Life in progress

Yearly Archives: 2018


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The Magician’s Curse by Linda G. Hill – Blog Tour Review.

Thanks so much to Steph of Steph’s Book Blog for the review!
While the first book tended to be a little on the sweeter side, the story takes a much darker turn in the second book. It was for this reason I didn’t categorize “The Magician’s Curse” as YA. I hope to release Book Two, “The Magician’s Blood,” next month. 🙂
Don’t forget, “The Magician’s Curse” is on sale right now for 99 cents/99p, down from $2.99, for the duration of this Blog Tour.

Steph's avatarSteph's Book Blog

The Magician's Curse Cover

About the Book

When Herman Anderson leaves home to make a better life for herself, she doesn’t expect to meet a tall, dark stranger with whom she’ll fall hopelessly in love.
Charming and mysterious, Stephen Dagmar is a stage magician seeking an assistant. The moment he sets eyes on Herman, he knows she’s the one. He brings her home to his Victorian mansion where they embark upon an extravagant romance. Yet a shadow hangs over their love. Will the curse on his family end Stephen and Herman’s happily ever after, before it really begins?
Amidst lace and leather, innocence and debauchery, The Magician’s Curse begins the Gothic tale of The Great Dagmaru. Magic and romance await.

My Review

With thanks to the publisher for the copy received. The Magician’s Curse falls into a genre that I don’t read much of. That of YA paranormal romance. I found it to be…

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244. Scenes from the Second Seat on the Right

Wednesday, May 2nd, 6:00pm
The Grim Reaper (and The Darkness)

 

The Grim Reaper sits at the window with his scythe. The Darkness boards the bus and approaches.

The Grim Reaper: (looking up) Who do you think you are?

The Darkness: (conversationally) I am The Darkness.

The Grim Reaper: I’m afraid I’ll have to see some ID.

The Darkness pulls card from pocket and hands it to The Grim Reaper.

The Grim Reaper: (leans his scythe against the seat and takes the card. reading) Last name, Darkness, first name, The. I guess you want to see mine now.

The Darkness nods.

The Grim Reaper: (hands The Darkness back the card, picks up the scythe and exits the bus. mumbling) Damn it, Martha was right. I should have brought my wallet.

 

Next stop: Thursday, May 3rd, 5:00pm

Click here to learn all about this series, how it works, and where to find your favourite characters.


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The Magician’s Curse by Linda G. Hill @thegreatdagmaru @annecater @LindaGHill #BlogTour #RandomThingsTours

The first review is in from my blog tour and it’s fantastic! Don’t forget, “The Magician’s Curse” is on sale for a limited time. Get it for 99cents while you can!
NOTE: Comments here are turned off. Please visit the original post.

booksfromdusktilldawn's avatarBOOKS FROM DUSK TILL DAWN

Firstly I wish to thank Anne Cater of Random Things Tours for inviting me on this Blog Tour for THE MAGICIAN’S CURSE by Linda G. Hill

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* Paperback: 256 pages

* Publisher: Linda G. Hill; 1 edition (26 Jun. 2017)

* Language: English

* ISBN-10: 0994891229

* ISBN-13: 978-0994891228

BOOK DESCRIPTION

When Herman Anderson leaves home to make a better life for herself, she doesn’t expect to meet a tall, dark stranger with whom she’ll fall hopelessly in love. Charming and mysterious, Stephen Dagmar is a stage magician seeking an assistant. The moment he sets eyes on Herman, he knows she’s the one. He brings her home to his Victorian mansion where they embark upon an extravagant romance. Yet a shadow hangs over their love. Will the curse on his family end Stephen and Herman’s happily ever after, before it really begins? Amidst lace and leather, innocence and debauchery, The…

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One-Liner Wednesday – Confession Time

Sometimes I tell my kids I’m going to get changed just so I can go into my room, shut the door, and lay down for five minutes. They never notice when I come out wearing the same clothes. Shhhhh!!!

Winston knows.

If you would like to participate in this prompt, feel free to use the “One-Liner Wednesday” title in your post, and if you do, you can ping back here to help your blog get more exposure. To execute a pingback, just copy the URL in the address bar on this post, and paste it somewhere in the body of your post. Your link will show up in the comments below. Please ensure that the One-Liner Wednesday you’re pinging back to is this week’s! Otherwise, no one will likely see it but me.

NOTE: Pingbacks only work from WordPress sites. If you’re self-hosted or are participating from another host, like Blogger, please leave a link to your post in the comments below.

As with Stream of Consciousness Saturday (SoCS), if you see a pingback from someone else in my comment section, click and have a read. It’s bound to be short and sweet.

Unlike SoCS, this is not a prompt so there’s no need to stick to the same “theme.”

The rules that I’ve made for myself (but don’t always follow) for “One-Liner Wednesday” are:

1. Make it one sentence.

2. Try to make it either funny or inspirational.

3. Use our unique tag #1linerWeds.

4. Add our very cool badge to your post for extra exposure!

5. Have fun!

#1linerWeds badge by Dan Antion

 


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My #BlogTour has begun!

Hosted by the lovely Anne Cater, my blog tour kicked off yesterday with a somewhat rough beginning. The first blogger on the tour, whose name happens to be Linda, didn’t review The Magician’s Curse because, I’m assuming, she wasn’t enjoying it. Which is fair–not everyone will. Yet she was kind enough to stick to her promise and promote it with a spotlight anyway. You can find her blog post here. Thank you, Linda!

