INTRODUCTION

Hi everyone My name is Victoria Zumbrum, 40 years old, married 14 years with 1 son. This is my very first blog. So bear with me. I have always wanted to have my own blog. I have always loved to read. I enjoy getting lost in a good book.
I love becoming part of the story and characters. I am hoping to bring my love of books to my readers.

I love reading different genres such as paranormal, young adult, romance, romantic suspense, mystery, Christian fiction, some horror, etc. The list goes on. I started reviewing books a couple of years ago and have done reviews for different blogs and even some authors. I really have enjoyed reviewing books and I will continue to do so. If anyone is interested in me reviewing a book for them, please contact me. I still have a lot to learn regarding my own blog so bear with me. I welcome and appreciate all followers.

Wednesday, November 12, 2025

Jolene MacFadden 3-Book Marketing Toolkit for Authors Book Tour and Giveaway

 


“Own your story, build your brand, and share it with the world—your author journey starts here.”


Authors- How To Brand You and Your Books

by Jolene MacFadden

Genre: Non-Fiction, Author Self-Help



Digital Marketing Assistance for the Business Challenged Writer

One of the most difficult tasks for any creative talent is to effectively brand ourselves and our stories.

This book will help you.

From websites to the most popular social media platforms, I have experienced it all, and will provide you with most of the tips and tricks I have learned through the years. This book will also help you gain some basic understanding behind the 'why you should do these tasks yourself'. It has become a requirement in today's publishing climate for both indie and traditionally published authors to have a social media presence. This book will show you the different places you should be spending your valuable time to, hopefully, be most effective at connecting with your readers and make more sales. I include some great ideas on what to post, how often, and when. (Of course, you do what is best for you and your schedule)

The main goal is to inform, encourage, and to show you that YOU CAN DO THIS or you, your readers, and your professional book writing business

 

Amazon * Jolene’s Bookstore * Books2Read * Bookbub * Goodreads

 






30 Day Social Media Challenge

Purple Leather Edition

by Jolene MacFadden

Genre: Non-Fiction, Author Self-Help



Welcome to the 30-Day Challenge Workbook. Within these pages are helpful forms that will help you get started on your digital marketing journey for your small business. This workbook along with my other beginner’s reference book called, “Top Ten Ways to Market Your Books for Free”, which works for authors and small businesses, will help you understand the how’s and whys of social media. Again, these are beginner guides only. At the end of 30 days, you will have actionable routines and data to help you formulate a plan of action that works for you and your business.

 

Comes in paperback or spiral!


Amazon * Jolene’s Bookstore * The Book Patch







Top Ten Ways To Market Your Book for Free:

And Other TidBits of Information for Writers

by Jolene MacFadden

Genre: Non-Fiction, Author Self-Help



Quick and easy information for writers who want to know how to market their book on a very tight budget. Tips and tricks gathered from years of working with writers, publishing my own books, and as a reader wanting to find more on the writers I want to read.

 

Amazon * Jolene’s Bookstore * Books2Read * Bookbub * Goodreads






Jolene MacFadden is a multi-published nonfiction author, digital marketer, and lifelong storyteller dedicated to helping writers build their brands and thrive in today’s publishing world. With decades of hands-on experience as a financial counselor, freelance web designer, and marketing strategist, she blends practical know-how with creative insight to guide authors through the often-overwhelming world of book promotion. Her popular guides—"Authors: How to Brand You and Your Books”, “30-Day Social Media Challenge Workbook”, and “Top Ten Ways to Market Your Book for Free”—have become go-to resources for indie, hybrid, and traditionally published authors alike.

An eclectic learner and enthusiastic community builder, Jolene has grown a vibrant multi-platform presence, engaging readers and writers through Pinterest, Mastodon, TikTok, Substack, and YouTube. She hosts the lively Jolene’s Book and Writer’s Talk podcast, where she interviews authors and industry pros across genres, and she regularly speaks at book festivals and writers’ conferences across Florida. Her passion for storytelling, education, and empowerment drives everything she creates—whether it’s a blog post, a marketing workshop, or her Solo Sojourn Project inspiring solo women travelers to explore public lands.

Jolene also writes historical fiction, mystery, and romance under the pen name L. J. Green (Lillian Jade Green), where she blends rich historical detail with intrigue and heart. A proud “Booming Xer,” she lives a life of exploration, blending authorship, digital entrepreneurship, and travel in her home state of Florida.

 

Website *Facebook * X * Instagram * Bluesky * YouTube * TikTok 

Tumblr *Substack * Bookbub * Amazon * Goodreads



Follow the tour HERE for special content and a $30 giveaway!





