Padme's Library: diana copland

Showing posts with label diana copland. Show all posts

Monday, March 27, 2017

Monday's Montage Mantlepiece: Secrets of Neverwood

Summary:
Three foster brothers are called home to Neverwood, the stately Pacific Northwest mansion of their youth. They have nothing in common but a promise to Audrey, the woman they all called mother—that upon her death, they would restore the house and preserve it as a home for troubled boys.

But going home is never easy.

Cal struggles to recover from past heartbreak, while Danny fears his mistakes are too big to overcome. Devon believes he may never break down the barriers that separate him from honest emotion.

On the path to brotherhood, they discover the old mansion holds more than dusty furniture and secret passageways. Audrey’s spirit still walks its halls, intent on guiding “her boys” toward true love, and an old mystery stirs up a new danger—one that could cost the men far more than just the house.

Stories Included:
One Door Closes by GB Lindsey
The Growing Season by Diana Copland
The Lost Year by Libby Drew

One Door Closes by GB Lindsey
Years ago, Calvin Ware found a refuge in Neverwood, a home for wayward boys. Now, following the death of his foster mother Audrey, he’s returned to fulfill her request to restore the decrepit Victorian mansion to its former purpose.

Under the threat of repossession, Cal clashes with his foster brothers over restoration plans while fending off the unscrupulous developer who is breathing down his neck. Audrey’s well-meaning presence in his dreams does more harm than good as he struggles to cope with it all. What’s more, the contractor he hires to get the building up to code turns out to be Will Cabot, his high school flame.

As they begin working together, Cal finds he still has feelings for his first love. But his mistakes of years ago threaten their future, just as they ruined their past, and Cal knows he can’t withstand the heartbreak a second time.

The Growing Season by Diana Copland
The four years since Danny Redmond left Neverwood have been heartbreaking, and past mistakes continue to haunt him, even after he returns home.Together with two foster brothers he barely knows, they plan to turn the house into a welcoming place for runaways once again—the dying wish of their foster mother, Audrey.

Danny has nothing to contribute to the restoration of the decrepit mansion, save for a gift for growing things. His efforts to bring Audrey’s beloved gardens back to their former glory are complicated by handsome landscaper Sam Ignatius…and the feelings developing between them, despite their fiery differences of opinion. But one voice gives him hope, the only one he’s always trusted—Audrey’s.

Danny comes to care deeply for Sam, but things look bleak when Sam’s city councilman father threatens to have Neverwood torn down. Danny isn't surprised. Why would he expect the future to be different from his past? All his relationships end in disaster...

The Lost Year by Libby Drew
Devon McCade is no stranger to adversity. As a photojournalist, he’s seen all manner of human struggle. And as a kid, it’s what brought him to Neverwood, to his foster mother Audrey. It’s what he’s facing now, as he and his foster brothers work to restore the once-stately mansion amidst surprising signs from Audrey herself.

But when another anguished soul arrives at Neverwood, Devon can’t hide behind his camera. Nicholas Hardy is certain he saw his runaway son, Robbie, in a photo Devon took of homeless children. Devon knows all too well that a young teenager on the streets doesn’t have many options—and Robbie has been missing for a full year.

Searching for Robbie with Nicholas stirs memories and passions Devon had thought long lost, yet knowing that Nicholas will leave as soon as Robbie is found keeps him from opening himself up to something permanent. Devon must learn to fight for what he wants to keep—his love, and his home.

Author Bios:

GB Lindsey

G. B. Lindsey was born and raised in California, where she earned her undergraduate degree in Literature and Creative Writing from UC Santa Cruz. Her first love has always been writing: as a child, she cultivated such diverse goals as becoming "a cowgirl... and a writer" or "a paleontologist... and a writer."

Aside from her salacious and ongoing affair with the horror genre, she loves to write sci-fi, romance, historical fiction, and short stories. Other hobbies include playing the piano, reading voraciously, the occasional period drama movie night, and devouring scary film after scary film. She recently moved back home from Newcastle upon Tyne, where she earned her Master of Arts in Creative Writing, and now lives in Sacramento.

Diana Copland

Diana Copland began writing in the seventh grade, when she shamelessly combined elements of Jane Eyre and Dark Shadows to produce an overwrought gothic tale that earned her an A- in creative writing, thanks entirely to the generosity of her teacher. She wrote for pure enjoyment for the next three decades before discovering LiveJournal and a wonderful group of supportive fanfiction writers, who after gifting her with a "Best New Author" Award encouraged her to try her hand at original gay fiction.

Born and raised in southern California, Diana moved to the Pacific Northwest after losing a beloved spouse to AIDS in 1995. She lives in eastern Washington near her two wonderful adult children and her surprisingly supportive parents.

Libby Drew

Libby glimpsed her true calling when her first story, an A.A. Milne /Shakespeare crossover, won the grand prize in her elementary school's fiction contest. Her parents explained that writers were quirky, poor, and often talked to themselves in supermarket checkout lines. They implored her to be practical, a request she took to heart for twenty years, earning two degrees, a white-collar job, and an ulcer, before realizing that practical was absolutely no fun.

Today she lives with her husband and four children in an old, impractical house and writes stories about redemption, the supernatural, and love at first sight, all of which do exist. She happens to know from experience.

Libby’s STATE OF MIND received rave reviews for being fast, clever, and relentless and was nominated for a Bookie Award for Best M/M Novel of 2011. 40 SOULS TO KEEP, Libby’s third novel, has been described as intense and heart-poundingly good and was praised by Publishers Weekly for maintaining a high level of suspense.

An avid supporter of gay rights, Libby donates her time to the Trevor Project and organizations that work to support marriage equality.

