Cover reveal for 23:27 by H.L. Roberts

Today, I'm featuring a cover reveal for 23:27 by H.L. Roberts. This cover reveal is organised by Lola's Blog Tours.



23:27
By H.L. Roberts
Genre: General Fiction with sub genres of contemporary, romance, drama, and suspense.
Age category: Young Adult
Release Date: July 17, 2017

Blurb:

Fame.

Money.

Glory.

These were all the things that you would expect from being famous. The bait that the producers of the industry would tempt you with to get you on their side.

What they don't tell you though are all the inner tragedies that come along just as quickly. They don't tell you about the heartache that occurs when you realize that this wasn't what you wanted at all.

They don't tell you about the pressure that's always on the verge of crushing you when you're forced to do everything that the public demands for and not what you truly desire.

They don't tell you about the self hatred that would soon take over your entire being at the thought that you will never be good enough.

No - they don't tell you these things at all.

But, Lilith Rose will.

When Lilith Rose, lead singer to one of the most famous rock bands around gets tired of all the lies and secrets that comes with being famous.

She decides that it's time for all of it to stop and ends up revealing everything on a Facebook live stream.

The result...

"Part of me wants to die tonight, part of me wants it to be an accident, and part of me wants someone to notice and save me." - Lilith Rose.

Add 23:27 on Goodreads and pre-order it via Amazon.

Excerpt from 23:27 by H.L. Roberts

Time.

In the beginning, that was all there was. Seconds, minutes, hours pressed together, forming a mask of illusion that could never be dropped. A wall of steel grew around their hearts, one that couldn’t be broken. The United Misfits image could never be distorted.

It was wrong. It wasn't right. No matter what her heart told her, it was wrong. Every flutter that skated through her stomach. His every skipped heartbeat, meant nothing. She was nothing. He was nothing. They were nothing.

It had been said many times, by many different people, the most broken person in the world could hide behind a perfected smile and a fake laugh. This could carry out a person's persona, something that never even existed to begin with. That would never exist. Laughter and smiles filled with fake truths and real lies could hide what that person wanted to show, to tell, the truth.

In the end, she wanted to break free, but chains restrained her, blocking each and every move before she could make a single one, turning her into a prisoner. A captive in her own life.

Those chains squeezed tighter and tighter, never loosening their grip. They choked her from the inside, wrapping her tighter with every deceitful accusation and fake persona they put in her life. Deadly thoughts clouded her vision and stomped through her mind. Both of their minds.

Their hearts were noosed, yanked in every which direction. Like a snake. Until it all stopped. Until they both stopped fighting.

And when the fight dissipated, she could no longer turn away from the deceitful ways that they had so graciously bestowed on her.

About the Author:

H.L. Roberts is a short story writer and a contemporary novelist from a small town in Kentucky. She is currently in her third year of college where she is majoring in English Literature and minoring in Psychology. When she isn't reading a book you can find her raising awareness about mental illness, suicide prevention, and epilepsy.

Connect with H.L. Roberts via Facebook, Twitter, Instagram, and Goodreads


Giveaway

As part of the cover reveal, there is a giveaway - open internationally - for the book. Three winners will each win an ebook copy of 23:27 by H.L. Roberts.


For a chance to win, enter the giveaway below:

a Rafflecopter giveaway

Excerpt from The Flight of the Pickerings by John Grayson Heide

Today, I'm featuring author John Grayson Heide and his dramedy novel The Flight of the Pickerings. Hope you enjoy reading the excerpt below.  

Book: The Flight of the Pickerings

Author: John Grayson Heide

Publication date: 10 January 2016

Genres: Dramedy (drama and comedy)

Synopsis:

Guy Pickering has the biggest problem of his life. Dorothy, the only woman he’s ever loved, suffers with pain and dementia and has only weeks to live. Years ago, she made it clear to Guy that he is expected to put her out of her misery if she ever got to this stage. And he just can’t bring himself to do it. With love and honor in heart and a dread of loneliness, he decides to go with her and saunter into the afterlife beside his wife.   A plan is hatched, but Guy is not good at this sort of thing and everything is further complicated by a rebellious teenage grandson that shows up unexpectedly and a fame hungry reporter that chases them in front of a world-wide audience. Much to Guy’s frustration, Life keeps getting in the way of death.