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Jack MacGregor Jiggery Pokery Book Tour and Giveaway

 


Prepare to be introduced to tantalising tales of seismic skulduggery, fervent fairytalery and flagrant frootery, as a prile of pulchritudinous practitioners of the prestige (that's three beautiful witches, to you) and their feline familiars put their world to rights with fantastical, folklorish results.


A Bustle in the Hedgerow

Jiggery Pokery Book 1

by Jack MacGregor

Genre: YA Paranormal Fantasy



Merry meet! Young witch Jinny Lane adopts a beautiful black cat named Jet Jupiter Splinters and so begins their adventures with fellow witches Miss Riz and Miss Lou. A local resident causes trouble in the neighbourhood and the 3 witches retaliate with the help of some faeries....

 

Green Cat Books


The Shadow Cutters

Jiggery Pokery Book 2



A journey is on the cards for Miss' Jinny, Lou and Riz and off they go in a borrowed campervan. Along the way they collect a few more pets, lots of Tunnock's Teacakes, a curse or 2 and some shadow cutters.

Both books are guaranteed to have you rolling with laughter!

 

Green Cat Books



Candy and Gore

And Other Spooky Short Stories


Brace yourself for eight stories of scary spectres (and for ghosts that try to be) written by a collection of authors who love all things paranormal...


Dreadmoor Hall by S L Saunders
The White Lady and the Headless Knight by Kram Rednip
The Long Way Home by Neil Pettifer
The Gallows Grave by Richard Tyndall
To B&B or not B&B by Kram Rednip
A Most Transparent Gentleman by Peach Berry
Paranormal Investigator by Lisa J Rivers
Too Much Candy and Gore by H L Wood

 

Green Cat Books


The Day of the Spider

by Keith Wood

Genre: Dark Historical Halloween Murder Fiction



'The Day of the Spider' is a sort of sequel to the debut novel, 'One Day in May' by the author, but can be equally read as a standalone work as it is very different, though still set in the 18th century.

The novel is primarily set in the heart of the Hambleton Hills of North Yorkshire, though it starts off in Mansfield in Nottinghamshire where the heroine (or should that be anti-heroine), Nellie Chapman, a sexually abused young woman from a traditional mining family feels she has to move a long way from her past life. She has no plans but to get away and live a life on her own terms, an uncommon practice for a woman in the 18th century.
Despite Nellie's unlawful past, fate ensures that she seems to bear a charmed life. You may hate her or love her; it's for you to judge and you'll find plenty to entertain as you sit in judgement.

 

Amazon * Green Cat Books * Goodreads




As we all know by now, Brigadoon is a mythical, enchanted, Scottish village that appears for only one day every century.

That day was when Jack MacGregor's parents took the leap, together with their new born son, and opted to relocate to an 'earthlier' environment, having the spectral pre knowledge that Jack would, one day, become an author of note (ish). 

Were he to keep residence in the village there would not be a wide enough audience to read or even purchase his ramblings. That and the fact that there was no such thing as 'television' or 'films' or even bookshops in Brigadoon meant his literary career would have been somewhat stunted were he to stay.

Jack was therefore raised in a town in Lancashire, where he developed a strong Bolton accent and a fascination, via Pendle Hill, for witches... oh, and The Munsters and The Addams Family. 

The move also allowed his parents to spend their leisure time holidaying in such glamorous locales as Blackpool, Fleetwood and Morecambe - places that they had heard word of only in ancient folklore, back in the old village. Places they could but dream of. If only they had known the reality.

Anyway, Jack's education was undertaken in an old Salesian boys' school, or college as it was then known, where he honed the gentlemanly skills of football, fencing, athletics, music, art and of course English language and literature. He took no heed when it came to mathematics, physics or Latin studies - he already knew they would be of little use to him in his future life. And he was correct! 

(Excuse me for a moment please. After returning from her daily romp on the back field, our minx of a Springer Spaniel, Jinny (named after a character in Jack's books) has just performed the most pungent poo known to, well, anybody or anything, right outside the office door, and guess who's down for cleaning it up...)

Where was I? Apart from in the shit... so, in a nutshell (or nutcase) Jack took on many unsuitable roles after leaving college:

Lithographic printing, landscaping, butchering (no murder, mind), music repping, DJ (he invented The Headbangers Ball, which fizzled out when MTV nicked the name for their very own with no recompense to JM) working in a record shop or three, owning a record shop, working as a Placement Officer for the DHSS, then running two of the UK's finest small music venues. 