GB Lindsey

FACEBOOK / TWITTER / WEBSITE

KOBO / iTUNES / GOOGLE PLAY / B&N

CARINA / AMAZON / GOODREADS

EMAIL: lindseywords@gmail.com

Diana Copland

FACEBOOK / TWITTER / LIVE JOURNAL

iTUNES / GOOGLE PLAY / KOBO

CARINA / B&N / AMAZON / GOODREADS

EMAIL: diana_copland@livejournal.com

Libby Drew

FACEBOOK / TWITTER / CARINA

KOBO / iTUNES / GOOGLE PLAY

B&N / AMAZON / GOODREADS

AMAZON US / AMAZON UK

B&N / iTUNES / GOOGLE PLAY

KOBO / CARINA / GOODREADS TBR

Thursday, September 24, 2015

A Reason to Believe by Diana Copland

Summary:
Detective Matthew Bennett doesn't believe in ghosts. So when the spirit of a murdered child leads him to her body, he's shaken to the core—and taken off the case. Unable to explain his vision, or to let go of the investigation, Matthew turns to renowned medium Kiernan Fitzpatrick. Though he has doubts about Kiernan's claims to communicate with the dead, Matt is nevertheless drawn to the handsome psychic, who awakens feelings he thought were long-buried.

Haunted by the lingering spirit of the little girl, Kiernan is compelled to aid in the search for her killer. The chance to get closer to the enigmatic Matt is an unexpected bonus. Although Kiernan's been betrayed by people who turned out to be more interested in his fame than in himself, with Matt he's willing to risk his heart. As the two men grow closer, Kiernan helps Matt rediscover that life offers no guarantees—but love offers a reason to believe...

I've had this on my Kindle for over a year but I just got around to reading it now. I chose to read it now because with October and Halloween coming soon I've been in a very ghost/spirit mood but the truth is this is so much more than a ghost story. Tears flowed more than once, usually surrounding the fate of poor little Abby. She may have only been 6 and the victim of a brutal murder but with the help of Matthew and Kiernan, she's not completely helpless when the killer's time is up. The developing relationship between Matthew and Kiernan is beautifully written and goes beyond the cliche skeptic and psychic. A Reason to Believe had me hooked from page one and will definitely be one you'll want to check out too, especially if you enjoy an intriguing mystery with a touch of spirits all rolled together with a healthy dose of love.

RATING:

A plate of Christmas cookies sat on the polished black marble counter. It was a large white platter populated with yellow stars, Christmas trees with M&M'S for ornaments, and snowflakes thick with white frosting and sparkling with sugary glitter. And angels. Little girl angels with widespread wings and pink robes and curling blond ringlets. They looked like cheerful little cherubim, with their pink cheeks and little red smiles.

Matt Bennett supposed Christmas cookies were an appropriate thing to find on a kitchen counter in the hours before dawn on Christmas. During his own childhood, cookies and milk for Santa had played an important role in the Christmas Eve rituals. But the purpose for his presence made those bright-eyed angels seem faintly macabre.

The call had come in at one-fifty, waking him from the first sound sleep he'd had in days. As his captain filled in the details with typical efficiency, Matt's mood had grown more and more sour. God, he hated cases involving kids. They were the worst. It seemed particularly cruel such a thing should happen on Christmas Eve.

The facts were already in evidence, but it didn't make the investigation any more palatable. Abigail Marie Reynolds, age six, was missing from her parents' home. When they'd put her to bed around nine, she'd been fine. Excited for Christmas morning, she'd taken a while to settle but she'd been sleeping peacefully by eleven when her father peeked in on his way to bed. When her mother got up at one and saw her daughter's door ajar and a light on, she checked the room only to find the pink princess linens and blankets on the floor. The child was nowhere to be found.

Frantic, she woke her husband, and they made an exhaustive search of the house. When it became apparent the little girl was gone, they called the police. At one time, there would have been a twenty-four-hour wait, just to make sure the child hadn't wandered off on her own. Amber alerts had changed all of that. Detectives now knew the first hours were crucial in the recovery of a missing child, and they swung into action immediately. Of course, it didn't hurt that the father of this particular missing girl was also a high-profile defense attorney. The list of suspects among his clients was no doubt a mile long.

Matt leaned against the counter in the large kitchen as his captain and another officer interviewed the parents. They were seated at a gleaming dining room table, the light from the chandelier above unforgiving. The father looked ragged and shell-shocked, and his wife was tearfully repeating her story, twisting a white handkerchief in her hands. On the sideboard behind them, prominently displayed, were several photographs of an angelic little girl with a full head of curling blond hair and a dimpled smile.

Captain Branson questioned them respectfully, but Matt knew what his captain was thinking. In many missing child cases, the parents were involved somehow and almost always were considered the first suspects, at least until sufficient evidence removed them from suspicion. Matt hated it but had been around long enough to know it was more often than not true. Taking in the father's slouched posture and the mother's white-knuckled hands, Matt pitied them. He'd be hard pressed to believe the shattered, frightened people had anything to do with the disappearance of their only child, but he tended to be more compassionate than Branson. Matt admired him as a detective even while not liking him much as a person.

Author Bio:
Diana Copland began writing in the seventh grade, when she shamelessly combined elements of Jane Eyre and Dark Shadows to produce an overwrought gothic tale that earned her an A- in creative writing, thanks entirely to the generosity of her teacher. She wrote for pure enjoyment for the next three decades before discovering LiveJournal and a wonderful group of supportive fanfiction writers, who after gifting her with a "Best New Author" Award encouraged her to try her hand at original gay fiction.

Born and raised in southern California, Diana moved to the Pacific Northwest after losing a beloved spouse to AIDS in 1995. She lives in eastern Washington near her two wonderful adult children and her surprisingly supportive parents.