Book Tour! One Foot in the Ether by Kayleigh Kavanagh ~ Excerpt and Guest Post #OneFootInTheEther

Powerful bloodlines tied by Fate,

who can’t be free even in death...

One Foot in the Ether: Whispers of the Pendle Witches by Kayleigh Kavanagh

Published September 29, 2025 by Oriana Neomar

Historical/Paranormal/Fantasy

Format: Kindle, 400 pages

Demdike and Chattox, famed witches of Pendle Forest, might be dead, but they’re not gone. Bound to their bloodline, they’ve spent the past two and a half centuries watching over their descendants, waiting for when they’ll be needed.

When 14 year old Yana comes into her psychic abilities and inherits the ‘eyes of the Chattox family’, she can see the long-dead witches, as well as an encroaching evil. But even with this foreknowledge, she’s trapped by marriage interviews and being unable to see her own future, and more importantly, whoever her future husband will be.

Demdike’s healing gifts are alive and working in Claire, a mid-30s midwife well renowned for her skills and holding her tongue. The Secrets of Pendle are safe with her and her midwives. However, when surgeons looking to make standardisation the norm encroach on her territory, she soon realises how, even a respected woman is vulnerable in a patriarchal system.

The two descendants must come together to protect the ones they love from an ancient evil, all whilst balancing their lives and the cruelties of being a woman in a man’s world. Set in late 1800s NW England, this book has all the elements of the area: strong, hardy people, atmospheric horror and days as unpredictable as the weather.

One Foot in the Ether: Whispers of the Pendle Witches is available at Amazon.

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Excerpt

She hadn’t known what to expect from death. No one did. Still, none of her previous thoughts could have come close. This, and she was definitely having an atypical experience. For most souls, death was a release from the mortal coil. Complete separation from the life they’d once lived. She hadn't been so lucky.

Some parts of the system had been the same. Her soul had been scooped up. Taken somewhere. She vaguely recalled going over her life and having events explained. Gaining an understanding of the why; to the point she was no longer angry about things which had once made her furious. However, the entire encounter was now a blur.

The powers that be had done this on purpose, but the awareness lingered instinctively. Either way, she knew she'd died, gone to the other place, and then thrown back. Before they could send her along to wherever she should have gone next. There'd been an issue. A snag. One which stopped her from moving along to the happy, bliss-filled world of the nether realm. Said snag bore one name: Chattox. Even in death, her frenemy was still causing her bloody issues.

“Hey, Demdike, how’s non-life treating you?”

Demdike didn’t answer, suddenly filled with the desire to bludgeon the other woman. However, she knew from experience it would be pointless. They weren’t physical beings any longer—even if they were still tied to the physical world. Unless she was willing to destroy the other's soul, the spirit could reform. A tempting idea some days; this non-life was enough to make even the most patient saint a little homicidal. However, even in her worse moments, she wasn't willing to land the final blow.

“The same way it’s been treating me for the past two and a half hundred years,” she eventually returned. Still not looking at the other, less she finally indulged her violent impulses.

“They’re having a bake sale soon, at the local church. Gods, I miss cake.”

Demdike sighed. The sad part was she couldn’t even get rid of the other. Without Chattox, she would be entirely alone in this exhausting existence.

“Their cake isn’t anything like the one we used to have. They have more access to sugar, for starters.”

Demdike wasn’t even going to comment on the reasons why. King James I's and his ilk had done more than destroy her life. Stretching his greedy grip across the world. From the supposed lands of gold to the continent of darkness, James I's influence had impacted many. She couldn't help but feel for the poor souls stolen from these other countries. Their plights differed from the witch trials, but suffering was a universal language.

She would've liked to aid them, but she couldn't even help herself. There was no one to hear her, anyway. Well, other than Chattox, but as she was in the exact same situation. It was no different than voicing her words to the void. Except the void didn’t reply.

“Aye, I know, but it doesn’t mean I don’t miss the little pleasures. Few and far between, though they were.”

Demdike hummed. This was a conversation they’d had many times. When their new existence was mostly just the two of them, they often spoke of their past. Their past life, to be specific. A lot of it seemed funny now. Maybe it was their time in the decompression zone post life—or maybe it was simply the effect of being so removed from what they’d once been—but matters of life and death were suddenly much less dramatic and far funnier when you were already dead. Fighting over coin, linens, and food were memories they could now look back on and find humour in.