From nowhere (but allegedly, China) came a mystery 'pandemic' whilst Jack was working part time as a courier - he was now a 'Key Worker'! Ha Ha and thrice Ha! 

The peace and quiet that accompanied this outrageous farce finally gave Jack the time and head space he needed to put pen to paper (or one finger to keyboard) and commence work on the weird and weirder tales that had been rattling around for many a year. 

He had planned much of this in the Lake District, in the Valley of the Golden Eagles, surrounded by a multitude of darling red squirrels and the odd faery, but when it came to finally 'getting it all down' Jack completely ignored everything he'd planned and free-formed anew.

The only inspiration was a tiny black cat that Jack's partner had discovered sitting smack in the middle of the crossroads, outside their venue, one terribly stormy evening.

She brought him in and introduced him to their existing cat, Spike, who proceeded to boss him mercilessly until he became his slave. Still is!

That tiny black mouser was wittily christened 'Jet' and the tale of 'Jet Splinters' unfolded around him, without plan or forethought.

Two books were picked up and published almost immediately by Green Cat Books in the shire of Derby and the third has been a long time coming due to real life getting in the way.

Book 3 has definitely been birthed and should be on its way by 2026, but that's been promised for simply ages... getting Book 1: 'A Bustle In the Hedgerow' and Book 2: 'The Shadow Cutters', under the banner of 'Jiggery Pokery', to TV or Film is a priority, hopefully before Jack MacGregor's demise, because he'd like to watch them too ... and that, my patient friends, brings you all up to date.

 

Website * Facebook * X *  X * Instagram * Bluesky * TikTok



Follow the tour HERE for special content and a $10 giveaway!


Enter the Jiggery Pokery Giveaway Here!


Tuesday, November 11, 2025

Marsh Rose A Version of the Truth Book Tour and Giveaway

 



Do we spend our lives searching in vain for an answer, 

or do we find a version of the truth we can live with, and live with it?


A Version of the Truth

by Marsh Rose

Genre: Memoir


Over forty years, Marsh and her partner built a life defined by love, devotion, and independence. He supported her when she bought her home in California wine country, when she grieved the deaths of her parents, when she built her career as a psychotherapist, and even when she overcame a lifelong fear of dogs to adopt a rescued greyhound.

They never married or shared a home—by choice. They were lovers and confidants, deeply committed to one another. Yet, they only met on Tuesdays and Fridays.

And then, one day, he vanished.

When Marsh finally tracked him down, she discovered the unimaginable: he had suffered a catastrophic stroke. His memory was gone. He could no longer speak. And he was living with a woman who knew him by a different name.

What was the truth? With him unreachable behind the devastation of his illness, and with the danger that exposing their relationship could cause irreparable harm, Marsh was left to confront a hall of mirrors—plagued by questions, silences, and uncertainty.

In the end, she discovered a universal reality: we all live with some unknowable mystery. The question is—do we spend our lives searching in vain for an answer, or do we find a version of the truth we can live with, and live with it?

 

Amazon * Sunbury Press * Bookbub * Goodreads



Marsh Rose is a freelance writer, psychotherapist and college educator. Her short stories have appeared in a variety of publications including Cosmopolitan Magazine, the San Francisco Chronicle, Carve Magazine, Hippocampus Magazine, and New Millennium Writings where she took first prize for creative nonfiction in 2018. She lives in the north San Francisco Bay Area with her greyhound, Adin.

  

Website * Facebook * Bookbub * Amazon * Goodreads



Follow the tour HERE for special content and a $20 giveaway!





Clive Fleury All or None Release Tour and Giveaway

 


As bodies pile up and bombs go off, Detective Ryan finds murder is the least of his problems—family secrets and a distracting romance threaten to blow his investigation apart.

All Or None

A Detective Ryan Mystery #2

by Clive Fleury

Genre: Cozy Mystery 



Returning to Sydney, Detective Ramesh Ryan is promoted to the Homicide Squad. Zoe Yang joins him there. Now a detective herself, she is assigned as his junior partner. Straight up, the cops are off and running-investigating the discovery of a murdered company director. Following the clues, Detective Ryan finds that this and a second murder may be linked to past events.

As the pressure mounts for a quick solution to the case, the detective finds that he too, is in the killer's crosshairs. But Ryan is distracted from the investigation by a romantic encounter with an old university friend. He also worries about his mother, Mumta, and her new obsessive desire for grandchildren from her only son. Could this be linked to her recent medical tests? And there's another pressing problem-the plague of rats in his apartment block.

Detective Ryan's hands are well and truly full!

