The Pitcher Blog Tour

Tour Schedule

Welcome to the blog tour for The Pitcher  by William Hazelgrove!

“I never knew I had an arm until this guy called out, “Hey you want to try and get a ball in the hole, sonny?” I was only nine, but mom said, “come on, let’s play.” This Carney guy with no teeth and a fuming cigarette hands me five blue rubber balls and says if I throw three in the hole we win a prize. He’s grinning, because he took mom’s five bucks and figures a sucker is born every minute. That really got me, because we didn’t have any money after Fernando took off, and he only comes back to beat up mom and steal our money. So I really wanted to get mom back something, you know, for her five bucks.” A boy with a golden arm but no money for lessons. A mother who wants to give her son his dream before she dies. A broken down World Series pitcher who cannot go on after the death of his wife. These are the elements of The Pitcher. A story of a man at the end of his dream and a boy whose dream is to make his high school baseball team. In the tradition of The Natural and The Field of Dreams, this is a mythic story about how a man and a boy meet in the crossroads of their life and find a way to go on. You will laugh and you will cry as The Pitcher and Ricky prepare for the ultimate try out of life. 

 Author William Hazelgrove

William Hazelgrove is the best selling author of five novels, Ripples, Tobacco Sticks Mica Highways and Rocket Man and The Pitcher His books have received starred reviews in Publisher Weekly, Book of the Month Selections, Junior Library Guild Selections, ALA Editors Choice Awards and optioned for the movies. He was the Ernest Hemingway Writer in Residence where he wrote in the attic of Ernest Hemingway’s birthplace. He has written articles and reviews for USA Today and other publications. His latest novel Rocket Man due out May 1, 2013 was chosen Book of the Year by Books and Authors.net. He runs a political cultural blog, The View From Hemingway’s Attic. A forthcoming novel, The Pitcher will be out Sept 1, 2013. He lives in Chicago.

Website * Blog * Facebook * Twitter

Excerpt:

I never knew I had an arm until this guy calls out,

“Hey you want to try and get a ball in the hole, sonny?” I am

only nine, but Mom says, “Come on, let’s play.” This carnival

guy with no teeth and a fuming cigarette hands me five blue

rubber balls and says if I throw three in the hole, we win a prize.

He’s grinning, because he’s taken Mom’s five bucks and figures

a sucker is born every minute. This really gets me, because we

didn’t have any money after Fernando took off, and he only

comes back to beat up Mom and steal our money. So I really

want to get Mom back something, you know, for her five bucks.

I take the first rubber ball and throw it over my head and

wham! The carnival guy looks at me and laughs. “Whoa! A

ringer. Let’s see you do it again, sonny.” It’s like something

happens when I throw a ball. My arm windmills over the top

then snaps down like a rubber band. It’s like I’m following my

arm. So I throw the second ball and he mutters, “Alright, let’s

see you get the next ball in.” I mean we’re Mexicans, and I think

this guy figures he’ll put one over on us.

I throw the next two balls and they go wild. I hit the top of

the wood circle with one and the other one flies completely over

the game. The carnival guy is grinning again because he knows

I have only one more ball. I wind up like I had seen pitchers on

television and wham, right in the hole again. He hands Mom a

big white polar bear and takes the cigarette from his mouth.

“That looked like a sixty-mile-an-hour pitch to me,” he says.

“I don’t know,” I reply, shrugging.

He nods and picks up the rubber balls.

“You should pitch, buddy,” he says with one eye closed. “You

have a hell of an arm.”

Blog Tour Giveaway
$25 Amazon Gift Card or Paypal Cash
Ends 10/27/11
Open only to those who can legally enter, receive and use an Amazon.com Gift Code or Paypal Cash. Winning Entry will be verified prior to prize being awarded. No purchase necessary. You must be 18 or older to enter or have your parent enter for you. The winner will be chosen by rafflecopter and announced here as well as emailed and will have 48 hours to respond or a new winner will be chosen. This giveaway is in no way associated with Facebook, Twitter, Rafflecopter or any other entity unless otherwise specified. The number of eligible entries received determines the odds of winning. Giveaway was organized by Kathy from I Am A Reader, Not A Writer and sponsored by the author. VOID WHERE PROHIBITED BY LAW.

