Heart-Lightening Literary Fiction from Catherine Ryan Hyde. Review and #Giveaway

Have You Seen Luis Velez? by Catherine Ryan Hyde made me feel better about our world. I am delighted to have an ARC to give away. (paperback. US Only)

From New York Times bestselling author Catherine Ryan Hyde comes a moving novel about two strangers who find that kindness is a powerful antidote to fear.
Blurb

Raymond Jaffe feels like he doesn’t belong. Not with his mother’s new family. Not as a weekend guest with his father and his father’s wife. Not at school, where he’s an outcast. After his best friend moves away, Raymond has only two real connections: to the feral cat he’s tamed and to a blind ninety-two-year-old woman in his building who’s introduced herself with a curious question: Have you seen Luis Velez?

Mildred Gutermann, a German Jew who narrowly escaped the Holocaust, has been alone since her caretaker disappeared. She turns to Raymond for help, and as he tries to track Luis down, a deep and unexpected friendship blossoms between the two.

Despondent at the loss of Luis, Mildred isolates herself further from a neighborhood devolving into bigotry and fear. Determined not to let her give up, Raymond helps her see that for every terrible act the world delivers, there is a mirror image of deep kindness, and Mildred helps Raymond see that there’s hope if you have someone to hold on to.

I loved it. 15-year-old Raymond and the 92-year-old Mildred drew me into their hearts. I didn't want the book to end.

This is a "growing into a possibility of better things" novel. It acknowledges the terrible divisions fears and prejudices have created in our society and leads the reader to the realization that every good act performed is a blow to these divisions. In spite of everything the news clamors us to believe, there is so much good in the world and I love Catherine Ryan Hyde because she spotlights it in her beautifully written books. 

So, my friend, if I have interested you, please enter below.

Plus, FREE

Sally Brandle's book The Hitman's Mistake is free on Amazon May 15-19th. 

Sally will be on my blog June 4th, but that will be too late for this promotion and I didn't want you to miss it.

Here's the link https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B07DM795GP

Blurb:

Now it’s her life or his.
After Miranda Whitley stops crooked cops from assassinating a prominent Seattle judge, she’s next on the hit list, and her survival depends on the buff FBI Agent she’s had one awkward encounter with. But can she find him in time?

The last person Grant Morley expects to discover on his annual supply run to a Montana mountain hermit is alluring Miranda Whitley, nearly dead from a bullet wound in her side. An accidental witness or the cold-blooded accomplice to would-be assassins?

Miranda must convince Grant of her innocence, evade the killers intent on preventing her testimony, and fight her unwanted attraction for the agent…an attraction which seems to be mutual. If you love sizzling chemistry, Montana’s mountain landscape, and fast-paced action, then you’ll love Sally Brandle’s galloping thriller, The Hitman’s Mistake.

Book 2, Torn by Vengeance, releases May 22nd. “Look over your shoulder. He’s watching.”

Happy Reading.

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Five Stars to Catherine Ryan Hyde's Heaven Adjacent. #Giveaway

Catherine Ryan Hyde's Heaven Adjacent is now available in all formats, including audio from many retailers. Here is the Goodreads link:
https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/36469740-heaven-adjacent
And, lucky me, I was given an ARC of this book in return for a fair review. And I am grateful for the opportunity to read and review it. Now I am passing on the ARC to one of you. 

Even at my age I sometimes think that death is something that happens to other people. It’s easy to do. So I sync’d with this book.
Roseanna’s best friend Alice died suddenly. Unexpectedly. Two years before the retirement Alice been looking forward to her whole working life.
That death turns Roseanna’s world upside down and sends her in search of a new life path. One that includes all the things she’d planned to enjoy someday. Peace. Solitude. Well, that part doesn’t work out. The solitude. But I love the characters that invade her life. I love who she becomes. I love her wry humor.
Catherine Ryan Hyde’s style is as cool and clear as a summer morning. I hated having to put the book down even for a second.

Here is the official blurb.

Roseanna Chaldecott spent her life as a high-powered lawyer in Manhattan. But when her best friend and law partner dies suddenly, something snaps. Unsure of her future, Roseanna heads upstate on one tank of gas and with no plans to return.
In the foothills of the Adirondacks, Roseanna discovers the perfect hideout in a ramshackle farm. Its seventy-six acres are rich with possibilities and full of surprises, including a mother and daughter squatting on the property. Although company is the last thing Roseanna wants, she reluctantly lets them stay.
Roseanna and the young girl begin sculpting junk found around the farm into zoo animals, drawing more newcomers—including her estranged son, Lance. He pleads with Roseanna to return to the city, but she’s finally discovered where she belongs. It may not provide the solitude she originally sought, but her heart has found room for much more.

Interested? Enter below for a chance to win the paperback ARC. 

I wish you all a week filled with unexpected wonderfulness.

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Catherine Ryan Hyde is the author of more than 30 published and forthcoming books, including The Wake Up, Allie And Bea, Say Goodbye For Now, Leaving Blythe River, Ask Him Why, Worthy, The Language Of Hoofbeats, Take Me With You, When I Found You, Walk Me Home, and Don't Let Me Go. 
An avid hiker, traveler, equestrian, and amateur photographer, she has released her first book of photos, 365 Days Of Gratitude: Photos From A Beautiful World.
She is co-author, with fellow author and publishing industry blogger Anne R. Allen, of How To Be A Writer In The E-Age: A Self-Help Guide.
Her novel Pay It Forward was adapted into a major motion picture, chosen by the American Library Association for its Best Books for Young Adults list, and translated into more than 23 languages for distribution in over 30 countries.

