⭐PUYB Virtual Book Club⭐

⭐Pump Up Your Book Virtual Book Tour Kick Off⭐Crashers by Lindy S. Hudis #CrimeThriller

A trio of reckless and impulsive young people devise risky car accidents to collect insurance blood money, get caught up in the seamy underworld of crime and auto insurance fraud and suffer the nightmarish descent as events spiral out of control…

Title: CRASHERS

Author: Lindy S. Hudis

Publisher: Project X Publishing

Pages: 269

Genre: Crime Thriller

Format: Hardcover, Paperback, Kindle, Kindle Unlimited

How far would you go to get rich?

What if you were desperate? What if you were completely out of options? Would you cut in front of a sparkling, new Mercedes on the busy L.A. freeway and slam on the brakes? What if it were that easy?

Enter the world of Crashers…

The con is simple: Get in a car accident. Collect the insurance blood money. What could go wrong? That’s what Shari believed when she found herself in dire need of cash. When she meets the sexy and mysterious Bryce, the teaches her all about how to be a “capper.”

Soon, Shari realizes that by staging more of these accidents, she’ll have more money than she knows what to do with.

But as she becomes more and more obsessed with her strange new world, she discovers there’s no such thing as easy money. And what started out as a simple payout soon turns into a deadly game.

Read sample here.

Crashers is available at Amazon and is currently in film development with Face 2 Face productions.

Book Excerpt

For KXXX TV and KXXX AM Radio News, this is Katie Carlson with your mid-morning eye-in-the-sky traffic report, and it’s an easy one: It’s messed up EVERYWHERE! So far, the 405 South is backed up all the way to the 101. So, if you are going into Hollywood this morning, you are going to be late for that audition. Also, there is an injury crash on the Eastbound 10. So, if you are heading into downtown LA, you might want to bring a magazine or get some knitting done. If you are going to LAX, forget it, call mom back east and tell her you will be driving out instead. Just Kidding! Any way, this is Katie Carlson with the Los Angeles mid-morning traffic report. Enjoy your commute everybody, NOT!

* * *

As the blare of the clock radio on the night table jolted her awake, Shari Barnes rubbed her eyes, blew her long brown hair out of her face, and snuggled into Nathan Townsend’s chest. She curled her body around his middle and took a deep whiff of his salty, masculine neck.

But she couldn’t ignore the voice on the radio.

“Monday morning traffic,” she sighed.

Nathan matched the sigh and put his arms around her. “At least you don’t have to drive over the hill.”

“Yeah, I would just die if I had to drive into Beverly Hills every day to work in a beautiful office.” Shari giggled and disappeared under their thick blue comforter for a few more moments of sleepy-headed bliss. She felt Nathan stretch up, and a moment later the radio shut off. Then he slid down next to her in the single bed they shared in their Studio City apartment, a few blocks north of Ventura Boulevard. The constant drone and rumble of another L.A. morning came clearly through the open window: cars honking, rock music blaring, the frantic scurrying sounds of the film shoot a few blocks away. Shari ran her bare feet up the inside of Nathan’s thigh.

He jumped. “Shit, your feet are cold.” He pushed her legs off of him.

“What time is it?” she murmured between kisses.

“Um, seven.” He nuzzled her neck and she felt him becoming erect against her.

“No time for that!” She threw off the covers. “Gotta be at work on time for once; gotta get my asp out of bed.”

“There’s a snake in the bed?” Nathan grabbed her with both hands and gave her belly gentle nips.

“Yeah, of the one-eyed variety.” Shari leaped to the floor and padded naked into the bathroom. She turned the hot water in the shower to high and stepped in, filling the small bathroom with steam.

She had just poured a green drop of shampoo into her palm and was running her hands together when the flimsy yellow and white shower curtain flew back and Nathan grinned in at her. She smiled back, surprised by neither his arrival nor the partial hard-on that preceded him.

“Mind if we join you?” he asked.