Though she also missed cake, death was a lot simpler. Mostly. There was no fighting for survival when you simply just were. No hunger to push you forward or pain to keep you still. As much as she’d once lived with one foot in the ether, having both on death's side was much simpler. If you ignored the limited company. Or how she feared her own mind and sense of self were slowly eroding over time. As though, without a physical body, she was slowly dispersing into nothingness; it was just taking a little longer.

– Excerpted from One Foot in the Ether: Whispers of the Pendle Witches by Kayleigh Kavanagh, Kayleigh Kavanagh, 2025. Reprinted with permission.

Guest Post

The Inspiration Behind One Foot in the Ether: Whispers of the Pendle Witches

By Kayleigh Kavanagh

I wrote the first book in the series “Whispers of the Pendle Witches” because it always annoyed me how, even 400 years later, the people who died in those trials were being portrayed as villains. In our supposedly enlightened era, we were still besmirching these individuals as though they were evil. It annoyed me, especially growing up in Lancaster, where they died. I always felt a kinship with them and wanted to put out another narrative. One where they were real people. Ones who today would be considered alternative healers and maybe Wiccans (or the modern interpretation of the word witch), but not devil worshippers, making pacts with the devil and killing their neighbours through malicious magics. 

After I completed the first book, I wanted to do more with the characters, but the only option for following the history was to cover the trials, and I just did not want to do that. After many months of deliberation, the idea of reincarnation came to mind. Then I remembered the spell Demdike and Chattox had done at the end of the first book and thought, “What if it went wrong or had unintended consequences?” And I went from there. 

I initially wanted to set the book in 1812, exactly two hundred years later (and for the 3rd to be in 2012). However, whilst researching the 1800s, I realised just how much changed in the latter half of the century, and there was a huge potential to build on this. My books have a recurring theme of women’s issues—those which are still relevant today. The 19th century had a lot of advancements, but it also saw the rise of a rhetoric which we’re still impacted by today, even though it isn’t as old as people believe it to be; the notion that women are weak and dainty. 

This ideal rose out of a belief that women could lose children doing strenuous work, which is true for the first trimester, but the initial idea went from “women shouldn’t be doing heavy lifting whilst pregnant” to “women's wombs will fall out if they do anything remotely strenuous, and these frail creatures need to be controlled and protected”. Ideals we’re still fighting even now.

From this, the character of Claire, a well-informed midwife, was born. A woman in a position of power in a man's world, something many men do not like—especially in the 1860s. She finds herself fighting against the standardisation of medical practices. Not because she opposes it in principle, but because she fears what men will do to women. 

In contrast, Yana is a young woman who has grown up with this new mentality and doesn’t know to question many things, despite how she senses things aren’t quite right. Though she does have some wiles, taught to her by women who learnt to hide their strengths in plain sight. She’s in the process of going through marriage interviews, and is caught between wants, needs and the demands of society.

Things become even more chaotic when the two women start to remember who they once were, and the trappings and dangers of the spiritual world. 

This is where Demdike and Chattox, the original Pendle Witches, come in. They’ve been watching over their family all this time and are now needed to protect them. But how much can earthbound spirits do? Especially against an ancient force. 

The four women must come together, despite their limitations, to do what the cunning folk (the UK equivalent of shamanic healers) have always done: protect the physical world from the dangers lying in the ether.

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About the author

Kayleigh Kavanagh is a disabled writer from the North-West of England. Growing up in the area, she learnt a lot about the Pendle Witches and launched her debut novel around their life story. 

Her main writing genres are fantasy and romance, but she loves stories in all formats and genres. Kayleigh hopes to one day be able to share the many ideas dancing around in her head with the world.

Her latest book is the historical fantasy, One Foot in the Ether: Whispers of the Pendle Witches

Connect with Kayleigh

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Book Spotlight! The Essence of Bliss by Emily Astillberry ~ Interview and Excerpt! #TheEssenceOfBliss

A heartwarming, magical novel, which follows Isabel Bliss, a primary school teacher with an invisible power over emotional energy, as she discovers, explores and comes to terms with her ability and her potential.