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Allie and Bea is a Keeper #Giveaway

How do you cross young adult fiction with women's fiction? Go ask best selling author, Catherine Ryan Hyde who did it beautifully in Allie and Bea  
Allie and Bea debuts today on Amazon from their Lake Union publishing arm. For audio book lovers it' looks like it's going to be available at Audio Book Store. Right now at Amazon, if you buy the eBook you can add audio to it. (I went over to the Audio Book Store and listened to a sample and I really liked the narrator I heard. There are two narrators, one for each POV, I assume.)

Blurb: Bea has barely been scraping by since her husband died. After falling for a telephone scam, she loses everything and is forced to abandon her trailer. With only two-thirds of a tank in her old van, she heads toward the Pacific Ocean with her cat—on a mission to reclaim what’s rightfully hers, even if it means making others pay for what she lost.

When fifteen-year-old Allie’s parents are jailed for tax fraud, she’s sent to a group home. But when her life is threatened by another resident, she knows she has to get out. She escapes only to find she has nowhere to go—until fate throws Allie in Bea’s path.

Reluctant to trust each other, much less become friends, the two warily make their way up the Pacific Coast. Yet as their hearts open to friendship and love from the strangers they meet on their journey, they find the courage to forge their own unique family—and begin to see an imperfect world with new eyes.

ALLIE AND BEA proves that it’s never too late to start over and that in losing everything, you might just gain the courage to live the life you truly want.

I found Allie and Bea an absorbing and wonderful story. I was completely involved in both their view points and I think that both lovers of women's fiction and ya fiction will take the book to their hearts.
I received an ARC of Allie and Bea from Little Bird Publicity. 
I also received a giveaway copy to share one with a lucky reader.
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And I am very grateful to them for introducing me to Catherine Ryan Hyde. I love her writing.. Catherine was born in Buffalo, NY, which is also my home town and now loves in Cambria, CA.
I found this interview at Writer's Relief

Catherine Ryan Hyde is the award-winning author of thirty published and forthcoming books, including Worthy, The Language of Hoofbeats, Take Me With You, Don’t Let Me Go, When I Found You, and Pay It Forward, which was adapted into the Warner Brothers major motion picture starring Kevin Spacey and Helen Hunt.

Every writer has to learn how the publishing business works. How did you do it?

I joined the local Cambria Writers Workshop. I joined the semi-local SLO (San Luis Obispo) Nightwriters. I scratched up the money to go to conferences such as The Cuesta College Writers Conference and the larger Santa Barbara Writers Conference. I read my work out loud, even though I nearly died of stage fright. In doing so, I caught the attention of more experienced writers willing to mentor me. Then I utilized their kind offers of mentorship for all they were worth. They were worth a lot.

What role does social media play in staying connected to readers and/or building an audience?

In my mind, social media has replaced the book tour. Once upon a time, my publisher would send me to various cities on tour. I’d languish in airports, watch a lot of CNN in hotel rooms, and hope that more than four people would turn up at the bookstores. It hardly seemed worth it, but my publishers felt it was important for bookstore employees and readers to meet me. It breeds loyalty when a reader feels he or she knows the author. Today I build the same loyal relationships on Twitter and Facebook—from my easy chair at home. That makes my dog happy. And I hate that kind of travel, so it makes me happy too.

What was the biggest stumbling block or frustration for you so far, and how did you overcome it?

I think my biggest frustration was the fact that people loved the Pay It Forward concept, but really didn’t pay much attention to the book. At least, not as much as I had hoped. That’s one downside to a movie. People can just see the movie instead. It’s also an odd feature of a book with a lift-out message. People lifted it out and left the book behind.

I’m not bemoaning the fact that more people didn’t read the book. People can read or not read whatever they choose. But people would proclaim themselves my biggest fans, even ask me to fly across the country to speak to their groups, without ever reading a word I’d written. At the time my career was in a slump and I was having trouble staying out of Day Job Land, so I minded. Now I’m doing well with the newer books and able to be more circumspect. So getting by as an author again was enough to overcome it. I just had to keep moving forward.

Fill in the blank. Rejection is____________.

Not always as much of a judgment on the quality of our writing as we assume it to be.

Has a particular rejection ever been helpful to you? What were the details?

Yes, once a combination of an acceptance and a rejection was extremely helpful. My first short story acceptance came to me from a literary magazine called South Dakota Review. The editor said I’d shown “great poise” in the way I’d “depicted the characters with brief brush strokes.” The same story had just been rejected by a smaller, less prestigious literary magazine whose editor felt there was a “hollowness” to the characters.

From this I learned two important things: 1) Some editor may love your work for exactly the same reason another editor doesn’t. 2) Unless you agree that the editor has pointed out a valid flaw, revising your work based on comments in rejections will usually get you nowhere.

This article has been reprinted with the permission of Writer’s Relief, a highly recommended author’s submission service. We assist writers with preparing their submissions and researching the best markets. We have a service for every budget, as well as a free e-publication for writers, Submit Write Now! Visit our site today to learn more.

I hope you enjoyed this. Happy Memorial Day to all of you.

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