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1. Cool Creatures, Hot Planet: Exploring the Seven Continents

   About Cool Creatures, Hot Planet: Exploring the Seven Continents:

   Six-time award-winning book!

   Minneapolis Star-Tribune top-10 “green” book!

   Cool Creatures, Hot Planet: Exploring the Seven Continents follows Marty and Deb Essen on a three-and-a-half-year-long adventure to some of the wildest places on all seven continents.

   The American couple began crisscrossing the globe with the simple intention of searching for rare and interesting wildlife. When their travels coincided with the U.S. invasion of Iraq, the added element made them unwitting ambassadors for peace. Their experiences–from amusing to life threatening–changed their lives forever.

   This is not your average travelogue. Marty Essen has written a book that entertains, informs, and poignantly reminds us that we all share a small planet.

   Locations visited include: Belize, Peru (the Amazon Rainforest), Argentina, Australia (Queensland), Canada (Alberta, British Columbia, Yukon Territory, and Northwest Territories), Antarctica, Europe (Spain, France, Switzerland, and Andorra), Malaysia (Borneo), and Africa (Zimbabwe).

   Learn more about the author, buy the book, or follow them on social media:
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   Author Bio:
   Born in Duluth, Minnesota, Marty Essen developed a love of animals at an early age. When he was eight years old, his first “pet,” a black widow spider, gave birth to hundreds of babies, which promptly crawled onto his hands when he opened the jar to feed them. He prudently traded his spiders for a horned toad.

   Marty’s dream of an animal-oriented career became sidetracked at the age of 13, when he volunteered to answer request lines at a radio station. That position led to a job as a radio announcer, which in turn led him to become the owner of a Minneapolis-based talent management agency.

   In 1990, Gig Magazine contracted Marty for his first professional writing work–a series of feature articles on the music business.

   Eventually Marty moved to Montana to launch an independent local telephone company. In 2001, while being interviewed for a story about his telephone company, Marty mentioned to the reporter that he was heading to the Amazon rainforest. The reporter invited him to write a story about his adventures.

   Marty’s Amazon story ran as a feature article in two Montana newspapers. The Amazon story, and a second story about a trip to Australia, were so well received that he decided to expand his travels to all seven continents.

   While traveling the world, in search of rare and interesting wildlife, Marty was stung by one of the world’s most venomous insects, bitten by a poisonous snake, surrounded by wolves, attacked by a hippo–and had the time of his life. He chronicled his unique adventures in his first book, Cool Creatures, Hot Planet: Exploring the Seven Continents.

   Cool Creatures, Hot Planet won three first-place awards for travel/essay writing: the 2007 Benjamin Franklin Award, the 2007 National Indie Excellence Book Award, and the Best Books 2006 Book Award. It also won bronze metals in the ForeWord Magazine Book of the Year Awards and the IPPY Awards. Additionally, Cool Creatures, Hot Planet won first place in the Animals category at the 2009 Green Book Festival in Los Angeles, and the Minneapolis Star-Tribune named it a Top-10 Green Book.

   In late 2007, Marty Essen began presenting Around the World in 90 Minutes at colleges, museums, and nature centers across the United States. Based on his book, Marty’s high-energy multi-media show takes audiences on an unforgettable worldwide adventure, packed with rare and interesting wildlife. It’s the type of show where the audience has fun laughing at the stories, oohing and aahing at the photos, and then, when it’s all done, they realize just how much they’ve learned.

   In November 2008, Marty Essen became APCA’s (the Association for the Promotion of Campus Activities) #1 Booked College Speaker, and since then he has spent a total of 46 months at the #1 position. In 2011, Campus Activities Magazine named Marty a “Hot Speaker” pick for 2011. Currently, Around the World in 90 Minutes is the 2nd most-popular slide-show of all-time (behind Al Gore’s “An Inconvenient Truth”), a position it will likely hold for years to come!