Then today, the blogger who was supposed to review my book disappeared! I swear it had nothing to do with the magic in my book. Stephen Dagmar simply wouldn’t play that sort of a trick. However, another kind soul who is associated with Anne picked up the spot and promoted my book. Her name is Ali, and you can find her blog here. Thanks so much, Ali!

Which brings us to tomorrow; I’m almost afraid to say there will be a review of my book. Is Mercury in retrograde by any chance?

Please stop by and see what happens!

Oh, and by the way, The Magician’s Curse is on sale. From now until the end of my blog tour on May 9th, you can pick up the e-book for a special low price of 99¢ at Amazon US, Amazon Canada, Amazon UK, Amazon Australia, and Kobo.

Enjoy!


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243. Scenes from the Second Seat on the Right

Tuesday, May 1st, 6:00pm
Joel (and Howard)

 

Joel sits at the window with a box on his lap. Howard takes the seat beside him.

Howard: Hey, how’s it going?

Joel: Hey, Howie, long time. I’m good, I’m good. Movin’ in with Holly. She just had the baby.

Howard: Oh yeah? Congrats, man.

Joel: Thanks.

Howard: (points at the box) Buying baby stuff?

Joel: Nope. Moving.

Howard: On the bus?

Joel: Yep.

Howard: You shoulda told me. I’m picking up my new truck. How much you got left to move?

Joel: This is the last box.

 

Next stop: Wednesday, May 2nd, 6:00pm

Click here to learn all about this series, how it works, and where to find your favourite characters.


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The Escapist Coloring Club Prompt – May 1, 2018

Welcome once again to The Escapist Coloring Club prompt!  To join the club, all you have to do is post pictures of your own colouring, your kids’ colouring, or that of anyone you know and have permission to share.

I managed once again to complete the month (of April) on my colouring calendar. This one was a little more sparse than previous ones, possibly to make up for May, which is going to be a challenge. Here is my April project:

Before

 

After

I coloured most of the big yellow flower at night – I was amazed at how much I’d missed when I looked at it in daylight!

I look forward to seeing all of your amazing projects in the coming month!

Please find the “rules” below.

1. This prompt is designed for relaxation. As such, I encourage you to take your time to link your own post here, BUT, when you comment, please click the “Notify me of new comments via email” button. That way you’ll receive a notification when someone else links their project and you won’t miss anything. As with all the prompts, the more you visit others, the more your community of like-minded people grows.

2. Ping back! It’s important so that I and other people can come and read your post. To execute a pingback, just copy and paste the URL found in your address bar at the top of this post into the body of your post. Your link will show up in my comments for everyone to see. The most recent pingbacks will be found at the top. NOTE: Pingbacks only work from WordPress sites. If you’re self-hosted or are participating from another host, such as Blogger, please leave a link to your post in the comments below.

3. There will be a prompt on the first of every month. I will try to post the prompt here on my blog at 9:30am -5 GMT. The prompt will simply be photos of my own colouring project. If you would like to host this prompt on your blog on another week during the month, either once, occasionally, or on a regular basis, please e-mail me at hilllindagmaru at gmail dot com and we’ll get you set up. All I ask is that you have an active blog and that you regularly reply to comments and visit other blogs.

4. Feel free to use the Escapist Coloring Club badge in your post.

5. Have fun!


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242. Scenes from the Second Seat on the Right

Monday, April 30th, 5:00pm
Simon (and Rachael)

 

Simon sits at the window. Rachael takes the seat beside him.

Rachael: Damnit! (studies her finger)

Simon: Break a nail?

Rachael: Yeah.

Simon: I can fix it for you.

Rachael: You have nail clippers?

Simon: No, just give it here. (grabs for her hand)

Rachael: (recoils) What are you doing?

Simon: I’ll bite it off for you.

Rachael stares, horrified.

Simon: C’mon. Just a nibble.

Rachael changes seats.

 

Next stop: Tuesday, May 1st, 6:00pm

Click here to learn all about this series, how it works, and where to find your favourite characters.


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Zoned

I love being “in the zone.” Totally concentrated on what I’m doing. Especially when I’m writing. People talk to me and I know somewhere on the edge of consciousness they’re asking me a question. Once, twice, and then maybe the third time they ask, I’ll answer with a completely inappropriate word.

Son: Have you fed the dog?

Me: Cupboard.

Son: Mom?

Me: Uh … the food’s in the cupboard.

Son: I know where it is. Has he eaten yet?

Me: Okay, thanks.

That sort of thing. And they think I’m zoned out, but I’m zoned in, man. Like, totally zoned IN. (Sorry, Cheech and Chong were on Stephen Colbert last week and I seem to be channeling Tommy Chong.) It’s all a matter of perspective. I’m guessing nobody would want to be in my zone with me anyhow. At least not farther into my zone than the filtered version that my writing offers. This zone’s deep and scary, man. Deep and scary.


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241. Scenes from the Second Seat on the Right

Sunday, April 29th, 9:00am
Andrea and Lacey

 

Andrea: So this person, right? Sits beside me on the bus last night after work and, like, asks me out for coffee.

Lacey: Uh huh.

Andrea: And when I say no, I’m, like, just gonna go home and put my feet up? This person tells me they give fantastic foot rubs.

Lacey: So you said no … obviously?

Andrea: I don’t even know if it was a guy or a girl! I’m not taking a girl home with me! Even if she’s like the best foot rubber on the planet!

Lacey: What if it was–

Andrea: A guy? (bites lip, thinking) Then I screwed myself out of a good night.

Lacey: You gotta meet this person on the bus again.

Andrea: I gotta meet this person on the bus again.

 

Next stop: Monday, April 30th, 5:00pm

Click here to learn all about this series, how it works, and where to find your favourite characters.