Title: Strawberry Shifters Book 1: Bear with Me
Author: Marilyn Barr
Genre: Paranormal Romance
Book Blurb:
Five months is a long time to live alone while married but Alison Luther’s estrangement from her husband has been since day one. She would leave Grant if she wasn’t still in love with him. He is the perfect guy on paper with dimples, chiseled features, and a meteoric career trajectory. The promised fame and fortune from his new job in Strawberry, KY comes with a price – and Alison hopes it’s not their marriage. So, she agrees to give him one last chance…
This creepy little town in rural Kentucky will have to be a magical place to restore the passion they shared twelve years ago, but Grant should be careful about what he wishes for…His analytical brain believes magic doesn’t exist which is the reason Alison has been able to keep her witchy powers a secret. Grant may think a mansion with one master suite will save their marriage, but the genius doesn’t know everything.
Will Grant's arrogance cost him his family, or will Alison emerge from his shadow to protect them?
Excerpt:
“You look perfect. I mean perfectly healthy. I mean mostly uninjured,” she stammers. She places her tiny hand over her eyes.
Feeling braver than ever, I walk right up to her. I gently remove the hand from her face and hold it to my own. “See, I’m fine,” I whisper as I gently rub my thumb over her tiny knuckles.
Her eyes lift to mine and lock our gazes. I have always found the golden color of her eyes fascinating but never studied them up close. They are light brown with a golden star in the middle. I am literally star gazing as she takes in the injuries to my face. We stand there for about a minute, lost in time.
I wonder if she is thinking about when we first started dating, the hard times that followed, the present, or the future. I search her face for clues but don’t want to break the spell by opening my mouth. I decide to put said mouth to better use by lowering my head toward hers.
Buy Links (including Goodreads and BookBub):
Bear With Me is on sale for $0.99 until 10/22!
If you could dress up as anything or anyone this Halloween, what or who would it be and why?
My eleven-year-old son picks our family costumes, and he has the best ideas. Last year he was the Muppet’s Swedish chef while my husband and I were giant lobsters avoiding his pot. This year he has fallen in love with the Super Mario Brothers and wants to be the villainous dragon, Bowser. I get to wear the giant pink dress as Princess Peach. I thought my husband would be my hero Mario, but he surprised everyone by buying an adult-sized Toadstool costume.
It is tradition in our corner of Tom Sawyer National Forest to not only give out candy at our front door but at lantern-lit spots between the houses. We live far apart from our neighbors along dark, wooded paths, so having a friendly face with a lantern to light the way is always appreciated. The neighbor at the lantern gives extra candy to the kids and shots of bourbon to the adults. My next-door neighbor also passes out cigars! As the last house, I can’t wait to see the reactions of tipsy parents to a giant Toadstool in the middle of the forest. The only costume worse than Toad the Mushroom would be a clown.
Explain why your featured book is a treat to read:
Witches, vampires, shifters, magical pumpkins, and scary soul-sucking phantoms make this paranormal romance a spooky Halloween read. However, October is also sensory processing awareness month. Bear with Me’s heroine, Alison the Green Witch and I share sensory processing disorder (SPD). Our sensory differences are highlighted throughout this novel as she integrates herself in a new town and finds her voice in asking for the accommodations she needs to function. The sweetest parts are Alison’s homeschool classes with unruly child werewolves (and her son) where she teaches them about modifying the environment so their oregano plants can thrive. It is a thinly veiled metaphor for her desire to be a part of her community instead of locked in a mansion on the outskirts of town. I hope to raise awareness for SPD and how a few modifications are better than excluding those who can contribute to our communities.
Giveaway –
One lucky reader will win a $75 Amazon gift card.
Open internationally. You must have a valid Amazon US or Canada account to win.
Runs October 1 – 31
Drawing will be held on November 1.
Author Biography:
Marilyn Barr currently resides in the wilds of Kentucky with her husband, son, and rescue cats. She has a diverse background containing experiences as a child prodigy turned medical school reject, published microbiologist, special education/inclusion science teacher, homeschool mother of a savant, certified spiritual/energy healer, and advocate for the autistic community. This puts her in the position to bring tales containing heroes who are regular people with different ability levels and body types, in a light where they are powerful, lovable, and appreciated.
When engaging with the real world, she is collecting characters, empty coffee cups, and unused homeschool curricula. She is a sucker (haha) for cheesy vampire movies, Italian food, punk music, black cats, bad puns, and all things witchy.
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