   Cool Creatures, Hot Planet: Exploring the Seven Continents is a post from Awesome Gang

2. CAPE MAYBE

   About CAPE MAYBE:

   Sometimes the toughest journey is the one that takes you back to your roots. For Katie, navigating life and love is trickier than walking barefoot on a beach full of broken shells. Maybe Katie will break the family cycle of alcoholism. Maybe she won’t. Set against the backdrop of picturesque, seaside Cape May, Cape Maybe traces the push and pull of Katie’s conflicting love for her erratic mother and steadfast grandfather and her ever-growing attraction to her best friend, Dennis. Katie’s life is shaped by her vow to be nothing like her alcoholic mother. Her reckless teenage choices test the strength of family ties, friendship, and first love. Ultimately about hard-earned hope, what we inherit, and what we choose to let go, in Cape Maybe, Katie discovers what she never expected about motherhood, forgiving yourself, and creating your own second chances.

   Learn more about the author, buy the book, or follow them on social media:
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   Author Bio:
   Carol Fragale Brill is the author of two novels, CAPE MAYBE and PEACE BY PIECE. She earned her MFA in Creative Writing from Fairleigh Dickinson University. Her fiction has been recognized by Poets and Writers and Philadelphia Stories and has been published in Wide Array, Philadelphia Stories, and The Press of Atlantic She writes book reviews for New York Journal of Books. Find her blog at http://4broadminds.blogspot.com/search/label/Carol

   CAPE MAYBE is a post from Awesome Gang

3. Venice in the Moonlight

   About Venice in the Moonlight:

   Take a vacation from the London ton and visit Venice in the Moonlight!

   A Story of Vengeance, Forgiveness, and Love

   Considered useless by his cold-hearted father, Nico Foscari, eldest son of one of the founding families in Venice, hides his pain behind gambling, drinking and womanizing.

   After her husband’s untimely demise, Marietta Gatti returns to her hometown of Venice in hopes of starting a new life and finding the happiness that was missing in her forced marriage.

   When Fate throws them together, friendship begins to grow into love until Marietta learns a Foscari family secret that may have cost her father his life. Now, she must choose between vengeance, forgiveness, and love.

   Elizabeth McKenna’s latest novel takes you back to eighteenth century Carnival, where lovers meet discreetly, and masks make everyone equal.

   Learn more about the author, buy the book, or follow them on social media:
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   Author Bio:
   Elizabeth McKenna works as a full-time technical writer/editor for a large software company. Though her love of books reaches back to her childhood, she had never read romance novels until one Christmas when her sister gave her the latest bestseller by Nora Roberts. She was hooked from page one (actually, she admits it was the first love scene). She had always wanted to write fiction, so she combined her love of history, romance and a happy ending to write her debut novel Cera’s Place. Her short story, The Gypsy Casts a Spell, is available for free on her website http://elizabethmckenna.com/. She hopes you will enjoy her latest novel, Venice in the Moonlight, as much as others have enjoyed her previous works.

   Elizabeth lives in Wisconsin with her understanding husband, two beautiful daughters, and a sassy Labrador. When she isn’t writing, working, or being a mom, she’s sleeping.

   Venice in the Moonlight is a post from Awesome Gang

4. Outlawed Hope by Na’ama Yehuda

   About Outlawed Hope by Na’ama Yehuda:

   Abandoned as an infant, adopted, and then forgotten until seventeen, Aimee was raised for an unknown future. Outlawed Hope is her story, the story of the Outlaws who birthed her, the Society that raised her, and the infant she finds. Aimee needs to save the infant from a future she knows too well. Through dangerous close calls, Aimee discovers that she isn’t who she thought she was, and nor are those around her. Why was she abandoned? Who found her? For the truth, Aimee must face stunning revelations. She is trained to comply, but cannot—it would doom her and the baby she struggles to protect. Can she find another way, and at what cost? Outlawed Hope is a story of loss, unexpected empathy, brutality, and heartfelt resilience.

