Wicked Fun with Wicked Villains on Wicked Wednesday by C. Becker

WICKED WEDNESDAY

Oh readers! Today's Wicked Wednesday is particularly wicked fun. My guest, C. Becker, gets us up close and personal to a wicked villain.

I’m always intrigued when a reader feels sorry for a story’s villain. Wicked villains make us pause to consider the character’s circumstances. If the villain had been brought up differently, would he/she have been so evil? When I began the Euphoria trilogy, I created one evil villain, Manuel Mendoza, but as the next two stories unfolded, I realized he wasn’t so evil. Yes, he was misguided, but deep down he had a good heart. Although he was money hungry, his thirst for power stemmed from his abusive life led by his wicked father José. José de Mendoza is as ruthless as they come. In the final book of the trilogy, he’s the prime target of the story and he’s out for merciless revenge. A drug lord and human trafficker, José went so low as to destroy his son’s chance with happiness at every turn. Jose is the wicked villain I’d like you to meet in this interview, and I’m heading out before he either kills me for revealing him or sells me to his contacts on some remote island. (Exit: Door slam)

Where did she go? I heard her voice. The conniving author who smuggled me into the U.S. shouldn’t have exposed me to her readers. Maybe I’ll kill her before I head back to Colombia—after I finish taking care of the others. My troubles began two months ago when my son Manuel brought his five-year-old bastard daughter back to Colombia. Now the girl will inherit everything my wife owns. Hijueputa! Over my dead body! Manny never even let me to see the girl. He was afraid I’d sell her off to the human traffickers—like I did that with his first girlfriend. Women! Nothing but trouble! Now I’m stuck in the U.S. trying to clean up his mess.

For the past six years, Manny pined over a new love, a U.S. scientist who served prison time for him. Why couldn’t Manny focus on the family cocaine business? (cough) I can’t keep the drug trade going by myself forever. I should’ve killed Manny’s puta and her sidekick Hailey Langley when I first caught them prowling around my home. Langley dug into my computer files a few years ago and handed the trade contacts over to the government. Now my soldiers can’t get shipments out on the damn drug routes because the authorities capture all the narcosubs. Hailey Langley should’ve kept her nose out of my business. She never learns. When her husband died in a fire last year, Hailey started popping anti-depressants. (snicker) Too bad I swapped her mail-order prescription and slowly poisoned her with bixine, a drug from the worthless Euphoria shrub Manny keeps in the greenhouse.

When Manny kidnapped his bastard daughter this summer, he ordered his minions to kill Langley, but she got away. Dammit! That secret agent is slicker than a coral snake. Now that I’m in the States, I’ll finish the job. I broke into her house this afternoon with plans to finish her off, but she wasn’t there. As I was leaving, an old gringo entered through the front door. I didn’t have a gun so I hid upstairs and pushed him down the stairs. I’m heading to Boston to kill Manny’s bastard and sexy puta, but I’ll come back and make Hailey pay for the trouble she’s caused. If my contact doesn’t get me a gun soon, I’ll have to use other ways to exact revenge. (cracks fingers) Then I’ll decide how to knock off my wife. I’ve spent too many nights at the brothel since she stopped sleeping in my bed. Need to figure out a way to keep her estate before I deal with her….

Blurb:
Hailey Langley tries to wrap her mind around the news her husband survived a fire she thought had killed him. Before she can search for him, Hailey has a promise to keep that takes her to Colombia where she must face the drug lord behind her husband’s attack.

Mark Langley is suffering from his own plight and insecurities, including burns and PTSD. Beneath Mark’s scarred exterior is a man seeking acceptance from a wife he refuses to see. Uncertain if he will ever reunite with his family, Mark struggles through his therapies, hopeful an experimental drug from the Euphoria plant will heal his scars.

When another villain from Colombia seeks revenge, Hailey and Mark must learn to trust and love again as they battle their newest threat and find their way back to each other.