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Spooktacular Giveaway Hop

Welcome to the Spooktacular Giveaway Hop!

Well it's been a while since I've done one of there, but this is one of my favorites, so here I am! I love this season. Halloween is the start of fall and really the whole holiday season to me. I'm super excited this year for sure!

I'm offering up my usual of:

a $10 Amazon.com gift code or $10 in books from Book Depository!

Please check to ensure that Book Depository delivers to your country.

How do you enter?

Choose one or any or all of the following:

1. Follow on GFC or Linkyfollowers

2.  Follow on Twitter

3. Like on Facebook

4. Friend on Goodreads 

That's all!

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Be sure to check out all the other blogs on the hop. Thanks for stopping by and good luck!

Chasing Hope Blog Tour

Tour Schedule

Welcome to the blog tour for Chasing Hope by Kathryn Cushman!

A Personal Drama of Shattered Dreams and Second Chances

A talented runner fully committed to Olympic dreams, Sabrina Rice's future was shattered by a devastating diagnosis. One forfeited scholarship and several years later, she has new goals and dreams that have nothing to do with running--something that's become far too painful to think on. Until the day she sees Brandy Philip running across the community college campus, easily outpacing security. Sabrina immediately recognizes world-class speed, and it's all the more painful that it belongs to a teenage graffiti artist. When a chance encounter brings the two young women together, Sabrina becomes Brandy's best hope for staying out of juvenile hall. Soon, Sabrina begins to feel an uncomfortable nudge that her new life is just about to be toppled...that God may be calling her to minister to this talented but troubled girl.  

Amazon * Barnes & Noble

 Author Kathryn Cushman

Kathryn "Katie" Cushman is a graduate of Samford University with a degree in pharmacy. She is the author of five novels, including Leaving Yesterday and A Promise to Remember, which were both finalists for the Carol Award in Women's Fiction. She is also the co-author of Angel Song with Sheila Walsh. Kathryn and her family currently live in Santa Barbara, California.  

Website * Facebook

Review:

Sabrina had it all going for her. Her talent in running had led to a full-ride at the University of Tennesse, and the Olympics didn't seem too far behind. Then something began to go wrong, and Sabrina saw her whole world falling apart. Struggling to find a new direction in life, Sabrina's grandma's friend asks Sabrina to take on her troubled granddaughter Brandy who also seemed to have a talent for running. As Sabrina and Brandy struggle to find common ground, they both find something even better- a new direction in life.

I was very intrigued by the concept of this book, so I really looked forward to reading it. It did not disappoint. The story very quickly drew me in, and I didn't want to stop reading. I found Sabrina to be sympathetic without being too whiny. I really thought that the character of Sabrina could easily cross over in to a really mopey person, but the author managed to find a really good balance between making her sympathetic to the reader but still keeping her as a hopeful person. Brady was another character that could have gone into a caricature almost of a troubled teen, but the author does a great job of making you want to root for her success.

This book was a super fast read. One really interesting aspect to me was the idea of what to do when your life doesn't turn out like you thought it would. Sabrina was so sure she was called to spread the love of God to everyone through her running, but then when she could no longer run she was so unsure about what she had felt. I think all of us feel this from time to time. We are so sure that our life is going one direction, and then suddenly we find ourselves way far away from where we thought we'd be. This book brings out the point that we can find our calling in life in different ways. Just because we think it's derailed does not mean it actually is. Overall this was an inspiring and interesting story. I really enjoyed it, and it will make a great escape while still leaving you with things to think about.

Book provided for review.


