It's Midsummer! Time for the Clean Indie Reads Christmas in July eBook Sale & Giveaway July 21-28

Summer is upon us here in the Northern Hemisphere, and a few Clean Indie Reads authors are keeping cool by thinking of Christmas. Reads, that is. There's something sweet and sentimental about Christmas stories, don't you think? And in the heat of summer, reading about Christmas, winter, snow, ice, and sleigh rides might cool you off. So we're happy to present the 2018 Clean Indie Reads Christmas in July eBook Sale.

Starting today we're offering 21 titles in a variety of genres - novels, novelettes, short stories, Christian, historical, mystery, YA, and sweet and paranormal romance - sale-priced from FREE to 2.99. As always, all titles are "flinch free," meaning they're free of graphic sexuality and violence, and objectionable language. Stock up to read on your summer vacation, or save them for the holiday season. You'll definitely cool down with one (or two, or more!) of these reads. Sale ends July 28.

Note: please check all prices before clicking the "BUY" button. Each individual author is responsible for ensuring the correct sale price for her book(s).

Christmas at Blue Hydrangeas

By Marianne Sciucco

Novella; contemporary and women's fiction

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(This book is not yet published.)

It’s Christmas Eve, and as Sara waits for her husband and son to arrive home to Blue Hydrangeas, their Cape Cod bed and breakfast, a blizzard threatens to close the bridges, leaving all Cape-bound travelers stranded. As she prepares for the holiday, unexpected visitors arrive, and Sara is determined the storm will not spoil Christmas, and that Santa will find his way to two fatherless children far from home. Prequel to Blue Hydrangeas, an Alzheimer's love story.

The River Girl's Christmas

By Angela Castillo

Christian Historical Fiction

Buy now for .99 ( reg. price 2.99)

Christmas on the Texas frontier can be exciting . . . maybe even dangerous.

The Little White Christmas Lie

By Kristy Tate

Holiday, sweet romance

Buy now for .99 (reg. price 2.99)

Neither Carson or Millie know that their lives are about to spin out of control thanks to a patch of black ice, a cow, and a little white Christmas lie.

Truth or Dare

By Julie Coulter Bellon

Contempoary Romance

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Wounded war veteran Jonah Harrison comes home for Christmas and ends up stranded with Kami Jackson, the girl who once knew him best. Kami has a wounded heart of her own, though, and it might take a miracle---or at least two matchmaking dogs---for them to find the healing they both long for and the courage to reach for a chance at love.

Baby Blue Christmas

By Kristy Tate
Holiday, sweet romance
Buy now for .99, (reg. price 2.99)

As Christmas nears, Sophie and Luke’s love for Baby Jamison draws them together, causing them to rethink their plans for the future and redefine their ideas family.

The Christmas Switch

By Laura L. Walker

Western Historical Romance

Buy now for .99 (reg. price .99)

The rancher takes a wife - When two school boys decide to switch places on a local schoolmarm and rancher, they don't plan on a severe winter storm stranding them during Christmas. But love and a new family might just be the best Christmas gift ever!

The More the Merrier

By Li Wen Ho

Contemporary

Download for free through 7/25, then .99 (reg. price .99)

Two best friends must convince everyone they're in love, an act which may (or may not) be easy to pull off, thanks to the magic of some mistletoe.

The Redemption of Evalisa Trooge: A Christmas Carol Story

By Lauren M. Flauding

Inspirational Romance

Download for free through 7/25, then .99 (reg. price .99)

Evalisa Trooge is the 33-year-old embittered and stingy owner of Victorian Village, a Christmas-themed park which she inherited from her parents. But on Christmas Eve, when she's on the verge of selling the park, she endures a long night of visits, memories, romantic revelations and bizarre events, and discovers the courage to save the park, find love, and change her life.

Christmas Morning

By Roma Brooks

Women's Fiction

Buy now for .99 (reg. price 2.99)

Feel good romance of second chances that will get you in the holiday spirit.