Buy links:
Amazon: https://www.amazon.com/Embracing-Euphoria-C-Becker-ebook/dp/B0DSG8XQ3X
B&N:  https://www.barnesandnoble.com/w/embracing-euphoria-c-becker/1146791353
BAM:  https://www.booksamillion.com/p/9781509259809
The Wild Rose Press: https://wildrosepress.com/product/embracing-euphoria/ 

C. Becker is a romance suspense writer, musician, and lover of crafts. She has a bachelor’s degree in Medical Technology and worked in the clinical hospital setting until she began raising a family. As her children grew older, she never outgrew the attraction of using science in everyday life. She turned to teaching, music, and eventually to writing stories. She considers herself a “jack of all trades,” and readily admits she is a “master of none.” Yes, she even does home improvement projects! Becker has published three romance suspense novels in the Euphoria trilogy, several poems, and over a dozen children’s books (under Colleen Driscoll). Becker enjoys hanging out with her family and Jack Russell, playing the piano, reading, traveling, and gardening.

Contact Links:

Email: cbeckerauthor@gmail.com

Website address: http://cbeckerauthor.com/

Twitter https://twitter.com/cbeckerauthor

Facebook https://www.facebook.com/CBeckerauthor/

Instagram https://www.instagram.com/beckercee/

Goodreads https://www.goodreads.com/author/show/19026691.C_Becker

Perils of Creating a Teen Amateur Sleuth by Susie Black

MUSE MONDAY

Susie Black is a welcomed guest here on Discover... Her muse has guided her to write a cozy about a young sleuth. She's here to tell us all about it on Muse Monday.

I am the author of six published humorous cozy mysteries. While my adult female protagonist in The Holly Swimsuit Mystery Series is younger than me, the age difference between us did not present any verisimilitude issues when I created her personality, lifestyle, or career. One key element that made it easy is that she was based on me.

But writing a series with a teen amateur sleuth who again was based on me—this time as a high school newspaper investigative reporter presented several challenges that had to be overcome to make the tale realistic.

Fourth down…you’re dead.

How much danger could I/should I put my young sleuth into?

Would she tell her parents what she was doing or lie to them? The protagonist insisted on not revealing to her parents what she was involved in. I had to enlist the help of her Nana who figured out what Hannah was doing to convince Hannah to fess up to her parents.

Who would take a teenage amateur sleuth seriously? If she interrogated an adult suspect would they even give her the time of day, much less answer her questions? How would she know what questions to ask? Even her school friends asked these same questions.

If she had suspects in mind, how would she go about investigating them? How would she know what to do? How would she gain access to conduct her investigations?

If she did somehow discover proof that a suspect was the killer, would the homicide detective take her information seriously or blow her off?

While the series is based on my experience as a high school newspaper investigative reporter, I thankfully had never made such a gruesome discovery as Hannah White did. How should she react? Terrified? Shocked? Faint? I took a risk and had her react exactly as her wise-cracking, irreverent personality would dictate. And the result was one of the funniest one-line zingers of the story:

Dean gulped. “Who are you calling?”

“Donofrio’s Pizzeria. Dead bodies give me the munchies.”

 

So, how did I overcome seemingly insurmountable challenges?

1.     I created two adult characters who interacted with the teenage sleuth:

Bart White: Hannah White’s uncle and the defense attorney for the teenage murder suspect. He enlisted her to get the information he would be hard-pressed to obtain on his own.

H.S. Whiperski: A Private Investigator Bart hired to work with Hannah. H. S. tailored the questions to ask and the steps the teenage sleuth could realistically and safely take.

 

2.     I incorporated Hannah’s investigative reporter skills into how she approached suspects and the methods she employed to question them. Hannah questioned several teacher suspects under the guise of interviewing them for a story she was writing for the school newspaper.

3.     I created a group of Hannah’s friends called the Young Yentas who served as a sounding board for Hannah to bounce ideas off of and as assistant sleuths.

4.     I added a teenage sidekick for Hannah who gave her access to a key site at the high school to search for proof that a teacher had committed the murder.

5.     I created a school janitor who served as a trusted source of information, to bounce ideas off of, and who helped Hannah save a teacher’s life.

6.      I devised a “rope-a-dope” mechanism Hannah employed to interview suspects without them realizing what she was doing.

 

The Case of the Croaked Coach, the debut title of The Hannah White Mystery Series was simultaneously the easiest and most difficult manuscript to write.