“There’s enough shampoo for everybody,” Shari said as she rubbed her hands across her scalp.

He stepped into the stall, pulled the curtain closed and began to lather her hair for her. She put her hands on his back, feeling the taut muscles and the water streaming there, but did not reach down between them. It took him about five seconds to realize it and hold her away.

“You okay?”

“Fine….”

“Don’t lie; I can always tell when you have something on your mind.”

“You know me better than I know me,” she said.

“You know it.” He pushed her wet hair over her shoulders. “Come on, give.”

“I was thinking maybe I should get a second job.”

“You’re worrying about money again?”

“Well, I have to shoot my student thesis film this year or I won’t graduate. But where am I going to get the money I need?”

“How much do you need?”

“At least five figures.”

– Excerpted from Crashers by Lindy S. Hudis, Project X Publishing, 2024. Reprinted with permission.

About the Author

Lindy S. Hudis is an award winning filmmaker, author and actress. Lindy is a graduate of New York University, where she studied drama at Tisch School of the Arts. She also performed in a number of Off-Off Broadway theater productions while living in New York City.

She is the author of several titles, including her romance suspense novel, Weekends, her “Hollywood” story City of Toys, and her crime novel, Crashers. Her latest release, “Hollywood Underworld – A Hollywood Series” is the first installment of a crime, mystery series.

In addition, she has written several erotic short stories, including “The S&M Club”, “The Backstage Pass”, “Guitar God”, “The Guitarist”, and “The Mile High Club”.

Her short film “The Lesson”, which she wrote, produced and directed, has won numerous awards, including ‘Best Short Film’ at the Paris International Film Festival, The Beverly Hills Arthouse Film Festival and the San Francisco International Film Festival.

She is also an actress, having appeared in the indie film Expressionism, the television daytime drama “Sunset Beach”, also “Married with Children” , “Beverly Hills 90210” and the feature film “Indecent Proposal” . She and her husband, Hollywood stuntman Stephen Hudis, have formed their own production company called Impact Motion Pictures, and have several projects and screenplays in development. She lives in California with her husband and two children.

Author Links

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⭐Pump Up Your Book Virtual Book Tour Kick Off⭐Shape of the Sun by Paula Onohi Omokhomion #LiteraryFiction #ContemporaryRomance

This isn’t a love story. It is just what happens when logic fails.

Title: SHAPE OF THE SUN

Author: Paula Onohi Omokhomion

Publisher: Independent

Pages: 776

Genre: Literary Fiction/Family Drama/Contemporary Romance

Format: Kindle

In a world where novels defy conventions and heroes defy expectations, Shape of the Sun dares to ask: What if the one at the center isn't kind? What if no one is misunderstood? What does it mean to be the hero or the villain?

Beware: this is not a love story. The author just likes meta-fiction a bit too much.
Rajkumar 'Raj' Reddy is top-tier Male Lead material. And a freaking DRAMA KING.

He is a gorgeous, disgustingly rich, and ultra-confident Child Abuse Pediatrician. He's also emotionally finished, a narcissist, and a scammer all but in name.

But what did it matter if he was soulless or morally bankrupt? Why should anyone care that he married someone only because of their money?

He was the Male Lead, right? Since when were Male Leads ever held accountable?

And then he falls in love. Utterly useless. Very, very unnecessary. Annoyingly delicious for someone as self-aware as he is.

Raj knows he's in love. He knows it every second he smiles when she talks to him or says good morning Rajkumar, in that sweet voice he dreams about more often lately.

So now, our Male Lead is on a mission to GET OUT OF LOVE.

This relationship holds too many green flags!

Painful. Also doesn't allow him to be hypocritical for more than three seconds. Horrid, really.

And in the background is the Reddy family. It's not an easy home. It's never been easy with all that power and wealth involved. There's too much scheming and engineering in one place.