   “A story of escape and capture, the power of hope, and the heroics necessary to ensure a child’s future.” Meredith Blevins, The Hummingbird Wizard (The Mystic Café)

   “Reminiscent of Margaret Atwood’s The Handmaid’s Tale, Outlawed Hope is a compelling, fast-paced novel set in a less-than-utopian society. We feel the race of Aimee’s pulse as we follow the twists and turns of her journey, meeting various characters who help, hinder, sabotage, and heal both her past and future. In this first novel by Na’ama Yehuda, change is given the ride of its life and hope is anything but outlawed.” Adele Ryan McDowell, Author of Amazon Bestseller Balancing Act: Reflections, meditations and Coping Strategies for Today’s Fact Paced Whirl

   Learn more about the author, buy the book, or follow them on social media:
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   Author Bio:
   I was born and raised in Israel, lived briefly in Africa as a child, and currently reside in New York City. I’m a Speech Language Pathologist and Audiologist and have been working with children of all ages for almost 25 years. I work in both Hebrew and English, which can make for interesting switches from session to session, depending on the child I work with and the language they need help with. I worked in Israel before I moved to New York, and I hold licenses for both places, which is helpful. Aside from my clinical work with the munchkins, I teach internationally to child professionals, present in conferences, edit a periodical professional publication and publish a column in it, contribute columns in other publications, volunteer in several committees … and try to get a few more hours in the day to fit it all in. I am blessed to do what I love and I thoroughly enjoy all of it.

   I often believe that my young clients teach me more than I teach them. Many of them had been through developmental trauma, chronic pain, premature birth, adoption, or other complicated issues that make for very difficult beginnings. The children’s spirit humbles me.

   I am the fifth of seven girls and have an amazing–and very large–family. Though we don’t all live nearby, my family supplies me with a never ending stream of personalities, anecdotes, funnies, lovelies, cuties, and the whole spectrum of maddening and awe-inspiring stuff families can bring up.

   OUTLAWED HOPE is my first novel and I am ridiculously pleased to have published it. I’m delighted with the reviews, and grateful for the opportunity to share my work. I’ve published articles in peer-review journals before, as well as columns in professional newsletters, and a chapter in one of the leading books about childhood trauma and dissociation in recent years. I am also currently at work on a professional book for Routledge Publishers, and on a requested chapter to yet another professional book. I’m not new to writing. However, OUTLAWED HOPE and fiction writing is a whole other adventure. I love, love, LOVE it.

   In addition to the non-fiction projects I am involved with right now, I am knee deep in writing yet another novel, and in the sequel to OUTLAWED HOPE.

   In addition to my love affair with books and writing, I also love goats, life, beaches, friends, good food, good laughs, and good conversations.

   Outlawed Hope by Na’ama Yehuda is a post from Awesome Gang

5. Beneath a Highland Moon by Gwyn Brodie

   About Beneath a Highland Moon by Gwyn Brodie:

   Scottish Highlands 1602:

   When the MacRae’s castle comes under siege, Lady Jillian escapes with her four year old brother and hurries to Kade MacLachlan, the handsome Laird of Ravenskull Castle for help. Four years earlier, they had been in love and wished to marry, until finding out her father had betrothed her to someone else, who was later killed. Once she again is face-to-face with the handsome Highland laird, she realizes, to her surprise, she still loves him.

   Kade is shocked when Lady Jillian suddenly appears on his doorstep and offers herself to him for his protection and help in recovering the MacRae castle. He has no intention of allowing the lovely lass to slide through his fingers again, even if he has to put his own live on the line to keep her.

   Learn more about the author, buy the book, or follow them on social media:
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   Author Bio:
   Gwyn Brodie lives in Western North Carolina with her husband, two dogs and three cats! Beside writing, she enjoys reading, gardening and refurnishing old furniture. In addition, she loves all things Scottish and travels to Scotland whenever she can, where she draws her inspiration for her Scottish Historicals, of which the second, “Once Upon a Highland Moon” will be out in February!