Blurb:

There wasn’t an honest bone in Buzz Bixby’s body. The Encino High School’s head football coach was an equal-opportunity scoundrel. Bixby cheated and lied his way to the top and screwed anyone and everyone in his wake. So, the question wasn’t who wanted the coach dead. The question was, who didn’t? Student reporter Hannah White’s interview with the coach is a nonstarter when she discovers varsity football hero Dean Snyder standing over Bixby’s battered corpse holding a bloody trophy. Despite how guilty Dean looks, Hannah is convinced he’s innocent. When Snyder is arrested for Bixby’s murder, the wise-cracking, irreverent amateur sleuth jumps into action to flesh out the real killer. But the trail has more twists and turns than a slinky, and nothing turns out how Hannah thinks it will as she tangles with a clever killer hellbent on revenge.

Excerpt:

I peppered Dean with questions. “Call 911? Try to help him. Check his pulse. Perform CPR? Anything?”

Dean hung his head. “No.”

 “What the heck is the matter with you?”

He bunched his shoulders.

“ If you’d at least called 911 he had a chance of being saved.”

He pointed the trophy at the corpse. “Is he dead?”

Dean bent over the coach’s crumpled body. “I’ve never seen a dead body before. How do you tell?”

The back of the guy’s head is smashed in like roadkill. How much more proof do you need?

I rolled my eyes. “Well, since he hasn’t so much as twitched, it’s a safe bet the next game Bixby coaches is gonna be played in the stadium located at the Great Beyond.”

Buy Links: The Case of the Croaked Coach: https://t.co/X2W29k2Why  

A Bit About the Author:

Named Best US Author of the Year by N. N. Lights Book Heaven, multi-award-winning cozy mystery author Susie Black was born in the Big Apple but now calls sunny Southern California home. She has published seven books and # eight is slated for release in May 2025. A voracious reader, she’s also an avid stamp collector. Susie lives with a highly intelligent man and is the mother of one incredibly brainy but smart-aleck adult son who inexplicably blames his sarcasm on an inherited genetic defect.

Looking for more? Contact Susie at:

Website: www.authorsusieblack.com

E-mail: mysteries_@authorsusieblack.com 

Susie Black Social Media Links: 

Blue Sky: @hollysusiewrites.bsky.social

Facebook: Susie Black, author of The Holly Swimsuit Mystery Series | Facebook

Facebook: https://facebook.com/TheHollySwimsuitMysterySeries

Instagram: Susie Black (@hollyswimsuit) • Instagram photos and videos

LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/authorsusieblack-61941011

Pinterest: https://www.pinterest.com/hollysusie1/

Twitter: http://twitter.com/@hollyswimsuit

Reading and Reviews (Ligon and Gallant)

I'm an author, but I'm also a reader. From time to time, I'll share my reviews of present and past reads. My available time to read is limited because I write, but I love to curl up with a paperback or an eBook at night for the last hour of my day. 

I tend to read what I write, but not exclusively. Besides Romantic Suspense and mystery, I read crime and law novels, once in a while a true story, WWII historicals, romance, and mainstream character driven books.

Here are some of the books I've read recently or in the not-too-distant past. Maybe you'll discover a new book or author. 

Running to Daylight by Kim Janine Ligon 

After ten years in witness protection, Morgan Tucker is hidden no longer. Evil hasn’t been thwarted by a false name or Morgan’s move to the small town of Lansdale, Wisconsin.

Mark Trask, a veteran of Lansdale’s police force, returns from vacation to find his reclusive housemate, Phil Hughes, missing. The driver of a black pickup truck stalks Mark and nearly kills him. Are they targeting Mark or is it related to Phil’s mysterious disappearance?

Elsie Dennis lives with her older brother, Hubert, and operates Knitting Pretty in downtown Lansdale. Unexpected danger plagues the siblings. Why now? Who is behind this evil?

Mark and Elsie are thrown together to solve the mysteries surrounding them and try to determine if they are related to a ten-year-old murder. They encounter evil at every turn as together they find their way toward the daylight. 