There's an overlooked half-brother that literally descended from hell, a sweet twin sister that has more than her fair share of buried grudges to Raj (and vice versa), and a patriarch that might be loving father and enabler all rolled into one.

There are traumas that our Male Lead wants to never remember.

You see that's the thing about Romance with Accountability. It can be sweet. It can be deadly.

Will our Male Lead manage to protect his secrets and secure the inheritance, or will his deepening emotions force him to confront his inner demons? Can greed truly give way to love? Or is that just something we only see in the movies?

Will he finally go to therapy?

A gripping tale of love, family, the high stakes of inheritance, and the journey to self - Shape of the Sun explores what happens with leads in a world where the rest are left to silence.

Read a sample here.

Shape of the Sun is available at Amazon, Kobo and Apple Books.

Book Excerpt

Adrift

An hour ago

Rajkumar woke up in the dead of the night. He could hear his own breathing, loud enough to deafen his ears. Or maybe it was the thumping of his heart that he could feel pulsating from his throat.

He had been awake for ten minutes and paralyzed on the bed, the darkness affixing him to the bed. It pressed upon him and made his vision flash black and white, reminiscent of what it did that terrible night.

He was afraid. He didn't know what to do.

Thump. Thump.

Those were Eloise's footsteps. No, it was his heart galloping like a deer caught in headlights. It wasn't. It was. It wasn't.

Rajkumar scrambled for the bedside lamp and pressed down so hard, the sound went thud against the walls of his heart. But he didn't care. He didn't have the capacity to, tender mind on autopilot, racing away from the demons that found their way in and built their nest.

The light gently flooding the room put them to rest. But it was only for a while. He could hide from those demons, ghosts of the days past, but not from himself.

The standing mirror on his far left was telling.

Rajkumar couldn't recognize the boy that he saw there. So similar, yet not. He had lost so much weight in just a few days. The boy in the mirror was disheveled, eyes reddish from crying, a litany of tears and mucus running his face that he hadn't even realized was there before, hollow like there was no life in there, and bones jutting out every part of his body, their sharp angles pronounced.

Perhaps they'd cut him from within. They would cut him like he wasn't already cut. Or perhaps, he wasn't cut. Not just yet. He was only crushed, shattered, trampled upon, that type of thing.

Rajkumar tried to smile. He pressed fingers to the corner of his lips and forced them to a curve all the way up. He tried to smile, a proxy for happiness.

But as it turned out, he couldn't even do just that. His smile came out uglier than crying, a proxy for the bottomless sadness inside of him. His eyes followed suit and released their torrent, so that he choked on his sobs, all the while careful not to be too loud. He silently cried in that corner of his bed, hands pressed to mouth.

The darkness scared him. But the light scared him even more.

He was lost, hopelessly lost at sea, drifting without an anchor, waves tossing in a battle for his soul. Rajkumar thought he was losing.

– Excerpted from Shape of the Sun by Paula Onohi Omokhomion, Independent, 2020. Reprinted with permission.

About the Author

Paula Omokhomion is a Master of Public Policy student at the UC Riverside School of Public Policy, though she's fairly certain that won't be forever. She holds a B.S. in Public Health Nutrition from UNC Chapel Hill, where she also minored in Creative Writing (Fiction) and graduated with highest honors for her 120-page thesis novella, New Age Taffeta.

Paula developed her skills and love for writing fiction in a very, very interesting Nigerian boarding school, where the lack of television meant she had to invent entertainment for everyone else. She loves reading manhwa, watching Indian TV dramas, listening to music, and writing short stories.When not doing any of those or in the classroom handling R code, she's refining her LinkedIn or taking Instagram selfies.
She lives in California with her family, including her two fellow triplets, and is currently dreaming of a future PhD in public health—and maybe another novel.

Author Links

Website | Facebook | Instagram

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⭐Pump Up Your Book Virtual Book Tour Kick Off⭐Wooded Discovery by B.B. Swann #YA #fantasy

Zaidyn Mitchell’s senior year takes a wild turn when his newly awakened magic, a dangerous enemy, and a promise to his crush thrust him into a fight to save both their lives—and maybe win her heart in the process.