   Beneath a Highland Moon by Gwyn Brodie is a post from Awesome Gang

6. Lady Justice and the Assassin by Robert Thornhill

   About Lady Justice and the Assassin by Robert Thornhill:

   Two radical groups have joined together for a common purpose — to kill the President of the United States, and they’re looking for the perfect person to do the job.

   Not a cold-blooded killer or a vicious assassin, but a model citizen, far removed from the watchful eyes of Homeland Security.

   When the president comes to Kansas City, the unlikely trio of Walt, Willie and Louie the Lip find themselves knee-deep in the planned assassination.

   Join our heroes for another suspenseful mystery and lots of laughs!

   Learn more about the author, buy the book, or follow them on social media:
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   Author Bio:
   Award-winning author, Robert Thornhill, began writing at the age of sixty-six and in four short years has penned fifteen novels in the Lady Justice mystery/comedy series, the seven volume Rainbow Road series of chapter books for children, a cookbook and a mini-autobiography.

   Lady Justice and the Sting, Lady Justice and Dr. Death, Lady Justice and the Vigilante, Lady Justice and the Candidate, Lady Justice and the Book Club Murders and Lady Justice and the Cruise Ship Murders won the Pinnacle Award for the best new mystery novels of Fall 2011, Winter 2012, Summer 2012, Fall 2012, Spring of 2013 and Summer 2013 from the National Association of Book Entrepreneurs.

   Many of Walt’s adventures in the Lady Justice series are anecdotal and based on Robert’s real life.

   Although Robert holds a master’s in psychology, he has never taken a course in writing and has never learned to type. All 26 of his published books were typed with one finger and a thumb!

   His wit and insight come from his varied occupations, including thirty-three years as a real estate broker. He lives with his wife, Peg, in Independence, Missouri.

   Lady Justice and the Assassin by Robert Thornhill is a post from Awesome Gang

7. TRUST by Pamela M. Kelley

   About TRUST by Pamela M. Kelley:

   How well do you really know your significant other? If he or she was accused of a crime, even murder, would you trust in their innocence unconditionally?

   In TRUST, high school teacher, Lauren, is about to get married when one of her students goes missing and she becomes a person of interest.

   Her fiance, David, is surprised to discover that there are things he didn’t know about Lauren. With the help of his 91 year old grandfather, and his friend Jack, the assistant sheriff, he searches for the truth.

   Learn more about the author, buy the book, or follow them on social media:
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   Author Bio:
   Pamela M. Kelley lives in the historic seaside town of Plymouth, MA near Cape Cod and just south of Boston. She has always been a book worm and still reads often and widely, romance, mysteries, thrillers and cook books. She writes cozy mysteries and romances and you’ll probably see food featured along with a recipe or two. She is owned by a cute little Maine Coon Cat, Kelley.

   Feel free to sign up for her list to hear about new releases as soon as they are available as well as extras like early bird discounts. Just cut and paste into your browser, http://eepurl.com/IZbOH

   Thank you!

   ~Pam

   TRUST by Pamela M. Kelley is a post from Awesome Gang

8. Pirates Or Patriots

   About Pirates Or Patriots:

   Pirates or Patriots follows a young British merchant from the fields of Shropshire to waters of the Mississippi delta and a young farm girl from the shores of the Chesapeake to the gritty underbelly of the French Quarter. On a warm summer afternoon the two fall in love only to be torn apart by the secrets in their lives and the looming Battle of New Orleans.

   Learn more about the author, buy the book, or follow them on social media:
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   Author Bio:
   I’m a Christ Follower and a Texan to the core. I own two types of shoes; flip-flops and cowboy boots.