My Review 

Think the Sopranos meets Mayberry. And since this is a sweet romance, you’ll be spared the graphics. Ms. Ligon begins this tale when Morgan Tucker does the right thing. She is then whisked off, given another identity, and put in witness protection. We are transported to her new life in the second chapter. I liken Lansdale, Wisconsin to Mayberry and our hero, Mark Trask, to the down to earth law enforcement we’d expect in a small town. For me, a good story isn’t enough. I need characters that interest me and are well developed. This story has that. An entertaining read! 

This book will release May 26, but you can reserve you copy now:

https://www.amazon.com/Running-Daylight-Kim-Janine-Ligon-ebook/dp/B0F1P71LKV/

 

 

Unspeakable Sins (Truth and Lies book 4) by Jannine Gallant 

In the peaceful town of Wildwood, a killer is on the prowl . . .

Jessica Hayes hadn’t been back to Wildwood in years. She’d rather poke her eye out than visit her vindictive grandfather, so discovering she’d inherited his home on the James River came as a shock. Quitting her job to move to Virginia was an impulsive decision—one she might live to regret. Because making the old mansion habitable will take a herculean effort.

Returning centuries-old homes to their former glory is what Lincoln Quintrell lives for. When he receives a call from Jessica Hayes, a girl he’d gone to school with, about restoring her grandfather’s plantation house, he can’t wait to begin. The dilapidated mansion makes his heart beat faster—and so does Jessica, who is a lot prettier than he remembered.

Creating beauty from decay and navigating a budding relationship isn’t their only challenge. When Jessica discovers skeletal remains on her property, the Hayes family tragedy is resurrected. The aunt who’d disappeared years before hadn’t run away—she’d been murdered. Now, a killer with evil intent is hiding in plain sight. Will Jessica become the next victim? 

My Review 

This book had it all for me: an historical mansion in need of restoration, a soon-to-be bed and breakfast (I always thought it would be fun to own one), family skeletons—the ones you love to uncover but also quite literally, a strong female lead who still needs some man-help, and a hero you can hope gets the girl. There were enough twists and turns to keep the suspense going. The romance is believable and blends beautifully with the mystery. You’ll enjoy this 4^th book in the series. And if you haven’t read the first three, you’ll want to.

AMAZON BUY LINK

By the Shore with My Muse by Karen Cino

MUSE MONDAY

Who doesn't love the beach, even if you're not a swimmer like myself? Just sitting in the sun on the sand and hearing the sounds of the water is excellent. Add to that reading a great beach novel! My guest today enjoys that all the time, plus she writes those great beach reads. Please welcome Karen Cino to Discover... for Muse Monday.

I live at the Jersey Shore, and I’ve been a beach lover my whole life. Walking every morning at the boardwalk is the perfect way to start my day. I’ve taken my love of the beach and have incorporated it into my women’s fiction romance and cozy mysteries. Yes, it’s tough during the winter months, but just knowing that the ocean is there every morning, I can’t help but create stories that take place at the shore all year long. If you enjoy reading beach themed books, then take a few minutes to check the other book in the Five Beach Road Series.

Living at the Shore

Blurb: 

     After moving into her grandmother’s summer house at the Jersey Shore to seek solace and new beginnings, Brooke’s tranquil life is disrupted by a past love and her new neighbors. Her newly found friendship with Flo and Jane assists in settling Brooke into her new surroundings. When she finds herself in the middle of her neighbors’ domestic disputes, it puts further strain on her relationship with Scott. Flo continues to come to terms with her past decisions about her daughter’s adoption, while maintaining a relationship with Jerry. A misunderstanding on Thanksgiving put her relationship to the test.
     Jane’s bakery is blooming and she’s settling in nicely in her relationship with Mark, however, she’s still battling old wounds from her deceased ex-husband, causing her to second guess moving forward with Mark.
     All three women are battling demons from the past, deterring them from making a commitment to their future relationship. Their friendship is a rich tapestry of interconnected stories about overcoming adversity through support systems found in their friendships. 

Excerpt: 

Brooke walked him down the spiral staircase to the door and waited for his car to disappear down the block before she walked into the kitchen. Scott O’Keffe had been her godsend. He was unlike any man she had known. She became instantly attracted to him the night she met him at the tiki bar and they had their first dance. By the end of the summer, their relationship had bloomed into something that Brooke never thought was possible for her.