The Essence of Bliss by Emily Astillberry
Publisher: Blossom Spring Publishing
Genre: Speculative Fiction/Romance
Format: Paperback, Kindle

Isabel Bliss is a reception class teacher. She experiences other people’s emotions and can influence how they feel but she doesn’t truly understand her gift and has been encouraged, by her mum, to hide it from others. She often feels lost and alone.

When a child in her class experiences chronic distress that only she can perceive, Isabel uses her ability to relieve his suffering, but his situation continues to worsen. Eventually she is forced to take matters into her own hands, escorting him home where she finds horrific signs of abuse. She saves his mum’s life and his father is arrested for the brutal torture he has inflicted upon his family.

A wealthy family moves to town and Isabel meets the two sons. She recoils from Daniel, who is hateful, rude and emotionally deficient but is inexorably drawn to Scott, who awakens something magical, deep inside her. They are like her. They are fluencers and have the ability to sense, read and willfully manipulate emotional energies. Isabel confronts her mum and uncovers hurtful lies and deceit within her own family.

She falls deeply in love and ultimately discovers the untold potential of her gift and the passion and power that dwells within.

Read a sample here.

The Essence of Bliss is available at Amazon UK and Amazon US.

Book Excerpt

The next few moments occurred in painful slow motion. As I tugged my arm sharply out of Donna’s grasp, I was jostled by a stranger on the other side. I felt myself falling off balance and reached out to grab onto something, anything, to keep me upright. The something that I grabbed onto was a jacket slung over an arm and the owner of the jacket pulled back on it hard, tipping me further off balance and sending me sprawling to the floor on my knees. I let out a pained cry as my still bruised knee struck the hard floor.

I ended up on my knees in front of a strong, long set of masculine legs in blue denim. I didn’t know for certain to whom the legs belonged, but I could make an educated guess from the pitch of the gasp and giggle from Donna and the murmuring of the onlookers. I really didn’t want to look up, but I knew that it was inevitable. I couldn’t stay on the floor forever. My knee was painful, and I wasn’t even certain that I could get up by myself. Slowly, grudgingly, I raised my eyes to find Daniel Callahan looking down at me with distasteful recognition and an unpleasant, disdainful smile. I looked him in the eye with as much dignity as I could muster. He continued to stare rudely. He didn’t utter a word.

“Sorry,” I muttered, and my hand flew to my mouth in instant regret. Had I seriously just apologised to him, again, for falling over, again? I was a total idiot, and I was more embarrassed than ever. What was it about this man that made me fall at his feet and behave like a stuttering moron with an apology tic?

“It seems like you’re making a habit of falling on your knees in front of my brother. Here, let me help you.” 

In an instant, everything changed. My whole life turned upside down. Something inside me roared to life and I suddenly felt different, stronger, more alive. It came from the source of the humming, that place deep inside of me. Those simple words, that simple offer of a hand to my feet, the smooth, velvety voice. It was the sort of voice that could make a person weak at the knees with its deep resonance and gentle tone, but it was so much more than that. I didn’t just like the sound of his voice. Something about the owner of that voice had just changed something fundamental about me, and somehow I knew, in that fraction of a second, that nothing was ever going to be the same again.

I wasn’t sure if I could move or if I wanted to look into the face that belonged to those words, that voice. I was frightened about what I might find and what it might do to me, what I might become. However, I was still on the floor on my knees, so I put my hand out, took his and let him pull me to my feet. 

Our eyes met, and without warning, a multitude of sensations overwhelmed me. I saw him, I felt him, I sensed him. I experienced things that I couldn’t understand or explain, but it was like a fire had been lit in my soul, like fireworks exploding in the deepest recess of my mind. I couldn’t just feel his emotions in the way that I normally do. This experience went further, deeper. It felt like in that single second, he was actually inside my mind, or I was inside his. I wasn’t sure whether it was one or the other or if it were both. I couldn’t process what was happening to me. It was happening too fast and exercising too many of my senses. 

He looked at me with bewitching eyes that reached into my very core. Eyes a deep, rich brown, like swirling chocolate, shimmering with a layer of warmth. They glistened with a flame that matched the fire that had ignited inside me, as if his eyes understood and reflected the very essence of me. We saw each other in a way that I had never known before, a way that I had never even dreamed of, and as we looked into each other’s eyes, the flames in his eyes grew larger, hotter. I took everything in, every minute detail. The dark hair swept back from his face, the healthy tan to his skin, the perfect line of his nose leading to full, rich lips surrounded by laughter lines, indicating a happy man: a joyful, confident, beautiful, magical creature.