Title: WOODED DISCOVERY

Author: B.B. Swann

Publisher: Independent

Pages: 251

Genre: YA Fantasy

Format: Paperback, Kindle

His senior year just turned magical. Now if only he can win his crush’s affections without getting killed.

Seventeen-year-old Zaidyn Mitchell would rather not be weird. But nothing can be stranger than when the self-proclaimed bookworm wakes up one night, floating several feet above his bed. Still desperate to fit in after his parents unceremoniously unlocked his abilities, all Zaidyn wants is to date the girl of his dreams.

With his magic a little uncontrolled, the budding wizard finally makes a move and promises his beautiful classmate to help stop a construction project from destroying the nearby woods. But when an unknown force attacks and tries to separate them, Zaidyn fears this supernatural world is about to send them to their doom.

Can the teen would-be hero find a way to save them both?

Read sample here.

Wooded Discovery is available at Amazon.

Book Excerpt

“Hey, Duke,” Iggy calls out, walking toward her. She salutes him with her cone.

Iggy makes life look so easy. He’s smart, but nobody thinks of Iggy as the nerdy kid. He talks to everyone, and they listen—the jocks, the brains, the potheads, even the teachers. He doesn’t belong to one group; he fits into them all.

Nobody listens to me. I’m the Watson to his Holmes. The Samwise to his Frodo. The Sheldon to his Leonard. I’m side-kick material, and he’s the blond-haired blue-eyed hero all the way.

We stop next to the two-foot brick wall separating the patio from the parking lot. The pecans from my sundae squirm like cockroaches in my gut.

“Hey, Iggy. How was summer? Hot enough for you?”

“Always. What’s up?”

“Same old thing,” Piper says. Her gray eyes settle on me. “Hi, Zaidyn. You look… different.”

It’s ninety-five degrees, but her gaze, and the fact that it’s on me for once, sends shivers down my back. I open my mouth to answer but nothing comes out. My head pounds with the beat of a drummed death toll. Iggy bails me out. Again.

“Yeah,” he says. “He took a magic potion and grew half a foot this summer. Never thought I’d have to look up to him.”

They laugh, and I suck in a deep breath, trying to tame the restless pecans.

I catch Iggy’s smile from the corner of my eye and fight the urge to throat punch him. Piper shifts from one foot to the other. She looks at me and raises her eyebrow.

“Looking forward to school, Duke?” Iggy asks.

“Sure.” Piper raises a fist in a mock cheer. “Ready to get back to higher education.”

“Spoken like a true teacher’s kid.” Iggy laughs, pointing to the shakes. “Drowning your sorrows in ice cream tonight?”

“No,” Piper wipes her forehead with the back of her hand. “Student council is meeting. I’m trying to convince them we need to institute a mandatory recycling program at school, but negotiations have stalled. Everyone wanted a sugar break.”

Piper’s motto; always looking out for the environment. Her dedication is one of the things I like about her. And her face. And her body, but those are bonuses to her personality.

“Got plans for tonight? I hear Melody is having a back-to-school bonfire.” He jerks his head toward me. “We can pick you up.”

Her eyes widen a little, and my already hot face explodes with heat. Really? What, is he my dad setting up a playdate?

(Note to self: Operation Embarrass Zaidyn complete.)

“Thanks, but uhm… I can’t.” I cross my arms over my chest and rock back on my heels. “I’ve gotta get home early tonight. My mom said she needed my help for something.”

It’s kind of true. Mom always makes a back-to-school-meal. She says it’s for me, but I think it’s to make herself believe that I’m not growing up and still like to play with Matchbox cars and Legos. Not that I’d tell Iggy that. He gives me enough crap about being a mama’s boy already.

