Book Extract: Last Seen in Havana by Teresa Dovalpage
Please join me in welcoming Teresa Dovalpage to Novel Kicks and the blog tour for her novel, Last Seen in Havana.
A Cuban American woman searches for her long-lost mother and fights to restore a beautiful but crumbling Art Deco home in the heart of Havana in this moving, immersive new mystery, perfect for fans of Of Women and Salt.
In 2019, newly widowed baker Mercedes Spivey flies from Miami to her native Cuba to care for her ailing paternal grandmother. Mercedes’s life has been shaped by loss, beginning with the mysterious unsolved disappearance of her mother when Mercedes was a little girl. Returning to Cuba revives Mercedes’s hopes of finding her mother as she attempts to piece together the few scraps of information she has. Could her mother still be alive?
33 years earlier, an American college student with endless political optimism falls deliriously in love with a handsome Cuban soldier while on a spontaneous visit to the island. She decides to stay permanently, but soon discovers that nothing is as it seems in Havana.
The two women’s stories proceed in parallel as Mercedes gets closer to discovering the truth about her mother, uncovering shocking family secrets in the process . . .
Teresa has shared an extract from Last Seen in Havana today. We hope you enjoy.
*****beginning of extract*****
Short intro: This is how the novel starts. Mercedes’ mother, Tania, has been missing since Mercedes was three years old. As a girl, Mercedes waited in vain for her to return home. Now she is thirty years old, living in Miami, and has decided to try again to find her runaway mom.
The Ashen Hour
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Book Extract: All Grown Up by Catherine Evans
I’d like to give a big hello to Catherine Evans. She’s here with the blog tour for her novel, All Grown Up.
Neveah is fifteen. A schoolkid. With a secret life. She’s a digital freelancer, and is having an affair with her biggest client.
Giles is married. He thinks Neveah is twenty-two.
She’ll do just about anything to stop him from finding out her true age. But secrets have a way of spilling out.
With devastating consequences.
Catherine has shared an extract with us today. We hope you enjoy.
(Warning: Strong Language.)
*****beginning of extract*****
CONTEXT: Neveah (pronounced Ner-vay) is a 15-year-old schoolgirl having an affair with a married man, Giles, who believes her to be an independent woman of 22. Neveah is bright and ambitious, and works as a freelance digital marketer. Giles is her biggest client. Neveah lives with her single mother, Marie. Marie is completely obsessed with her own issues, and has no idea how her daughter earns money or who she is involved with. The affair with Giles is necessarily secret, not only because of his marital status but also because of her age. Nevertheless, Neveah has confided in her best friend, Sharna, who is also 15.
Neveah and Sharna are making their way to the swimming pool. Sharna’s on a weight loss kick, and has roped Neveah in. Neveah doesn’t mind. She knows it won’t last. Besides, she likes the pool.
‘We’ll swim for half an hour, yeah?’ says Sharna. ‘Then we can grab a MackyD?’
‘I thought you wanted to lose weight.’
‘Oh, come on. We’ll deserve it after burning all them calories. D’you wanna stay over tonight?’
‘Yeah sure.’ Neveah never has to ask permission. She’s a totally free agent. Marie works nights except for Tuesdays, and even then she’s not fussed if Neveah isn’t home.
‘So you’re not seeing Mister Loverman then?’
‘Seeing him tomorrow.’
‘D’you love him?’ Sharna suddenly asks.
Neveah can’t answer immediately ‘I like being with him, if that’s what you mean.’
by Book Extract: Shadows in the Ashes by Christina Courtenay
Please join me in welcoming Christina Courtenay to Novel Kicks and the blog tour for her novel, Shadows In The Ashes.
Brimming with romance, adventure and vivid historical detail, Christina Courtenay’s gripping dual-time novel travels from the present day to the fires of ancient Pompeii.
The sunlight caught her gold bracelet, sending a flash that almost blinded her.
She closed her eyes, but jumped when the earth started shaking and there was an almighty boom behind her.
Present Day
Finally escaping an abusive marriage, Caterina Rossi takes her three-year-old daughter and flees to Italy. There she’s drawn to research scientist Connor, who needs her translation help for his work on volcanology. Together they visit the ruins of Pompeii and, standing where Mount Vesuvius unleashed its fire on the city centuries before, Cat begins to see startling visions. Visions that appear to come from the antique bracelet handed down through her family’s generations…
AD 79
Sold by his half-brother and enslaved as a gladiator in Roman Pompeii, Raedwald dreams only of surviving each fight, making the coin needed to return to his homeland and taking his revenge. That is, until he is hired to guard beautiful Aemilia. As their forbidden love grows, Raedwald’s dreams shift like the ever more violent tremors of the earth beneath his feet.