The doorbell rang, interrupting her thoughts. As she walked down the spiral stairs again, she rolled her eyes. Brooke flung open the door and gasped. This can’t be happening. The last thing she expected to see was her ex-boyfriend, Eric, especially since she had put that part of her life to rest. Now, he stood at her front door, dressed in clothes she had given him. Her legs weakened, and she felt butterflies in her stomach. She knew it was essential to keep her cool and not let him break her down. She had no intentions of turning the clocks back in time. After all, she had come to grips with her emotions for Eric months ago.

“Brooke?” Eric waved papers in her face.

“Eric, what the hell are you doing here?”

“I did it. I asked her for a divorce.” He handed her a set of divorce papers. “It’s official. We can finally be together. I’m here to take you home.”

Brooke dropped her glance to look at the papers, flicking through them until she got to the last page with the seal. Why, after all these years, did he make the plunge to file for divorce? They had spoken about him leaving her years ago, but he never followed through. Seal or not, she wasn’t going back. Slowly, she raised her gaze back to Eric. “Congratulations on your divorce, but I am home,” Brooke said, blocking the door.

“Sweetheart, please, let me in so we can talk.”

“There’s nothing to talk about. We’re over. Nothing you say or do will change my mind. I have created a new life here and have no intention of changing my routine. It’s too late for us.”

“I’m so sorry I hurt you.” Eric slid his hands into his back pockets and leaned toward her. “Please, I did this for us.”

Brooke handed him back the papers. “This has no bearing on my decision. You strung me along for years. You didn’t do this for us, you did it for you.”

“What’s that supposed to mean?” Eric asked, rolling the papers in his hand. “I thought this is what you wanted.”

“No, Eric. This was a decision you had to make on your own. All you’ve done was complain about your wife for years, and how you hated being there. You said that she was bipolar and wouldn’t be able to handle you leaving her. So, my guess is she was the one who initiated the divorce.”

“No, you’re wrong. I…I…I can’t live without you.”

“I thought the same thing for the longest time. I’ve moved on and learned to live without you.”

“I don’t believe you. You’d repeatedly said how much you loved me and wanted to be with me. What changed?”

“I can ask you the same thing, Eric. Tell me the truth. Did you ask her for a divorce or is she divorcing you?”

Eric dropped his gaze down to the floor, shuffling his feet on the wooden porch, confusion written all over his face. Brooke took a deep breath. Eric was a mess. And as much as her heart went out to him, she still stood her ground.

“She did,” he whispered. “She told me she was tired of me being out all night and she had found my secret phone in the car’s glove compartment.”

BUY LINKS

AMAZON

DRAFT TO DIGITAL

Down at the Shore 

https://www.amazon.com/Down-Shore-Five-Beach-Road-ebook/dp/B09F6Z73FY/

Karen Cino is a multi-published author who has been writing since she was fourteen years old. She started her career by writing poetry, short stories and articles for her high school newspaper. While in college, she was one of the foundling member of WSIA radio station. Many years later, she worked as an investigator reporter at a local newspaper. Her daily walks down at the boardwalk are what gets her muse going. It clears her mind and helps her find realistic plot ideas and characters, boosting up her muse. Karen loves writing about local places that people can relate to. 

Karen loves the summer, loves the beach. Her previous books were written and take place in various places across Staten Island. When Karen relocated to the Jersey Shore back in 2015, she traded in the Staten Island Boardwalk for the New Jersey Shoreline. 

Currently, Karen is working on a Women’s Fiction as well as a Cozy Mystery series.

FIND KAREN HERE:

Website: https://karencino.com

Facebook: https://facebook.com/karencino

Amazon Author Page: https://www.amazon.com/author/karencino

Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/ladymandolay

Newsletter: https://subscribepage.io/jGP7wi

Book Shopping Made Easy-Spring Has Sprung!

Here's an easy way  to book shop. I've got two great catalogs for you to browse and find the next great read for yourself as well as the new readers in your life!

SMALL TOWN ROMANCE covers all genres of romance: mystery and suspense like my books, as well as westerns, military, billionaire, contemporary, and historical. 