 

**New Release – Nov 11, 2025!**

Amazon * Bookbub * Goodreads


Off Season

A Detective Ryan Mystery #1




Detective Ryan navigates drug overdoses, a mysterious foot on the beach and a long-buried cold case.

Detective Ramesh Ryan's career with Sydney's prestigious Organized Crime Unit is on the up, until he loses a court case against the city's most powerful drug dealer. In disgrace, the detective is relocated to the tiny Australian beach town of Barton.

It is off-season in Barton-when its few criminals usually take a well-earned rest. But not this year! With the detective's arrival, the town suddenly becomes murder central. Two bodies are discovered in the space of days, both victims of drug overdoses. Then a mysterious foot is found washed up on the beach, and memories are awoken of an unsolved cold case of the teenager who disappeared fifteen years ago. Add to this a blossoming romance, along with a contract taken out on Ryan's life, and it's clear that the detective has jumped out of the Sydney frying pan into the Barton fire.

What follows is an action-packed adventure, thrilling at every turn-where truth and lies are almost impossible to separate, and unexpected twists are the order of the day.

 

Praise For OFF SEASON

 

Off Season is a sensational and thrilling mystery that will take its reader on a journey of ups and downs and twists and turns galore while always entertaining and thrilling you!”

 —Aimee – GOODREADS review

 

“Attention grabber. Moves quickly and smoothly. Informative. Enjoyable. Don't miss.”

Margaret – GOODREADS review

 

“Fleury masterfully crafts a narrative that is both fast-paced and intricately plotted. The story kicks off with a bang and maintains its momentum throughout, with each chapter ending on a tantalizing cliffhanger. The plot is peppered with unexpected twists and turns, keeping readers interested.”

—J. Komrie - GOODREADS review

 

“Great build-up of suspense, a layered plot, and an enticing protagonist. Takes a lot of turns, which I love. This is definitely a page turner for anyone who loves a good crime mystery.”

—Carolina Rolim – Verified AMAZON reader review

 

 

Amazon * Bookbub * Goodreads



Clive Fleury is an award-winning writer of books and screenplays and has worked all over the world as a Film/TV director, writer and producer. He has written six books, most recently 'All Or None', the second novel in the Detective Ryan Murder Mystery series.

 

'All Or None' sees Detective Ryan back in the thick of things. His latest investigation into a mysterious death couldn’t come at a worse time. He discovers his mother is hiding a troubling secret and is further sidetracked by a new romance. Fans of who dunnit's, crime thrillers, and cop and detective stories will love this novel. 

 

Clive's other books include 'Off Season' - book one in the Detective Ryan Murder Mystery series; 'Kill Code' - a dystopian science fiction novel set in a world facing climate change;  ‘Scary Lizzy’  - a novel about an eight year old girl, who befriends an African child ghost –  and the teen action adventure book; ‘The Boy Next Door ‘ -  a story of what happens when a teenage girl has a crush on her next door neighbor, who isn’t all he seems.  He also co-wrote ‘Art Pengriffin and The Curse of The Four’ - a young adult fantasy adventure about a teenage boy who discovers his father was Merlin the Magician.

 

Website * Facebook * X * Instagram * Bookbub * Amazon * Goodreads



Follow the tour HERE for special content and a giveaway!




Monday, November 10, 2025

The Mystery of the Indefatigable Ink Release Tour and Giveaway

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What’s erased isn’t always gone—and ink never forgets.


The Mystery of the Indefatigable Ink

The New Three Investigators Book 9

by Elizabeth Arthur & Steven Bauer

Genre: YA Mystery, Suspense, Adventure



What’s erased isn’t always gone—and ink never forgets.

The Salvage Yard is still there. So is the secret headquarters. And so are the Three Investigators—smarter than ever, a little older, and ready for their most challenging cases yet.

Conceived and co-written by Elizabeth Arthur, the daughter of Robert Arthur, the creator of the Three Investigators universe, this exciting reboot of the classic series takes its iconic characters into a new age. They return reimagined, reinvigorated, and more relevant than ever.

In the ninth book of a 26-book story arc, Jupiter's trip to the local hardware store seems like an ordinary errand - until a chance meeting with Mrs. Vasiliev, an elderly Russian woman who fled the Soviet Union in the 1980s, puts him on the track of a brand-new mystery. Mrs. Vasiliev asks Jupiter to help a young Russian-American songwriter named Ivan Federov, who's being threatened with a bogus plagiarism lawsuit.