Christmas with the Franks

By Leena Clover

Cozy Mystery

Buy now for .99 (reg. price 2.99)

Christmas dinner turns deadly when the millionaire host is shot dead.

Snowdrift

By Debra Erfert

Romance

Buy now for .99 (reg. price 2.99)

A woman crashes off a deserted highway during a Wyoming blizzard while driving to reach her dying mother. A handsome sheriff rescues her, leaving her trapped at his ranch for the week leading up to Christmas, along with his two young daughters, a protective mother-in-law, and a bitter memory of his dead wife. Can she protect her heart from falling in love with him?

Christmas at Dumpster Corral

By Irene Onorato

Holiday Romance

Buy now for .99 (reg. price 2.99)

When Noel Dupree’s estranged father undermines her recently-deceased mother’s will, he takes away her childhood home and the florist shop her mother left to her. An unforgettable Christmas experience ensues when fate steps in and leads her to an unlikely place, an uncertain destiny, and the love of a lifetime.

Red Boots

By Kate Willis

Contemporary, Short Story

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A pair of shiny red boots bring unexpected Christmas joy to a shopkeeper and a little girl.

Ino's Love 

By Marianne Sciucco
Contemporary, Short Story
Download for free

Elderly Ino prepares a delicious Italian Christmas Eve feast for her successful CEO son, but when he's too busy to spend the holiday with his mother she shares her dinner and gifts with her home health aid. A heartwarming story about giving and forgiveness.

First Christmas

By Heather Karn

Paranormal Romance

Buy now for .99 (reg. price 2.99)

Life at the North Pole is never dull with Ice Dragon Shifters around, especially when Vixen meets her mate. He knows nothing about Christmas, so it's up to her to teach him all she knows.

Cookie Christmas

By Heather Karn

Paranormal Romance

Buy now for .99 (reg. price 2.99)

When Holly is asked to head up the new bakery in NYC, she's unsure about her ability to lead such a daunting project, at least not until she meets her handsome assistant. Can a group of bakery elves use their skills to spread Christmas Spirit, and a little romance, around the world in time for Christmas?

An All-Consuming Fire, book 5 The Monastery Murders

By Donna Fletcher Crow

Mystery

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A Christmas wedding in a monastery—idyllic. If the bride can escape the murderer stalking the Yorkshire moors.

Glastonbury, the Novel of Christian England

By Donna Fletcher Crow

History

Free through 7/27 then .99 (reg. price 2.99)

Experience a Medieval Christmas in the midst of a 1500-year quest for the Holy Grail.

Where Love Restores, Where There is Love 4

By Donna Fletcher Crow

Historical Romance

Free through 7/27 then .99 (reg. price 2.99)

Can the delights of Christmas in an English stately home overcome the scars of the past? A true story of love and faith.

Misty Winter

By Linda Rawlins

Cozy Mystery

Buy now for .99 (reg. price 2.99)

The police search for Megan Stanford when the local veterinarian is shot right before Christmas.

Christmas Party: A Short Story (Avery Barks Cozy Dog Mysteries)

By Mary Hiker

Mystery

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Avery Barks is excited about the search and rescue team's annual Christmas party. The holiday event is packed full of friends and fun for both the SAR dogs and their humans. Everyone is having a ball... That is, until a stranger crashes the party in the most surprising way.

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New Release Spotlight: Engaging Mr. Darcy, an Austen Inspired Romantic Comedy by Rachel John

“Angry people are not always wise.” – Jane Austen

After a standoff in the pizza parlor, Elsie Bennet has decided Fitzwilliam “I-Throw-Fitz” Darcy is the worst customer she’s ever encountered. Also the best looking, but that’s beside the point. She’s horrified to discover Will is not just passing through her small town, he’s her new neighbor.