To find your next great read, click on the image above or CLICK HERE

And for those beginning readers this catalog, SPRING INTO CHAPTER BOOKS, has some great choices. If they aren't quite ready to read on their own, you'll have fun reading these books to them.

To find some books perfect for you young reader, including a couple of mine under the name Brenda Sue, click on the image above or CLICK HERE

Reading and Reviews (Black and Grafton)

I'm an author, but I'm also a reader. From time to time, I'll share my reviews of present and past reads. My available time to read is limited because I write, but I love to curl up with a paperback or an eBook at night for the last hour of my day. 

I tend to read what I write, but not exclusively. Besides Romantic Suspense and mystery, I read crime and law novels, once in a while a true story, WWII historicals, romance, and mainstream character driven books.

Here are some of the books I've read recently or in the not-too-distant past. Maybe you'll discover a new book or author. 

The Case of the Croaked Coach (Hannah White Mysteries, book 1) by Susie Black 

There wasn’t an honest bone in Buzz Bixby’s body. The Encino High School’s head football coach was an equal-opportunity scoundrel. Bixby cheated and lied his way to the top and screwed anyone and everyone in his wake. So, the question wasn’t who wanted the bastard dead. The question was, who didn’t?

Student reporter Hannah White’s interview with the coach is a nonstarter when she discovers varsity football hero Dean Snyder standing over Bixby’s battered corpse holding a bloody trophy. Despite how guilty Dean looks, Hannah is convinced he’s innocent. When Snyder is arrested for Bixby’s murder, the wise-cracking, irreverent amateur sleuth jumps into action to flesh out the real killer.

But the trail has more twists and turns than a slinky, and nothing turns out how Hannah thinks it will as she tangles with a clever killer hellbent on revenge. 

My Review 

Susie Black has launched a new cozy mystery series with The Case of the Croaked Coach. At Encino High School, the head football coach has collected quite a list of enemies. Who would like a cheating scoundrel who lies, treats women badly, and steps on anyone who gets in his way? When he ends up dead, murdered, and one of the football players is the prime suspect, student reporter, Hannah White is on the case…with a little help from her lawyer Uncle B and a female private investigator whose smart mouth rivals Hannah’s.

I found Hannah a delight, and the seriousness with which she takes her position on the school paper fun. The amateur sleuth in this series might be a high school student, but I’m convinced from this first book, this is a full-fledged cozy that will give mystery readers hours of entertainment. 

Ms. Black has established a cast of characters that I’ll enjoy following in the next book and beyond.

 

Y is for Yesterday (A Kinsey Millhone Nove, book 25) by Sue Grafton 

In 1979, four teenage boys from an elite private school sexually assault a fourteen-year-old classmate—and film the attack. Not long after, the tape goes missing and the suspected thief, a fellow classmate, is murdered. In the investigation that follows, one boy turns state’s evidence and two of his peers are convicted. But the ringleader escapes without a trace.
       
Now, it’s 1989 and one of the perpetrators, Fritz McCabe, has been released from prison. Moody, unrepentant, and angry, he is a virtual prisoner of his ever-watchful parents—until a copy of the missing tape arrives with a ransom demand. That’s when the McCabes call Kinsey Millhone for help. As she is drawn into their family drama, she keeps a watchful eye on Fritz. But he’s not the only one being haunted by the past. A vicious sociopath with a grudge against Millhone may be leaving traces of himself for her to find... 

My Review 

It’s hard to find fault with an author who can crank out 25 novels around one detective, Kinsey Millhone. And this is the fourth book in the series I’ve read, but not in order, so I have enjoyed them. I enjoyed this one too, but found a little trouble following the storyline a few times. She uses a flashback technique to slowly reveal what actually happened in 1979. So we hop between that and her investigation in 1989. She also dropped in a villain who is after her from one of her other novels. The problem could’ve been caused because I read in brief segments of time before I go to bed…actually in bed. If I read for longer times, maybe I wouldn’t have gotten lost. Regardless, it was an entertaining book. I’m sure I’ll drop back and read at least some of the others in the series.