At first, the case seems straightforward, but as The Three Investigators dig deeper, they uncover a complex and intriguing web of family history. Ivan's great-grandparents fled the Soviet Union during the Russian Revolution, and his great-grandfather, Fyodor, an Oscar-winning Hollywood actor. Fyodor's son, Vadim, was blacklisted in the 1950s during the Red Scare after being falsely accused of being a Soviet agent. But Vadim reinvented himself as the wildly successful mystery writer, Edison Ford, winning multiple Edgars from the Mystery Writers of America.

Vadim's final manuscript, however, is missing. He had completed it just before his death - a literary novel about his parents' escape from the Soviet regime - but despite years of searching, it's nowhere to be found. The investigation reveals that the manuscript may not be as lost as everyone thinks - but someone is determined to keep it hidden. An old-fashioned card catalogue has been rifled - though a 1930s movie, Dawn Over Petrograd, holds hidden clues.

In the end, the hunt for the missing manuscript leads The Three Investigators to the American Film History Library where they must race against time to recover it. But when the manuscript falls into the wrong hands, the team faces dangerous opposition. Who is behind the plot to keep it buried? To what lengths will they go to protect their secret? And can Jupiter, Pete, Bob, and Mallory uncover the truth before the manuscript is lost forever?

Join the team as they untangle a Gordian knot of deception, theft, and devious greed in this heart-pounding new chapter of The Three Investigators series.

 

Amazon * Bookbub * Goodreads



**Don’t miss the rest of The New Three Investigators series!**

Find them on Amazon





Elizabeth Arthur is the daughter of Robert Arthur, the creator of The Three Investigators mystery series for young people. She is the author of five literary novels (Beyond the Mountain, Bad Guys, Binding Spell, Antarctic Navigation, and Bring Deeps) and two memoirs (Island Sojourn and Looking for the Klondike Stone.) Her books have been published by Harper and Row, Doubleday, Knopf, and Bloomsbury U.K.

In 2018 Arthur set out to conceive and co-write a re-imagined, contemporary Three Investigators series consisting of twenty-six new books – one for every letter of the alphabet – working with her husband, Steven Bauer. Publication of the series began on March 3, 2025, and the two-part conclusion will be published on March 3, 2027.

Steven Bauer is the son-in-law of Robert Arthur, the creator of The Three Investigators mystery series. He is the author of three books for young people, the young adult fantasy Satyrday, the middle grade novel A Cat of a Different Color, and The Strange and Wonderful Tale of Robert McDoodle, a picture book in verse.

 

Website * X * Goodreads * Goodreads



Follow the tour HERE for special content and a $10 giveaway!


Enter The Mystery of the Indefatigable Ink Giveaway here


Charles Anthony The Mars Man Book Tour and Giveaway

 


Three StarZ corporation ships are sent to forge a new civilization on Mars. But when a massive solar flare cuts off all communication, no one knows what is happening on Mars. The only one who does - Commander John Santo - arrived back in an escape capsule: and he has disappeared.


The Mars Man

by Charles Anthony

Genre: Dystopian Science Fiction



In a world grappling with a climate crisis, a shrinking population and dwindling resources on Earth, billionaire Ezra Graff has founded StarZ. Its mission: begin the first Martian colony. The three hundred pioneers of The Mars Man are the first to venture forth, forging a new civilization on the rust-colored expanse of Mars. But when a massive solar flare cuts off all communication, no one knows what is happening on Mars. The only one who does know is the single occupant of an escape capsule that crashed into the Atlantic ocean one year after the colony’s founding: Commander John Santo. To get the full story, they must find him. With time running out until the second wave launches for Mars, only Commander John Santo knows what is happening to the first colony as they grapple with the harsh realities of their new home, confronting the strange environment outside and the forces of evil within.

The Mars Man weaves a tapestry of adventure, intrigue, and human resilience against the backdrop of a planet that challenges every notion of survival. With richly developed characters and a narrative that balances suspense and wonder, Anthony creates an immersive experience that will leave readers hungry to keep reading.

 

**On Sale Nov 9-16!**

 Amazon * Bookbub * Goodreads



Charles Anthony was born in the Hunter Valley, Australia, in 1990. He moved to New Zealand in 2017, obtained a Master of Laws degree from the University of Auckland and then moved to the Waikato where he works as a lawyer and is actively involved in his community.

In the summer of 2021 he began writing. Working in the evenings and on the weekends, he produces short stories, poems and novels. In 2025 he launched his first novel, the Mars Man, on Amazon.

Charles Anthony lives in Hamilton, New Zealand.

 

Website * Facebook *Instagram * YouTube * Amazon



Follow the tour HERE for special content and a $10 giveaway!


Enter The Mars Man Giveaway