The Flight of the Pickerings is a love story that wrestles with end of life issues and our right for self-determination.  Filled with tender moments and comic twists, this book engages the reader in one family’s final journey, a voyage all of us will take, sooner or later.

THE FLIGHT OF THE PICKERINGS

By: John Grayson Heide 

2008

 PROLOGUE

JUNE, 2007

FIFTEEN MILES DUE EAST OF DAYTONA BEACH, FLORIDA

“Damn!” Guy glanced sideways out his cockpit’s left window and winced at the roaring chop of a Navy Seahawk helicopter keeping pace at an aggressive distance. High above the bluegreen waters of the Atlantic, Guy’s stalwart but aging Beechcraft Bonanza four-seater fretted forward like a nervous mackerel beside the efficient shark-like chopper.  The helicopter’s pilot miraculously maintained the threateningly close distance between the weaving aircrafts while glaring back at Guy from behind dark wrap-arounds and steadily jabbing a finger at his earphones.  Over the Beechcraft’s radio, an insistent message shrieked.  “November niner niner seven zero two, do you read me?  Repeat! Do You Read Me?” 

Further back along the fuselage, the chopper’s cargo door window framed the contorted face of a uniformed man waving and bouncing as if he were on a mini trampoline.  

   Guy’s hand reached to flick on his microphone, but

hesitated in mid-air and instead pounded the steering wheel. 

“Shit!” he yelled out.  

At this same moment, in this same space, the living song of a different, but not so different reality/paradigm also is heard…

    From beneath the sound of the humming engine, in a voice that saints, shamans and angels can clearly hear, the Bonanza airplane's essence spoke from the depths of its soul.  I’ve never seen Guy like this. He doesn’t know what he’s doing!  Every rivet in Guy’s long trusted aircraft, the stouthearted nineteen sixty nine vintage Bonanza, shuddered with the reluctant embrace of the inexplicably complicated situation.  Those helicopters are so close! Just keep going…  This is terrible!  Nothing to do but keep flying.  Keep going. 

 

   The sound of another chop-chop-buzz blind-sided Guy’s attention and he craned his neck over the right wing.  Trailing behind and two hundred yards off to the right, flew a second helicopter—a Bell 407.  A bold red logo announced ‘Channel Seven News, your local On the Spot Source.’   The words ‘On the Spot’ were cleverly arranged around a circular side window.  Framed inside this window were the screaming faces of his daughter and his grandson.  No need to hear their words, Guy already knew the message.  “Shit! You’ve got to be kidding me,” he slapped his forehead.

“Guy Pickering!  What are you doing? Where are we?”  Dorothy’s voice skewered him from the passenger seat mere inches away. “This certainly seems to be taking a long time to get there.”   Grimacing, he turned to face his wife. Random tufts of grey hair stuck out from under her headphones.  On her forehead, a lopsided red blotch marked how hard she had pressed her head against the window in a vain attempt at seeing any form of land below.  Her left brow arched high over a piercing eye and her lips were slightly pursed.  After nearly fifty years with Dorothy, Guy well knew the signs; time was running out.  She waited.  He didn’t have an answer. 

The thin metal skin of the Bonanza rumbled and vibrated as the impatient Navy pilot, intent upon recognition, maneuvered even closer.  Guy patted Dorothy’s thin knee and swiped a sleeve across his forehead, “We’re fine, Honey,” he called out above the din. “It will all be… uhh, we’ll be there soon.”  Guy’s voice faded as he stared straight ahead.  A grey haze on the horizon mimicked his thoughts, obscuring the thin edge between sky and water and intent and reality.

“Oh…good,” Dorothy settled back into her seat, pulling the shawl tighter around her shoulders.  She pointed over to the Navy helicopter and nodded in their direction, “Are they coming too?” she said while wagging two fingers to the pilot who remained motionless and grim behind anonymous mirrored lenses. 

As if a puff of otherworldly ethers startled him awake, Guy turned and with innocent wonder beheld the face he had loved for so long.  Dorothy’s eyes softened—a trace of a strained smile.  She reached across and laid a hand on his thigh. 

 Guy sat transfixed, confused by his swollen heart.  For a brief moment, the intense presence of the Navy helicopter and the channel seven newscast helicopter faded away, right along with the whole damn plan.  

Connect with the Author via his Website and Facebook page.

Purchase The Flight of the Pickerings via Amazon.