The Anxious Author

       Welcome to Day 6 of the 2024 Advent season. We authors have gathered to give you 31 days of cheer. Each day, check back in here to grab a free book through December 31st. Let’s ring in the winter holiday season with good books.      Day 6’s book is Circle of Time, by Riverr Ravenzwood      Well, well, well. I shouldn't have been surprised, really. My instincts have been screaming at me for a while. But I happily ignored it. Despite having been trained all my life to pay attention to my feelings and observe my surroundings, the reality of what is actually happening still comes as a shock. And I have a feeling that this is just the tip of the iceberg. As things unravel and I find myself a part of a super-duper secret society, there are way too many dots to connect. Gods? Other worlds? Missing treasure? Only, that treasure isn't a thing. It's a person. A real person. Cue eye roll here. Oh, there is also the thing about finding a miss...

  NOTE: PLEASE BE AWARE THAT AMAZON IS EXPERIENCING TECHNICAL ISSUES TODAY. IF YOUR FREE BOOK DOES NOT LOAD, TRY REFRESHING THE PAGE. IF IT OPENS TO THE PAPERBACK, CLICK OVER TO THE KINDLE BUTTON. THANK YOU. Day 5’s book is Hot Chocolate and Snow Angels, by K.D. Hilt      Two high school seniors who have been practically inseparable since preschool finally admit their feelings for one another. That should be enough to make them happy, right? Violet Miller and Jacob Ramirez have been best friends since the day they met in preschool. Their families even live directly next to each other. This year, just a few weeks before Christmas, they decide to go to the school formal together and confess their feelings for each other. Shortly after, Violet notices Jacob becoming more distant in many aspects. In others, he seems to be trying to make every moment last forever. What happens on one fateful winter night just hours after one text - ‘You mean everything to me. I love you,’...

  Day 4’s book is The Cowboy’s Christmas Present, by Joann Baker and Patricia Mason      A curvy girl gets her cowboy!      Quinn Sutton thought he was safe from the matrimonial fever that had ended his friends’ bachelor ways. Even if he did feel a little envious, as the virtual newcomer to town, he wanted nothing more than to concentrate on building the ranch he’d inherited from his uncle and attempt to keep afloat his fledgling law practice. But when his former boss asked him to keep his daughter safe, he found the request impossible to refuse. And once she arrived at his ranch, Quinn was beset with overpowering yearnings for the beautiful Faith.      Faith Greene had grown up trying—and failing—to be the son her father had always wanted. Having lost her mother at an early age, she’d spent her life attempting to find a way to earn her father’s love. When he took a case that put her life in danger, he sent her to the one man whose name ...

  It’s the 2024 Advent season and a bunch of authors have gathered together to give you 31 days of cheer. Each day, check back in here to grab a free book through December 31. Let’s ring in the winter holiday season with good books.      Day 3’s book is Mysterious Fae, by AnnaMarie Gardner.      WAR is coming!      The dragons, the elementals and other faes have tried without success to defeat the evil that is haunting their world, but what do you do when your magic is just not strong enough?      What do you do when Letsos' evil is just to strong?      Esme the elemental witch has to use her good magic, to stop Letsos from destroying the world, but all Esme wants is to bring her baby safely into this world and help her friend learn who she is.      Can she stop this evil?      Will she be able to safely create her family and protect her friend?      Claim link: h...

  It’s the 2024 Advent season and a bunch of authors have gathered together to give you 31 days of cheer. Each day, check back in here to grab a free book through December 31. Let’s ring in the winter holiday season with good books.      Day 2’s book is To Find a Whitman, by E.A. Shanniak      Faking her death was never at the forefront of Audrey Whitman’s desires. Escaping what her aunt planned for her was vital. Propriety, and society be damned! Audrey would, and could never go through with any of it. Happily forever after was far to the west, and far from St. Louis.      Pinkerton Eugene Turner handled numerous murder and theft cases throughout the week. This new case that slid across his paper scrambled desk was new and…  alarming . Finding a missing woman, let alone a wealthy heiress, in the vast and untamed America was like finding a needle in house fire.      As Audrey discovers the life she has dreamt about, w...

  It’s the 2024 Advent season and a bunch of authors have gathered together to give you 31 days of cheer. Each day, check back in here to grab a free book through December 31. Let’s ring in the winter holiday season with good books.      Day 1’s book is Mistletoe Mishap by W.A. Ashes      Martha and Johnathan were a happy couple. They had their faults but overall they were okay with where their relationship was heading. When life became hectic and Martha got sucked into her writing assignments, she unintentionally pushed Johnathan away and into the arms of another woman. Hurt and no longer sure that she knows what love is, Martha isolates herself. She throws herself into her stories. Writing all of her pain and anger into the paranormal worlds she creates. Until one December, a year after the night that destroyed her and Johnathan, she is assigned to write a romance story for her final project. How can she write about love when she no longer believes i...