Will Darcy has all the money and time he could ask for, and yet life never seems to meet his expectations. When his best friend, Charlie, starts dating Jane Bennet, Will becomes their unhappy third-wheel. The solution? Bring along Jane’s sister, Elsie, a girl who challenges him, makes him laugh, plagues his thoughts, and unfortunately, hates his guts.

Will might control a lot of things, but he won’t control her. Elsie’s already been warned away by her new friend, Jeff Wickham, who found out the hard way that Will is not someone to be crossed. Things would be so much simpler if she was attracted to Jeff. But she’s not. She’s attracted to Will, and the tug-o-war between her mind and her heart is going to drive her mad.

From the AlzAuthors Blog: Paul Toolan and “The View from Memory Hill,” a Collection of Short Stories

By Paul Toolan

I live in an English rural village with a demographic weighted towards retirees. I’m one of them, I suppose.

There are young people too, but older bodies tend to fill the shops and the midday streets. I find myself reflecting on these sometimes solitary folk, about their past lives and the people they’ve known. Have they forgotten more than they care to remember – or just forgotten?

New Release Spotlight: "When Tomorrow Starts Without Me," by USA Today Bestselling Author Stacy Claflin

This week's new release is from one of my favorite authors, Stacy Claflin, who always seems to have a new book coming out. How does she do it? I so admire her drive and productivity. Her latest is When Tomorrow Starts Without Me, and you'll be sucked in to the story from the first scene.

Welcome to Adventures in Publishing Stacy!

About the Book

He’s on the road to fame. She’s at the end of the line. A chance meeting will change everything.

Kenna Mitchell grew up despised and mistreated by those who should’ve loved and protected her. Now homeless and alone, with pain too heavy to bear, she’s ready to end it all.

Enter Rogan Scott, an up-and-coming rock star with one focus—his band. Out in the woods, looking for song inspiration, he comes across a beautiful girl seconds from ending her life.

New Release Spotlight: Silently in the Night, by Clayton Graham

A collection of tantalizing tales with more twists than braided hair!

This week's new release comes from fellow Books Go Social author Clayton Graham. Here you will find mystery, murder and mayhem – plus a moment of romance. All the stories will make you stop and think, even question your role in the world and the universe. Just what are we doing here, and where are we going? Easy questions with problematic answers.

This anthology of sixteen short and thrilling tales of unusual, extraterrestrial and conspiratorial stories is the latest compilation from Clayton Graham, the author of science fiction novels Milijun and the soon to come Saving Paludis. The characters in this eclectic collection are mostly ordinary people whose reactions to their fears and to unexpected events will have you guessing at every turn of the page.

New Release Spotlight: "The Timelost," SciFi by Guest Blogger Chris Turner

This is a little different for the blog. I don't usually spotlight SciFi, but this new release looks intriguing, so I'm turning the blog over to fellow Books Go Social author Chris Turner. Welcome to Adventures in Publishing Chris!

Human vs Alien

A pilot stranded on a faraway planet, timelost. An alien seeking symbiosis.

Visceral alien battles, planetary wars. Experience the adventure...along with edge-of-the-seat SF audio in this Star Wars meets Alien thriller.

In 2014, I started sequencing original SFF to audio using the Booktrack free studio tool, and it offered up a unique, creative experience. I was amazed at how the placement of some well-crafted audio, synced by word, sentence or paragraph could make a story come alive—in the same way a soundtrack makes a movie come alive. To date, I have produced a few dozen, text-and-audio renditions of my stories, drawing on the wide variety of sound clips from the Booktrack audio library.

The Timelost, my most recent production, is a gritty, dystopian foray into the macabre.

The world-building was intense, as I tried to incorporate elements of ‘galactic empire’, the theme of ‘a few struggling against many’, and extraordinary alien adversaries. I also wanted to develop the concept that an ordinary person, the pilot Miko, when plunged into a hostile, colonized, or uncolonized world with chilling advanced alien technology, could become a hero. And not just by circumstance.