   I have a Bachelor’s Degree from the University of Texas at Arlington where I studied Film and Television Production. Like everyone in my line of work I’ve written a few screenplays. One earned some awards but none ended up on screen.

   Pirates or Patriots evolved from a conversation I had with an elderly uncle about how my family came to America. That discussion led me to begin reading as many accounts of the events leading up to the Battle of New Orleans as I could find. One version claimed that an English teenager introduced Lafitte and Jackson at the corner of Royal and Canal Streets. That account somewhat coincided with my uncle’s Now, I do not want to imply that some relation of mine had anything to do with Jean Lafitte, but I couldn’t help but wonder how a British teenager could have found himself standing on a New Orleans street corner with Jean Lafitte and Andrew Jackson. Thus, Pirates or Patriots.

   Pirates Or Patriots is a post from Awesome Gang

9. Runaway Girlfriend

   About Runaway Girlfriend:

   Everybody loves Rain Austin. What was not to love? She was beautiful, successful, and funny with a big heart. She just had one major flaw: She was a serious commitment-phobe. She was happy having a man in her life, when she wanted a man in her life. She was far too busy running her staffing company to settle down. If only she could convince her friends and family that her choices were right for her. So what if she dumped a man at the first sight of him catching feelings? But when she meets Blake Collins in a client meeting, she starts to think maybe she was missing out on something after all.

   Blake Collins was under a lot of pressure at work. When he contracted a staffing company to help him out, he met Rain Austin. Holy Crap! Who could think about work when a green eyed goddess was sitting across from him? This could get interesting.

   Learn more about the author, buy the book, or follow them on social media:
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   Author Bio:
   Vivienne was born and raised in Houston, Texas where she currently resides with her husband and two children. She is a recruiter by day and a writer by night. She began her relationship with romance around the age of twelve when she was mistakenly sent a Zebra Historical Romance novel in her bulk shipment of teenage angst books. Her life was forever changed. Reading historical romances made her believe in the big kind of love, opened her imagination, and expanded her vocabulary (this proved helpful while studying for the SATs). Vivienne finally released her first novella Dolce Vita in October 2013 as a fun experiment. She uses some element of her real life in every story she writes and enjoys having her friends and family guess which parts are hers. Follow Vivienne on her story telling journey and enjoy them as much as she enjoys sharing them.

   Runaway Girlfriend is a post from Awesome Gang

10. Typewriter from Hell by Diane Cox

    About Typewriter from Hell by Diane Cox:

    Unemployed dumpy librarian Ellen Brinson is desperate for money so she sends off a partial manuscript to well-known agent Henry Morgan. Henry, whose lifestyle is expensive, is also desperate for cash and he thinks he has a big winner.

    Ellen meets a man who offers her the opportunity for a good job and her interest in the novel wanes. However, she can’t seem to stop writing as her old black Corona takes charge at unexpected times. As she grows more confident, Ellen’s appearance seems to morph along with her manuscript and she becomes increasingly sleek and sexy.

    The two clash when Henry has interested a publisher in the book but Ellen decides she’d rather have a boyfriend than a novel.

    Things spiral out of control and the ending never fails to surprise the reader. Reviewers have called it spicy, fast paced and fun.

    Learn more about the author, buy the book, or follow them on social media:
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    Author Bio:
    Diane Cox writes early in the morning. She loves the freedom of creating her own worlds through fiction. She’s been actively writing since 2007. Her current work in progress is about a guy named Johnny Crawford, good looking and financially successful, who has everything he ever wanted except for the perfect woman. He picks up a mystery novel and falls in love with the female spy featured in it. He wishes he could find a girl like her and soon the old adage ‘be careful what you wish for’ applies to him.

    Diane is a successful business owner and is enjoying learning about e-publishing, e-marketing and making new friends through writing. She’s the mother of three and has four fourlegged roommates.