Tour Giveaway
$25 Amazon Gift Card or Paypal Cash
Ends 10/17/13

Open only to those who can legally enter, receive and use an Amazon.com Gift Code or Paypal Cash. Winning Entry will be verified prior to prize being awarded. No purchase necessary. You must be 18 or older to enter or have your parent enter for you. The winner will be chosen by rafflecopter and announced here as well as emailed and will have 48 hours to respond or a new winner will be chosen. This giveaway is in no way associated with Facebook, Twitter, Rafflecopter or any other entity unless otherwise specified. The number of eligible entries received determines the odds of winning. Giveaway was organized by Kathy from I Am A Reader, Not A Writer and sponsored by the publisher. VOID WHERE PROHIBITED BY LAW.

   a Rafflecopter giveaway

Just Ella Book Blast

Tour Schedule

Welcome to the book blast for Just Ella!

A Proper Romance

Ariella was only looking for a distraction, something to break up the monotony of palace life. What she found was a young man willing to overlook her title and show her a new and vibrant way of life. But when her growing feelings for Gavin spiral out of control and clash with the expectations of her station, she will discover that the consequences of her curiosity are far more severe than she’d imagined. 

I watched in helpless horror as two guards hauled Gavin to his feet and dragged him from the room. My voice was frozen, unable to protest as another guard took hold of my arm, leading me upstairs. From the confines of my room, I stared into the darkness beyond my window, hoping to catch one more glimpse of Gavin. He was gone, and I wondered if he would have been better off if he had never met me. 

I write clean romance. Why? Because that’s what I love to read, but over the years I’ve discovered it’s quite a challenge to find good clean romance. I believe it’s a genre that many people are looking for and too few authors are writing. My first novel, Just Ella, took me many years to write because I wanted it to be more than just a cutesy love story. I wanted it to have depth, to feel genuine. Hopefully I succeeded, but you’ll have to be the judge.

Amazon Paperback * Amazon Kindle

Book Blast/Blog Tour Special

Grab your copy of Just Ella for just $3.99!

Excerpt

“Now, wait just a minute. You can’t just plunge into a pool of water.” “Why not?” I should have said something cleverer, but I felt a bit scatterbrained, all thoughts having fled when Gavin’s arm went around me. He made a noise of exasperation. “Why not, she asks. Because, Princess, what’s going to happen when you show up for your lessons completely drenched? Or, what happens when we both show up on the palace grounds completely drenched? I don’t know about you, but I don’t want to have to explain that to anybody.” Unfortunately, he had a point. “Don’t call me Princess.” He had been so relaxed today, so willing to be himself and let me be myself. I hated that he felt the need to remind me of my rank. I was tempted to be angry and walk away but I also wanted to see how long he would keep his arms around me. Simply out of curiosity, of course.

Author Annette K. Larsen
I was born in Utah, but grew up in Flagstaff Arizona and St. Louis Missouri, the fifth of seven children. I attended college at Southern Virginia University and Brigham Young University where I studied English and Theater. I now live in Idaho with my husband and four children. I have Charlotte Bronte to thank for the courage to write novels. After being bombarded with assigned reading about women who justified abandoning either their families or their principles in the name of love, I had the great fortune of reading Jane Eyre. And that was it: finally a heroine who understood that being moral and making the right choice was hard, and sometimes it hurt, but it was still worth it. After rereading it several years later, I realized that if I wanted more books to exist with the kinds of heroines I admired, then I might as well write a few myself. My books are about women who face hard choices, who face pain and rejection and often have to sacrifice what they want for what is right. The consequences are often difficult or unpleasant, but it the end, doing what’s right will always be worth it. I believe there is no substitute for good writing or good chocolate. Fortunately, one often leads to the other.  

Website * Twitter * Facebook

BookBlast Giveaway
$50 Amazon Gift Card or Paypal Cash
Ends 10/31/13  
Open only to those who can legally enter, receive and use an Amazon.com Gift Code or Paypal Cash. Winning Entry will be verified prior to prize being awarded. No purchase necessary. You must be 18 or older to enter or have your parent enter for you. The winner will be chosen by rafflecopter and announced here as well as emailed and will have 48 hours to respond or a new winner will be chosen. This giveaway is in no way associated with Facebook, Twitter, Rafflecopter or any other entity unless otherwise specified. The number of eligible entries received determines the odds of winning. Giveaway was organized by Kathy from I Am A Reader, Not A Writer and sponsored by the author. VOID WHERE PROHIBITED BY LAW.

   a Rafflecopter giveaway

Chasing Hope Book Blast

Tour Schedule

Welcome to the book blast for Chasing Hope!