New Release Spotlight: "The Sins of Maggie Black," by Howard Petote

This week's New Release Spotlight is Howard Petote's The Sins of Maggie Black. Howard is a fellow Books Go Social Author. Here he tells us about the inspiration and motivations behind his novel. Welcome to Adventures in Publishing Howard! 

Origins: An Irish Girl Named Maggie

By Howard Petote

In 1968, the state of Missouri was blessed with the arrival of a baby girl, a one-year-old lifted from the arms of nuns in the west of Ireland. Her name was Maggie, and her adoptive parents— strict Catholics—wanted her to be perfect. But Maggie Black was not perfect, she was merely human—an earthy, feral child who one day realized she would never earn their love. Drifting into drugs, con artists and petty crime, she becomes a single mother stuck in the gritty world of door-to-door sales—dangerously tied to a bad man.

From the AlzAuthors Blog: Kathi Macias and "To the Moon and Back"

By Kathi Macias

As a fulltime writer/editor, I was blessed to be able to work at home and take care of my mother during her last few years of life. I was also blessed that even up until her death at the age of ninety, she was clear-minded. Sadly, so many others are not, making their caregiver’s job so much more difficult.

Though I didn’t have to deal with the issue of Alzheimer’s with either of my parents, I have countless friends and acquaintances who have done so in the past and are doing so even now. Because I write novels about current issues, it seemed a natural choice to base one of my books on the heart-rending topic of Alzheimer’s.

As I planned the book, I realized I wanted it to be about more than what the caregiver experienced; I wanted it to be told (primarily) from the viewpoint of the person actually experiencing Alzheimer’s. And so the idea for To the Moon and Back was born.

Rachel, my primary character, is in her late sixties and also in the early to mid-stages of Alzheimer’s. At times she is clear-headed, but more and more often she finds herself slipping into what she considers “the darkness,” where she begins to lose herself and the memories of a life she once considered happy and fulfilling.

New Release Spotlight: Angel Leya's Short YA Fantasy "Marked," Book 4 in her Running Toward Illumia Series

This week's New Release Spotlight is Marked, Book 4 in the Running Toward Illumia series, short YA fantasy by fellow Books Go Social Author Angel Leya. Welcome to Adventures in Publishing Angel! 

Hi, I’m Angel Leya, and I write clean young adult stories with (at least) a touch of magic and romance. My latest story in the Running Toward Illumia series is Marked, Astrea’s tale of finding herself while running from the one thing she wants most: To find her sense of belonging.

Astrea’s lived in the Mist all her life, and she loves it there. In fact, she’d do just about anything to feel like she fits in with her Rudan people, even hunt a unicorn to feed her starving tribe.

Illumia is the first city beyond the Mist, just past the Dragon Range. Astrea’s come up with 10 reasons to never go to Illumia. I’ll let her tell you more.

Top 10 Reasons NOT to Travel to Illumia

New Release Spotlight: "Five Days Five Kisses," a YA Sweet Romance By Guest Blogger Angela Carling

This week's New Release Spotlight is from Angela Carling who wants to tell you all about her new Young Adult sweet romance Five Days Five Kisses. Welcome to Adventures in Publishing Angela!

Hi everyone! Angela Carling here, writer of sweet romance and award-winning paranormal suspense. I'm so excited to tell you about my latest book, Five Days, Five Kisses and three best friends you'll want to hang out with long after you've finished the book. Their names are Nikola, Maya, and Liberty. Eventually each girl will have her own book, but Five Days Five Kisses is Nikola's story, and it's all about the awkwardness of a bad breakup. If you read on, you'll learn about my worst break up.

Do you like the cover? It was custom made by a very talented cover artist that I will definitely use again for the other two books! I love how it captures the vibe of this fun feel-good romance!

Here's a teaser:)

The Clean Indie Reads 12 Days of Christmas Book Event!