“Yeah, same here.” Piper’s face turns red. “I-I mean I’ve got stuff to do. Anyway, the shakes are melting. See ya at school tomorrow.”

Piper frowns, darting her gaze at me. I twitch my lips, but she’s already getting into her car.

Iggy sighs as she drives away. “What was that? I set you up perfectly.”

“Set me up for what? Looking like an idiot who needs his friend to do all the talking?”

He laughs. “No, for you to make a move and get your game on. Never know. You could have been making out around the fire later. Or more.”

“Is sex all you think about?” We head for my car. He probably thinks I’m sabotaging him. But too many failed missions have eliminated my ability to feel guilty. Iggy will get over it. “I’m not just after sex.”

“You’re such a liar.” Iggy laughs. “You’re afraid to get laid.”

“Not every guy just wants to get laid.”

“Yes, they do. They just don’t want to admit it because they think it makes them look like a pig.”

“Well, sorry.” I click the locks to my Civic. “I don’t want to look like a pig.”

The inside of my car feels like Satan’s butt crack. I turn the key and crank the air-conditioning on the highest fan setting, angling the vents toward my dripping face.

Iggy adjusts his sunglasses. Leaning his elbow on the passenger door, he clicks his tongue.

“Someday you’ll change your mind. When the right girl comes along and juices you up. Here.” He grabs my wallet from the cup holder in the console and tucks a flat, blue, square-shaped package inside—the word Trojan printed in white across the front. “Just in case. Someday even you might need it.”

He laughs and I tighten my grip on the steering wheel.

“Jerk.”

“Wussy,” he replies, still laughing.

Gritting my teeth, I pull away from Northside and head through town toward Iggy’s house. Piper, the right girl, turns me into a freaking Mott’s Juice factory. But it doesn’t matter. She wouldn’t want me even if I grow two more feet, gain fifty pounds, and learn to fly.

***

Later that night after a shower, I pick a Dean Koontz book from the pile on my nightstand and lean back on the feather pillow behind my head. Maybe some supernatural talking dogs will help me relax.

Ten pages in, my mind wanders to the disaster at Northside Dairy. Piper said hi and acted friendly, but I can’t forget the oh shit look on her face when Iggy suggested she hang out with us at her best friend’s party. Her wide gray eyes looking everywhere but at me, because she’s too nice to do what other girls do—laugh at the thought of hanging with me.

College may beckon with its boundless possibilities of hiding from myself because nobody will know me, but first I need to get through my last year of high school. I look different, but everything will still be the same. The same teachers. The same kids. The same bullshit.

The weirdness at the library and my ‘floating’ sundae cup… that’s all it was. Weirdness. My weird book-brain making me think I have something special going on.

Shaking my head, I return to my book, hoping to get lost in the story and forget about my boring life. Same old same old.

I know better. I’m ordinary. No, worse than that—I’m stagnant. As much as I’d like it to, nothing ever changes around here. Least of all me. I drift off to sleep after a few chapters, where at least in my imagination I can soar ahead of the crowd.

– Excerpted from Wooded Discovery by B.B. Swann. Reprinted with permission.

About the Author

BB Swann is a twenty-seven-year retired elementary teacher who writes books for children and young adults. Her issue-driven stories focus on characters who face difficulties most readers can relate to, and how they succeed through perseverance, ingenuity, and hope. She is also a literary agent at FinePrint Literary Management in New York representing a diverse group of authors that write picture books through adult manuscripts mostly in the genres of sci-fi, fantasy, or speculative fiction. You can visit her at Facebook, Instagram and TicToc.

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⭐Pump Up Your Book Virtual Book Tour Kick Off⭐From Turmoil to Peace by Delia E. Hayward #Christian #Memoir

A single mom with a troubled past finds hope and peace when she discovers God’s love.…

Title: FROM TURMOIL TO PEACE

Author: Delia E. Hayward

Publisher: Emery Press Books

Pages: 206

Genre: Christian Memoir

Format: Paperback, Kindle

Delia Hayward, one of eight children, grew up during the Hippie Era in a dysfunctional family, for whom emotional and physical abuse was a normal occurrence of her childhood. Her marriage further deteriorated what little self-esteem she retained from her childhood.