Epic Adventure for Fearless Friday by Kim McMahill

FEARLESS FRIDAY

Please join me in welcoming Kim McMahill to Discover... on a Fearless Friday. What an adventure she had! And I'd say with her life, she's well equipped to write entertaining adventure stories. Enjoy her post and then check out her books...

I love adventure, nature, wildlife, travel, and learning about new cultures. Last winter I got the opportunity to experience all of those at once in one amazing trip. My husband and I flew in a small plane from Cabo San Lucas, Mexico to San Ignacio Lagoon on the Baja Peninsula to participate in an immersive whale watching experience. The area is home to one of the few birthing and breeding lagoons in the world used by gray whales, making it an unparalleled place to view whales.

The trip started with a flight over stunning mountain and desert scenery as we headed up the Baja Peninsula. After landing on a dirt airstrip, we piled into a four-wheel drive vehicle for a short drive to whale camp. We stayed in a comfortable well-equipped tent on a shell-strewn beach, but most of our time was spent on the water.

Each day, we got up at sunrise and donned life jackets and tall rubber boots to wade into the water to board our small boat. The lagoon is a protected area, so we had to travel to a designated part of the lagoon for viewing and were limited to a set time on the water before having to go ashore. After a short time on shore, we would head back out for another round of whale watching.

The first day we saw a huge gray whale “spy-hopping,” which
is when a whale vertically lifts its head out of the water to look around. It only got better from there. Each day brought more whale sightings and on the last day, a mother brought her calf alongside the boat as we bobbed silently in the water watching.

Some days brought strong winds, forcing us off the water. The temperatures were cool most of the time, but the experience was well worth any discomfort or nail-biting boat rides.  Seeing these magnificent giants in such an amazing place was both humbling, awe-inspiring, and even a little frightening. The adult whales were much larger than our boat, so we were truly at their mercy. It was nothing less than a trip of a lifetime.

If you love adventure too, I hope you will check out, The Beartooth Chronicles. Below is a blurb about the series. The first three novels have been released. The fourth is scheduled for release in April and the fifth and final installment in September 2025. You can find all of my novels at major online book sellers including Amazon at https://www.amazon.com/Kim-McMahill/e/B007IK0EJW/

The Beartooth Chronicles

In a world unraveling from relentless natural and human disasters, a determined group of individuals form a cooperative community built on sustainability and hope. Their mountain haven, Beartooth, offers safety and solace, but as environmental catastrophes escalate and humanity's darkest instincts emerge, their fragile sanctuary is threatened.

Now, the residents must confront an unyielding wave of challenges—both from within and beyond their borders—that will push their resilience, unity, and will to survive to the brink. Will their vision of a better future endure, or will the chaos of the world consume all they’ve built?

Follow Ashley and Caleb as they embark on a remarkable journey. Together, they learn about tragedy, grief, love, joy, and hope as they fight to survive in a hostile world.

Novels in the series in order: Refuge from the World, Above the Abyss, Isolated from Anarchy, Evil Below the Mountain, and Winter Resurgence.

Find The Beartooth Chronicles here: https://www.amazon.com/dp/B0CWZDD7W3

Bio:

Kim McMahill started out writing nonfiction, but her passion for adventure, stories of survival against the odds, and speculating about the future of humanity and our planet, soon turned her attention towards fiction. Along with numerous novels, she has published over eighty travel and human-interest articles and contributed to a travel story anthology. Growing up in a small community surrounded by mountains, traveling the world, and enjoying a rewarding career with the National Park Service, has given her the opportunity to live in amazing places, experience incredible adventures, and witness many changes in our world, all of which have helped shape her stories.

Please be sure to sign up for her newsletter with the form in the sidebar of her blog at https://KimMcMahill.blogspot.com or follow her on:

Facebook at https://www.facebook.com/KimMcMahillAuthor/

Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/kimmcmahill/

Threads: https://www.threads.net/@kimmcmahill

Goodreads author page: http://www.goodreads.com/author/show/849945.Kim_McMahill

Amazon Author Page: https://www.amazon.com/Kim-McMahill/e/B007IK0EJW/

Bookbub: https://www.bookbub.com/profile/kim-mcmahill