Kicking back with that new Kindle? Got some Amazon gift cards to cash in? The Clean Indie Reads 12 Days of Fiction Book Event has just what you need: 40 titles - multiple genres - sure to keep you reading through the winter. All books are discounted, some are FREE. The theme is family drama because, hey, we've all got some, especially through the holidays. Choose from romance, mystery, YA, paranormal, fantasy, historical fiction, and more. And you can count on our assurance that all titles are flinch-free, meaning free of overt sexuality, graphic violence, and questionable language. Please check all prices before hitting the buy button. It's the individual author's responsibility to confirm her discounts with Amazon and other sellers. This blog and Amazon are not responsible for prices. Don't delay! Sale runs from December 26 through January 6. 

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Ino's Love, a short story, by Marianne Sciucco, FREE via Instafreebie

Sometimes the people who love us best are not family.

Elderly Ino prepares a delicious Italian Christmas feast for her successful CEO son, but when he's too busy to spend the holiday with his mother she shares her dinner and gifts with her home health aid. A heartwarming story about giving and forgiveness.

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New Release Spotlight and Giveaway: Summer's Squall by Amy Schissler

Do you like winter? A lot of people don’t, like me, who perseveres through it longing for beach days and hours spent by the pool. Fortunately, summer is coming. Yes, it’s about seven months away, but we can still celebrate it. And today, Amy Schliser is on the blog telling us all about her new book, Summer’s Squall.

New Release Spotlight & Author Interview: Paul Toolan and "A View From Memory Hill," short stories

We live life forwards, but understand it backwards. Either way, it's a personal journey.

The characters in this collection are looking back into the half-shaded landscapes of memory. Most are "of a certain age", but young voices appear too, in stories uplifting and regretful, comic and sinister, poignant and optimistic.

Common ground is that moment of realization - eventful, fleeting or veiled - unearthed during a journey into the past. 

• Will "Ruby, the Silver Surfer" learn to cut and paste and save?
• Who is "Mrs. Melanie?"
• Should "Billy the Quid" sell up?
• Can Frank Smith cope with being an "Old Man in a Young Pub?"
• Why is Lydia "Sleepless in Southampton?"
• "What's in your bag, mister?" asks the small boy in "A Bag for Life."

See for yourself.  

Honoring our Vets on Veterans Day

photo by Scukrov via Dreamstime.com

Today is Veterans Day, a day when we pay tribute to those heroes who have served in our nation's military. My father, Ted Kasica, aka Bunky, served in the US Army, 82nd Airborne Division in the 1950's. He was a paratrooper stationed in Europe, specifically Austria and Germany, countries he loved. Through his service I came to respect our servicemen and women, to listen to their stories, to learn from their experiences.

As a nurse, I was often involved in their medical care, and in helping to coordinate aftercare for illness and injuries. This led me to include war veterans in two of my stories: Blue Hydrangeas, an Alzheimer's love story, where Jack served as a medic in World War II; and Swim Season, where Aerin's mother is an Army Reserve nurse, a Wounded Warrior, ruggling with the impacts of war in Afghanistan - a persistent blast injury, PTSD, chronic pain, opioid addiction, and depression. My attempt in this book, small as it may be, was to explore her experience, which is the experience of so many of our vets, by telling her story.  Of all my characters, she is one of my favorites.

Devon's story:

Devon was on duty in the ER at St. Vincent’s Hospital in New York City the day terrorists struck down the Twin Towers. This hospital, just outside Ground Zero, was the first stop for victims and recovery workers in need of medical care.  Deeply affected by the events of that day, Devon volunteered to work double shifts during the rescue and recovery effort. When the US went to war with Afghanistan, she enlisted in the Army Reserve, against her husband's wishes,  to provide care to the troops. 

AlzAuthors: Marita Golden - A Novelist Meditates on Writing about Alzheimer’s

Silent Storm: What We Remember, 

What We Forget, What We Discover

By Marita Golden

I didn’t choose. I was called. That’s how inspiration, art, and creativity work sometimes. I am often asked why I wrote a novel about Alzheimer’s disease.