Perhaps these torments are what made her desperately seek God and a personal relationship with Him.

When her marriage fell apart, she rose to the challenge of raising three sons alone. With the help of God and sheer determination, Delia managed to instill positive self-esteem and a love for God into the hearts of the next generation.

As you read this book, may you also find hope in the midst of your storm, and may God bring you from turmoil to peace.

Read sample here.

From Turmoil to Peace is available at Amazon and Barnes&Noble.

Book Excerpt

I continued attending Al-Anon meetings to improve my life. One day, my sponsor advised me to make a God Box; I needed to learn how to trust God. I was to put all the things I could not handle, could not afford, or could not change down on strips of paper. Then I was to put those strips of paper into the box and give them all to Him. Then I was to wait to see how many of those things were taken care of by Him.

As I put each strip of paper into my God Box, I wept with relief. With every folded piece of paper, I felt like a weight had been lifted off my shoulders. I was giving my worries to God and would trust Him to take care of them. A calm and peace came over me and I knew God was with me. I remembered many years ago when I had screamed at God in desperation, and He told me I didn’t trust him. Finally, I was learning how to trust Him.

One day, I didn’t have enough money to buy food for the week, but I knew that God would take care of us. When I walked to the mailbox, there was a check for $70, just for switching telephone companies. That check paid for food for that week. Other times, I would find money in my pockets just when I was out of cash. God was taking care of me.

In Al-Anon, I learned more about God, life, reactions, and forgiveness. It was now time for me to forgive the man I hated; the man who had done so many terrible things to me and our boys. How was I supposed to forgive the man who tried to kill me? I was told that I had to pray for John every day, ask God to bless him, and give him everything he needed.

I didn’t want to pray for John. I wished he was dead. I hated him. He continued to harass me by telephone. However, I prayed for John as I was told. This was supposed to help me get rid of the hate inside me. Soon after I began praying for him, I could feel my anger and hatred towards him fade away. They were replaced by compassion for the man who had lost a beautiful, loving family, and didn’t know God. The harassing phone calls suddenly stopped. God was awesome!

Father, thank you for your grace and mercy. Give me the strength and power to extend that same mercy and grace to those in my life who have hurt me.

– Excerpted from From Turmoil to Peace by Delia Hayward, Emery Press Books, 2025. Reprinted with permission.

About the Author

Delia Hayward is a proud mother of three wonderful sons, a beautiful granddaughter and a precious grandson. God put it on her heart to write this book “From Turmoil to Peace” so that people could benefit from her life experiences. She has been blessed and hopes her book blesses others.

You can visit her website at https://deliahayward.name/ and follow her at Facebook at https://www.facebook.com/delia.hayward.14.

Delia E. Hayward is giving away TWO $25 Amazon Gift Cards!

Terms & Conditions:

By entering the giveaway, you are confirming you are at least 18 years old.
Two winners will be chosen via Rafflecopter to receive a $25 Amazon Gift Card.
This giveaway starts August 18 and ends on September 18.
Winner will be contacted via email on September 18.
Winner has 48 hours to reply.

Good luck everyone!

ENTER TO WIN!

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⭐Pump Up Your Book Virtual Book Tour Kick Off⭐A Glimpse Too Far by Karen Charles #PsychologicalThriller

A Pulse-Pounding Thriller Filled with Menace, Betrayal, and a Race Against Time…

Title: A GLIMPSE TOO FAR

Author: Karen Charles

Publisher: BookBaby

Pages: 217

Genre: Psychological Thriller

Format: Paperback, Kindle

A terrifying gift. A government cover-up. And a past that won’t stay buried.