 It's been a long time since I've written here and, honestly, I miss it. I've just been so uninspired this year. I haven't gotten nearly as much writing done as I wanted to and most of the time I'm too tired or sick to do anything. But, we're starting a new journey.      After a lot of thought, I've decided to move my book reviews from TikTok to Youtube. I belive doing this will give me the chance to delve deeper into the books I review, letting me talk about themes, characters, triggers, and everything. The time limit on TikTok and the amount of times I've accidentally deleted a 10-minute recording session were ultimately the factors that lead me to this decision.      In an effort to get this blog back up and running, my plans are to post each YouTube video here as well.     Things you'll find on my Youtube channel are:          -Stitches and Stories (knitting and book reviews          -The ...

(PLEASE NOTE THIS WAS NOT EDITING. IT'S LITERALLY JUST THE RAMBLINGS OF A SICK WOMAN AT 3:30 IN THE MORNING) It's 3:30 in the morning here and instead of sleeping, I'm awake, contemplating life and health. I'm not a very healthy person. Every time the doctor asks, "How do you see your overall health?" and I say "Fine" I can hear my inner voice say, "Bitch, please." The hard truth is that I haven't been healthy since middle school. I was homeschooled from preschool to middle school and only didn't graduate a year early from high school because I was held back in home school one year when my mom was sick with my brother. I wasn't the sharpest pencil in the kitchen drawer, but I did okay. And I rarely got sick. I don't remember being sick much as a kid, but being homeschooled by my social circle was small. My friends were our next-door neighbors and the kids I attended church with. There are literally only two times I remember ...

   Episode 4: Beast Boy (Teen Titans), Kami Garcia Star Rating: 4,  Genre: Graphic Novel (chosen for hat color) and Science Fiction,  Age Level: YA... This was a pretty solid read and I enjoyed it more than I thought I would, since Beast Boy is one of my least favorite characters. I like this take on him, though. Seeing a fresh makeover of his origin story is nice and I hope we get to see Tank and Stella in future stories. I’m also eager to see what Wilson an H.I.V.E. are up to.   Episode 5: Mismatch, Lovematch, Megan Derr Star Rating: 5,  Genre: Urban Fantasy, brief High Fantasy elements, and LGBTQ romance,  Age Level: YA... I went into this book expecting a cozy paranormal romance...what I found was much more. This went beyond that. Though it does have paranormal romance elements, this is an urban fantasy story with a high fantasy base. The author has had experience in multiple fantasy genres, including RPGs. I'm hoping she writes more books like thi...

 Shop Small Saturday: Episode 2 (It's late...sorry!!!!) Store: South Shore Scents Owner/Consultant: Beckie Logan Products purchased: Scentsy wax, buddies, scent circles, scent paks, Wall fans, Scentsy pods, travel tins, and car bars  Products Sold: All things Scentsy. Wax, warmers, fans, diffusers, buddies, clips, travel accessories, car accessories, and more. Video Website

  Episode 3: Girl Squads: 20 Female Friendships That Changed History Star Rating: 4,  Genre: Nonfiction/Women's Literature,  Age Level: YA+ (Most likely would be enjoyed by adults but suitable for anyone middle-grade and up)... This book is more of a 3.5 but I’ll round up. It’s easy to forget how far we’ve come as women when you’re a white woman in America. This book is a reminder of not only how far women as a whole have come but how far we still need to go. My favorite portion was the story about Ann Bonny and Mary Reed, but I weep for my Middle Eastern sisters. I knew from a former student that some women across the sea still have little rites, but I wasn’t aware just how bad it still is. I mean, when Trump was being elected President a woman was fighting for her right to play music? Wtf! That is sooo wrong.

  Shop Small Saturday: Episode 1 Store: Generation Apothecary Owner: C.J. Rose Products purchased: 2 Oil Rollers (cough and headache) and Palo Santo Incense.  Products Sold:  Herbs, Oils, Jewelry, Sage Bundles, Incense, Candles, Lip Balm, Roll -Ons and more Video   Website

 Hello, Souls, it's been a while. I apologize for that. I got out of the blogging mood but I'm trying to get back into it. My goals for this year (2024) include more blog posts, more nonfiction reading, and being mindful of my emotional state BEFORE I go into a spiral.      I've teamed up with two other authors - Patricia Bates and Brandi Gillilan - to bring you a unique book review experience. We're all crafters. We knit or crochet and for every book we read we will create an item (hat, scarf, etc...) to be donated to our local food banks. In December, all items will be donated in hopes of helping cloth those in need.      I will be doing mainly hats, but I'll do random scarves, dish rags, and scrubbers with my scrap yarn. All hats will be color-coded and I'll attach a "Handmade with Love" tag, as seen in the picture below:  I'll also do a video review of each book, which can be found on my TikTok and in the Soul Squad reader group. My plan is ...