 A Personal Drama of Shattered Dreams and Second Chances

A talented runner fully committed to Olympic dreams, Sabrina Rice's future was shattered by a devastating diagnosis. One forfeited scholarship and several years later, she has new goals and dreams that have nothing to do with running--something that's become far too painful to think on. Until the day she sees Brandy Philip running across the community college campus, easily outpacing security. Sabrina immediately recognizes world-class speed, and it's all the more painful that it belongs to a teenage graffiti artist. When a chance encounter brings the two young women together, Sabrina becomes Brandy's best hope for staying out of juvenile hall. Soon, Sabrina begins to feel an uncomfortable nudge that her new life is just about to be toppled...that God may be calling her to minister to this talented but troubled girl.

Amazon * Barnes & Noble

 Author Kathryn Cushman

Author Kathryn "Katie" Cushman is a graduate of Samford University with a degree in pharmacy. She is the author of five novels, including Leaving Yesterday and A Promise to Remember, which were both finalists for the Carol Award in Women's Fiction. She is also the co-author of Angel Song with Sheila Walsh. Kathryn and her family currently live in Santa Barbara, California.

Website * Facebook

 BookBlast Giveaway

$50 Amazon Gift Card or Paypal Cash
Ends 10/11/13
Open only to those who can legally enter, receive and use an Amazon.com Gift Code or Paypal Cash. Winning Entry will be verified prior to prize being awarded. No purchase necessary. You must be 18 or older to enter or have your parent enter for you. The winner will be chosen by rafflecopter and announced here as well as emailed and will have 48 hours to respond or a new winner will be chosen. This giveaway is in no way associated with Facebook, Twitter, Rafflecopter or any other entity unless otherwise specified. The number of eligible entries received determines the odds of winning. Giveaway was organized by Kathy from I Am A Reader, Not A Writer http://iamareader.com and sponsored by the author. VOID WHERE PROHIBITED BY LAW.

 a Rafflecopter giveaway

The Pitcher Book Blast

Welcome to the book blast for The Pitcher by William Hazelgrove!

“I never knew I had an arm until this guy called out, “Hey you want to try and get a ball in the hole, sonny?” I was only nine, but mom said, “come on, let’s play.” This Carney guy with no teeth and a fuming cigarette hands me five blue rubber balls and says if I throw three in the hole we win a prize. He’s grinning, because he took mom’s five bucks and figures a sucker is born every minute. That really got me, because we didn’t have any money after Fernando took off, and he only comes back to beat up mom and steal our money. So I really wanted to get mom back something, you know, for her five bucks.” A boy with a golden arm but no money for lessons. A mother who wants to give her son his dream before she dies. A broken down World Series pitcher who cannot go on after the death of his wife. These are the elements of The Pitcher. A story of a man at the end of his dream and a boy whose dream is to make his high school baseball team. In the tradition of The Natural and The Field of Dreams, this is a mythic story about how a man and a boy meet in the crossroads of their life and find a way to go on. You will laugh and you will cry as The Pitcher and Ricky prepare for the ultimate try out of life.

Amazon * Barnes & Noble

 Author William Hazelgrove

 William Hazelgrove is the best selling author of five novels, Ripples, Tobacco Sticks Mica Highways and Rocket Man and The Pitcher His books have received starred reviews in Publisher Weekly, Book of the Month Selections, Junior Library Guild Selections, ALA Editors Choice Awards and optioned for the movies. He was the Ernest Hemingway Writer in Residence where he wrote in the attic of Ernest Hemingway’s birthplace. He has written articles and reviews for USA Today and other publications. His latest novel Rocket Man due out May 1, 2013 was chosen Book of the Year by Books and Authors.net. He runs a political cultural blog, The View From Hemingway’s Attic. A forthcoming novel, The Pitcher will be out Sept 1, 2013. He lives in Chicago.