The present starts eerily to mirror the past as Cat must fight to protect her safety, and to forge a new path from the ashes of her old life…
Christina has shared an extract with us today. We hope you enjoy.
*****beginning of extract*****
Prologue
by Book Extract: The Chameleon Killer Mystery by Gina Cheyne
Please join me in welcoming Gina Cheyne to Novel Kicks and the blog tour for her novel, The Chameleon Killer Mystery.
Who is the Chameleon Killer?
When you are having a really bad day, drink yourself legless, abuse everyone around you, pass out and try again tomorrow.
Trouble is; every day is bad in Rupert Fletcher’s world. He threatens his ex-wife, mocks his girlfriend, abuses his neighbours, and gets into a fight in the pub.
Next day, he is found dead.
Who’d want to kill him? Well, almost everybody, but it looks like only one person did. The police arrest his ex-wife’s therapist, Anthony.
Anthony’s family claim he is innocent and employ the SeeMs Detective Agency to find the real killer.
Cat, Miranda, and Stevie uncover clues that point them back to an intricate web of family injuries and an unexpected connection between the victim and his killer.
Could Rupert’s murderer be The Chameleon Killer, who has already killed before and is bent on revenge? They need to act fast before the killer strikes again.
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Gina has shared an extract with us today. We hope you enjoy.
*****beginning of extract*****
This extract is about the anti-hero Rupert. His girl-friend Drina has just bought him some food (he has spent all his money on booze). Instead of eating it he goes in to see his neighbour, an old woman.
Once the car boot was full of bags of food, Drina drove Rupert round to his flat. As she dropped him outside, she repeated, ‘OK, so stay off the booze and get some sleep. And start looking for a job.’
Rupert inclined his head politely. He watched her drive off round the corner, making sure she was well out of sight before he picked up the bags of food. Grinning impishly, he headed for a flat on the ground floor at the back of his block. He knocked and yelled loudly through the door.
‘Hello. Mrs Cartwright. How are you today?’
After a long wait he heard a dragging sound in the flat, as though someone was heaving a heavy parcel. Eventually, after extensive clunking, the door opened a slit, and an old woman peered out, her face looking anxious.
‘Who is it?’
‘Hello, Mrs Cartwright. It’s me, Rupert. I brought you the shopping you wanted.’
He lifted the bags and waved them so she could see them through the slit.
by Book Extract: A Cocktail To Die For by Helen Golden
I’m so pleased to be welcoming Helen Golden back to Novel Kicks. She’s here with the blog tour for her novel, A Cocktail To Die For.
Cocktails, chaos, and an unexpected twist. Can Perry and his hens unveil the truth before time runs out?
Death at Prestigious Hotel and Spa, Chasingham House
We are hearing reports that a young woman has been found dead at Chasingham House, the exclusive venue in the Cotswolds. She has not been named, and the cause of death is unknown at this time. This will no doubt cast a cloud over the bachelor weekend being hosted there by Lady Beatrice (36), the Countess of Rossex, for her business partner Perry Juke (34) ahead of his wedding to bestselling author and celebrity chef Simon Lattimore (40). Also staying at Chasingham House are top models Camile Redmaine (35) and Mel Parks (35), who are celebrating newly-single Cammy’s birthday with a group of friends.
When one of the birthday girls is found dead in her room, it’s clear Bea plans for her, Perry, and their friends to chill around the pool, have a few treatments, and generally relax, seem to have gone down the drain. When the local police are quick to dismiss the death as an accident, Bea is determined to help investigate anyway, along with the rest of Perry’s party.
Can Perry and his hens catch the killer before the weekend is over and the trail goes cold?
Helen has shared an extract with us today. We hope you enjoy.
*****beginning of extract*****
Lady Beatrice and her business partner Perry Juke are at Chasingham House, an exclusive hotel and spa in the peaceful Cotswolds, for his bachelor weekend. Among Perry’s hens is DCI Emma McKeer Adler from PaIRS and they are all looking forward to a relaxing weekend. But when the dead body of a guest is discovered, the hotel manager asks Emma if she will step in and secure the crime scene until the local CID arrive…
“It’s okay, chief inspector. I’ll take over from here.”
Em looked up and found herself face to face with a bald man of about fifty who was only a few inches taller than her.
“Detective Chief Inspector Alan Rivers from Chase CID.” He held out his hand.
Em took it, trying not to recoil when her hand found itself in a clammy grip.
Meed stepped forward. “We were just—”
Rivers held up his hand, and Meed fell silent. “I’m here now, sergeant, so I’ll decide what you do next. Understand?”
Rude!
by Book Club