Elouise thought she had left the past behind. After a tragic accident, she woke with chilling ability to see glimpses of people’s pasts and futures. She’s spent years trying to live a normal life. But when a powerful senator pulls her into a high-stakes game of deception and control, she realizes her gift is no longer a secret—it’s a weapon. And he intends to use it.

She must make an impossible choice: play his deadly game or risk everything to expose the truth.

Danger closes in. Now, Elouise is running for her life, hunted by those who will do anything to silence her.

Who can she trust? The boyfriend who swore to protect her? Or the man who wants to own her gift—at any cost?

A Glimpse Too Far is a pulse-pounding thriller filled with menace, betrayal, and a race against time. Will the truth be uncovered before it’s too late?

To order your copy, visit Amazon and BookBaby.

Book Excerpt

The warmth of the car’s heater wrapped around Elouise as she gazed out the window, watching the snow clouds gather like thick cotton above. Her blond curls bounced with excitement as she tugged at her velvet dress, ensuring it was smooth and perfect for the performance. This was her moment—the Christmas musical, her solo.

Beside her, Crystal, her mom, adjusted her scarf and smiled, noticing the twinkle in Elouise’s bright blue eyes. “Are you ready, Sweetheart?”

“More than ready!” Elouise grinned, her smile wide and full of joy. The eight-year-old’s energy was contagious, even pulling a small chuckle from her dad, Edward, as he carefully parked the car in front of the school.

“Let’s get inside before we freeze,” Edward said, huddling close to the family as they stepped into the sharp wind that whipped around them. They hurried toward the gymnasium, hunching their shoulders against the cold. Christmas carols could already be heard drifting through the entrance doors, filled with the warmth of families gathering, waiting for the performance to begin.

Inside, the air was alive with holiday spirit. Elouise’s heart raced as the lights dimmed and the music began to play. She stood backstage, her hands clasped, waiting for her cue. When it came, she stepped into the spotlight, her curls bobbing with every movement.

Her voice rang out clear and strong, each note perfect. The audience was mesmerized. Elouise had that rare ability to bring a room to a standstill with the purity of her sound. She sang her solo flawlessly. When she finished, the applause was thunderous. Elouise beamed, her eyes shining as she took her bow.

Afterward, as they left the gym, fat snowflakes swirled down from the sky, transforming their world into a winter wonderland. Edward gently guided Crystal and Elouise to the car, his arms around them as they squeezed together.

The drive home was tense. The roads were slick with fresh snow, and the wipers worked overtime to clear the windshield. Edward kept a firm grip on the wheel, navigating cautiously around the bends. Elouise sat in the back, still humming the songs from the musical, her voice soft as the snow that continued to fall heavily around them.

Suddenly, headlights pierced the snowy darkness. From around the bend, an oncoming car swerved out of control. Everything happened in a blur: metal scraping, tires screeching, and the world flipping upside down. The car rolled once or twice before coming to a crushing halt.

Sirens filled the air as firemen and paramedics swarmed the scene, pulling them from the wreckage. Elouise lay motionless, her eyes closed, her curls tangled and limp. The paramedics worked frantically as they loaded her into the ambulance.

On the way to the hospital, her heart stopped.

– Excerpted from A Glimpse Too Far by Karen Charles, BookBaby, 2025. Reprinted with permission.

About the Author

Karen Charles is the author of Freeman Earns a Bike, a children’s book, and two thrillers based on true stories. Fateful Connections takes place in the aftermath of 9/11, and Blazing Upheaval takes place during the Rodney King riots in Los Angeles and the Northridge earthquake. She has two businesses: a global company that trains international teachers to teach American English, and an Airbnb on a beautiful bay in Washington State, where she resides with her husband. Her latest book is the psychological thriller, A Glimpse Too Far.

Website & Social Media:

Website ➜ www.weaveofsuspense.com

X ➜ http://www.x.com/karenra24229683

Facebook ➜ https://www.facebook.com/karen.rabe.7/

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