Website * Blog * Facebook * Twitter

Blog Tour Schedule

BookBlast Giveaway
$50 Amazon Gift Card or Paypal Cash Ends 9/30/13 Open only to those who can legally enter, receive and use an Amazon.com Gift Code or Paypal Cash. Winning Entry will be verified prior to prize being awarded. No purchase necessary. You must be 18 or older to enter or have your parent enter for you. The winner will be chosen by rafflecopter and announced here as well as emailed and will have 48 hours to respond or a new winner will be chosen. This giveaway is in no way associated with Facebook, Twitter, Rafflecopter or any other entity unless otherwise specified. The number of eligible entries received determines the odds of winning. Giveaway was organized by Kathy from I Am A Reader, Not A Writer and sponsored by the author. VOID WHERE PROHIBITED BY LAW.

  a Rafflecopter giveaway

Keeper of Reign Blog Tour

Tour Schedule

Books written in blood. Most are lost, their Keepers with them. A curse that befell a people. A Kingdom with no King. Life couldn’t get more harrowing for the Elfies, a blend of Elves and Fairies. Or for sixteen-year-old Jules Blaze. Or could it? For Jules, the heir of a Keeper, no less, suspects his family hides a forgotten secret. It was bad enough that his people, the Elfies of Reign, triggered a curse which reduced the entire inhabitants to a mere inch centuries ago. All because of one Keeper who failed his purpose. Even the King’s Ancient Books, did not help ward off that anathema. Now, Gehzurolle, the evil lord, and his armies of Scorpents, seem bent on destroying Jules and his family. Why? Gehzurolle’s agents hunt for Jules as he journeys into enemy land to find the truth. Truth that could save him and his family, and possibly even reverse the age-long curse. Provided Jules doesn't get himself killed first.  

Amazon * Barnes & Noble

        
Author Emma Right

Emma Right is a happy wife and homeschool mother of five living in the Pacific West Coast of the USA. Besides running a busy home, and looking after their five pets, which includes two cats, two bunnies and a Long-haired dachshund, she also writes stories for her children. She loves the Lord and His Word deeply, and when she doesn't have her nose in a book, she is telling her kids to get theirs in one. Right worked as a copywriter for two major advertising agencies and won several awards, including the prestigious Clio Award for her ads, before she settled down to have children.

Facebook * Twitter * Website * Pinterest

Review:

Jules Blaze is in Elfie, a mix of Elf and Fairy. Elfies are cursed so that they are tiny now, and this is all because of one Keeper. Keepers watch over very important books for the Elfies. Unfortunately for Jules, is seems like the evil lord Gehzurolle is out to get him. Jules, his siblings, and friends will have to venture far from home to try and find out why this is happening. Of course Jules's ultimate goal is to reverse the curse put on the Elfies. It will take a lot of cunning and smarts for Jules to survive this adventure.

I love the idea of this book. The world and ideas are so creative and fun. The Elfies have an interesting past, and Jules seems like the perfect young adventurer to go decurse them. He has a host of help and friends, but he also learns quickly that the world outside his home can be a perilous place. His Grandfather disappeared after having gone to find someone to ask about the Blaze family makeup, and then his mother disappeared in an apparent attack. Jules has a lot to try and figure out, not to mention all the traps and perils he discovers out in the wide world.

I felt like the writing felt a bit skippy to me at times, but overall I found this to be an enjoyable read. It manages to be cute and interesting at the same time. The chapters are sometimes very short, so I think this could help younger readers to not lose interest and have a workable goal to get to. The story is very creative, and lovers of fantasy and adventure will find things to enjoy in this book. 

Book provided for review.

Blog Tour Giveaway 

$25 Amazon Gift Card or Paypal Cash 

Ends 9/9/13

   a Rafflecopter giveaway