I am not caring for anyone afflicted with it and no one in my family, from what I know, has ever been diagnosed with dementia or Alzheimer’s. So there was nothing in my life, my past or my then-present to explain the fictional expedition I launched. This is what happened: I was trapped inside the wrong story. I had written 100 pages of a novel that was going nowhere very fast. So I stopped, took a breath and gave the process over quite literally to a higher power. I was willing to “let it be.” Two weeks later I was writing the story of a wife who finds herself and the nature and meaning of love transformed as she cares for her husband who has been diagnosed with early Alzheimer’s disease. Sometimes as a writer you get called, summoned to dive in, to plunge into the terrifying beauty of a completely unknown narrative landscape. When you report for duty, that is when you know you are a writer.

Four years later, after hearing the stories of those with Alzheimer’s, their caretakers, the professionals who care for them, the families who are burdened and sometimes buoyed by the demands of the disease, the researchers trying to find a cure, the  novel was finished. I realized that I had started out as a novelist and ended up as, not only a novelist, but an activist/advocate for greater awareness about the epidemic of Alzheimer’s in Black America.

I met adult children who found themselves stunned and incompetent in the face of a parent’s diminished capacity, and others who unflinchingly faced the disease and embraced their parent with the kind of transcendent love and loyalty of which they never knew themselves capable. I gave a 20-minute talk and reading about my life as a writer before a group of residents of a memory care unit. They taught me to be here now, the value of the present moment, and that they are indeed present, sensitive, intuitive. They remember the most important things--the meaning of human touch, an honest look in someone’s eyes, that a whole story can be told in a fleeting fragment of an iridescent memory of joy, and that words are often overrated.

But it was the statistics that turned me into an activist/advocate, that convinced me that maybe I was the right vessel to capture, contain, and pour this story into the hearts and minds of readers. Statistics reveal a “silent storm” raging in the Black community. If Alzheimer’s is a crisis for America, it is an epidemic for Black America. African Americans are twice as likely as whites to develop the disease, are only three percent of those enrolled in trial to find a cure, and could be 40% of all those with Alzheimer’s by 2050.

Sometimes a story asks to be written and then asks to be used as a platform. My novel, The Wide Circumference of Love, about the Tate family, Gregory, Diane, Lauren and Sean, is a story for everyone who has been alive long enough to hurt and heal, to feel coursing through their blood the strange strength borne of all we are sure we cannot bear.

All art is political, and social, and at its best engages in a frenzied dance with everything being thought and lived and denied and discovered swirling around it.

A story is never “just a story.” A book is never “just a book.” A story, a book, can set the world on fire or give a writer, or a reader, something to believe in or fight for.

About the Author

Co-founder and President Emeritus of the Zora Neale Hurston/ Richard Wright Foundation, Marita Golden is a veteran teacher of writing and an acclaimed award-winning author of over a dozen works of fiction and nonfiction. As a teacher of writing she has served as a member of the faculties of the MFA Graduate Creative Writing Programs at George Mason University and Virginia Commonwealth University and in the MA Creative Writing Program at John Hopkins University. She has taught writing workshops nationally and internationally to a variety of constituencies.

Her new novel is The Wide Circumference of Love. Her other books include the novels, After and The Edge of Heaven and the memoirs Migrations of the Heart, Saving Our Sons,  and Don’t Play in the Sun: One Woman’s Journey Through the Color Complex. She is the recipient of many awards, including the Writers for Writers Award presented by Barnes & Noble and Poets and Writers. Her novel After won the Fiction Award by the Black Caucus of the American Library Association.

Her cover story for the Washington Post Sunday Magazine on African Americans and Alzheimer’s disease can be found here:

African Americans are more likely than whites to develop Alzheimer’s. Why?

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