway Details:

1 winner will receive a finished copy of SCAVENGER HUNT, US Only.

a Rafflecopter giveaway

Ends February 14th, midnight EST.


Tour Schedule:

Week One:

1/16/2023

Mythical Books

Excerpt/IG Post

1/17/2023

Sadie’s Spotlight

Excerpt/IG Post

1/18/2023

A Dream Within A Dream

Excerpt

1/19/2023

Pick a good book

Excerpt/IG Post

1/20/2023

#BRVL Book Review Virginia Lee Blog

Excerpt/IG Post

1/21/2023

Writer of Wrongs

Excerpt

Week Two:

1/22/2023

Lady Hawkeye

Excerpt/IG Post

1/23/2023

Two Chicks on Books

Excerpt/IG Post

1/24/2023

Fire and Ice

Review

1/25/2023

@reacing.late.into.the.night

Review/IG Post

1/26/2023

OneMoreExclamation

Review/IG Post

1/27/2023

Books and Zebras

IG Review

1/28/2023

the book near me

Review/IG Post

Week Three:

1/29/2023

A Blue Box Full of Books

IG Review/LFL Drop Pic

1/30/2023

The Momma Spot

Review/IG Post

1/31/2023

Review Thick And Thin

Review/IG Post

2/1/2023

@carlysunshinebooks

IG Review/LFL Drop Pic

2/2/2023

Rajiv’s Reviews

Review/IG Post

2/3/2023

@allyluvsbooksalatte

IG Review/TikTok Post

2/4/2023

@froggyreadteach

IG Review

Week Four:

2/5/2023

bookmama85

IG Review

2/6/2023

Brandi Danielle Davis

IG Review/TikTok Post

2/7/2023

@amysbookshelf82

IG Review

2/8/2023

Two Points of Interest

Review

2/9/2023

GryffindorBookishNerd

IG Review

2/10/2023

@enjoyingbooksagain

IG Review

 

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