    Typewriter from Hell by Diane Cox is a post from Awesome Gang

11. Manor of Corruption

    About Manor of Corruption:

    In Manor of Corruption, an unaccomplished writer lands the envious position of biographer for a well-known and feared crime boss, and is drawn deep into the criminal mastermind’s world; an unforgiving adventure that simultaneously entices and repels him, that makes him question everything he ever believed, and that threatens the stability of a middle-class family, and their impressionable high-school age son, Joshua. When he was twelve years old, the crime lord began receiving letters full of advice on how to be fantastically successful and rich. The letters made him two promises: first, that if the young man followed his advice, he would be wealthy and powerful beyond his imagination, and, secondly, that on his 30th birthday the elusive author would come to end his life. Into his later years, the mobster hires a young writer to pen his memoir, but the writer struggles to put all the pieces together. In a twisted tale that winds through the corrupted mind of his patron and turns on its head the young biographer’s entire understanding, this venture into a darker world redefines everything he ever knew of life, reason, and crime. Throwing into the mix an idealistic high school literature teacher, a suburban couple and their son who get charmed and betrayed by their good-looking–but duplicitous–new neighbor, this is a story of loyalty and family, of truth and deception, and of love and corruption that will have you asking right up until the very end: “What do I really believe?”

    Beneath the surface, this book has a philosophical message. I like to chuckle to myself when I call it a “philosophical thriller.” Oxymoron?
    The book, at its deepest, is a discussion about the role of reason in the world and in our lives. It is this absolute standard that we measure so much against, and yet it is so subjective, and malleable. Because of this, it is a prime tool for corruption; it holds the weight of “truth,” or “objectivity,” and yet it is so easily manipulated.

    Learn more about the author, buy the book, or follow them on social media:
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    Author Bio:
    I am a musician by trade, with a Bachelor of Music degree in Theory/Composition, from Westminster Choir College, in Princeton, NJ. I am a jazz pianist and composer/arranger. I am working on recording a short album of jazz standards with a singer this month (January 2014).

    I have also long been a writer of fiction, but this is my first novel (or novella). I got the inspiration for the story after watching the horror movie “Saw.” I suppose I just really like the idea of an intelligent villain.

    I am a Marine Corps veteran (it was in Iraq, in 2007, when the idea for this book landed in my head and kept me up nights). I also a devout Catholic, and attended St. Mary’s Seminary for two years while I discerned the possibility of life as a priest.
    I decided to pursue creative endeavors instead, and met my now wife, Liz. We live outside Los Angeles, CA, with our two cats.

    I love playing all kinds of sports, but soccer and basketball are my favorite. I study the Filipino martial art of Kali, and enjoy collecting weapons.
    I’m happy on a basketball court, or baseball field, in a library or a party with friends, but when it comes right down to it, I’m an introvert, and I like quiet time with music or a book.

    Manor of Corruption is a post from Awesome Gang

12. Catch my drift (What the hell happened, True stories of a Gen X cowboy………..Ian Hunt

    About Catch my drift (What the hell happened, True stories of a Gen X cowboy………..Ian Hunt:

    The second in a series of tales that recount the true events that have occurred throughout the life of A Gen X cowboy. If you enjoy edgy, comedic drama this series is all you.

    Learn more about the author, buy the book, or follow them on social media:
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    Author Bio:
    Ian Hunt was born in a “South Shore” town in Massachusetts. The South shore being the coastal region south of Boston. He has set foot in 49 of 50 states. Much of that travel has been behind the wheel. This is apparent in his tales. He is accomplished musician and enjoys competitive sailing. After 15 years of life on the road Ian has returned to his homeland where he works as a carpenter, writer and musician. He works hard and plays hard and that fact seeps through his tales. His writing is simple, to the point and draws you in quickly. Quite simply, the way he put it one day……. “I’m just telling it how it happened”

    Catch my drift (What the hell happened, True stories of a Gen X cowboy………..Ian Hunt is a post from Awesome Gang