The intensity of the moment wasn’t limited to the visual. The way that he looked wasn’t what captivated and thrilled my senses. When I sensed a person through their emotions, I usually felt that they were happy or sad, angry or hurt, but this was something new. This was a cacophony of feelings so loud that I felt as if my head might burst with the joy of it. Emotions that lifted me into the sky, swirling around me and through me — through my mind, through my heart, through my body — until I felt dizzy with the power of it. All that I could see were those eyes, those lips. All that I could hear was that voice, and yet I could feel and see and hear everything all at once, like I was awake for the first time in my life, like I had found the answer to a question that I hadn’t known I’d been asking.

– Excerpted from The Essence of Bliss by Emily Astillberry, Blossom Spring Publishing, 2024. Reprinted with permission.

Interview

Can you tell us a little about yourself?

I am a 42 year old mum of 5, keeper of a menagerie of rescued pets and I live with my family in a 250 year old cottage in rural Norfolk, England. My life is incredibly busy. When I’m not writing, trying to keep our house from falling down and looking after my brood, I love spending time with my chaotic family, being outside in the garden, hosting friends for dinner and playing board games. When we get away we usually head to the mountains. We walk up them in the summer, ski down them in the winter and pitch a tent and sleep under canvas wherever and whenever possible.

I have a degree in English Literature and had planned to spend my adulthood teaching and writing. However, my life took a different turn and I have now been an RSPCA Inspector for 20 years. I investigate complaints of animal cruelty and neglect. I am very passionate and proud of the work that I do and the difference that I can make in the lives of suffering animals. I see a lot of traumatic and appalling things and meet some of the worst examples of humanity but I also get to meet and work with incredible people and protect animals from future suffering. My career already has and most definitely will provide inspiration for my writing.

Can you tell us about your latest book, The Essence of Bliss?

The Essence of Bliss tells the story of Isabel Bliss, an ordinary woman with extraordinary power. Isabel is a reception class teacher who has a remarkable relationship with emotional energy. She can feel and experience other people’s emotions as if they were her own, sometimes to an unsettling or even debilitating degree. She also has the power to manipulate the emotions of others but has never understood or learned to harness her gift. Isabel’s abilities are put to the test when a little boy in her class experiences unspeakable suffering, and only she can sense his torment and help to end his agony.

During the book, Isabel encounters a kindred spirit and an adversary within the same family and she is propelled into a tangled web of love, passion and power, underpinned by secrets, deceit and betrayal. She is set on an emotional journey of self discovery, challenging the very concepts of chance, choice and destiny.

The Essence of Bliss is an emotional rollercoaster, with paranormal romantic escapism at its heart. I hope to have crafted a deeply empathetic heroine and a magical journey for readers, who may find themselves pondering the profound themes of emotions and the power of human connections.

Is The Essence of Bliss your only book?

The Essence of Bliss is my debut novel but I am well on the way to completing the sequel, The Essence of Insanity. I have many ideas and inspiration floating around in my head and hope that I get the opportunity to expand this series as well as working on some other new, exciting projects.

Can you tell us a little about the main characters in The Essence of Bliss?

Isabel Bliss is the protagonist, a reception class teacher in her late twenties. She begins the story in a long-term relationship with childhood sweetheart, Jack, parents, Beth and Max, and a younger sister, Stephanie. She also has a best friend called Donna. Isabel’s family are very close. Beth is eccentric and complicated but Isabel has always felt loved.

As the story progresses, a new family moves to town. The Callahans take up residency in the grand house at the top of the hill and the family consists of Nicholas, an extremely successful barrister with an incredible record, his beautiful wife Georgina and their two sons, Scott and Daniel. On first meeting, Isabel has a profound reaction to the sons, recoiling from one and being inexorably drawn to the other.

Do you see a little bit of yourself in your main character?

Isabel is not based on me but parts of her life and her relationships with her family are reminiscent of my own. Some of the interactions in the Bliss family, especially during the Christmas scenes and between Isabel and Stephanie are quite nostalgic for me and writing them gave me great pleasure for that reason.

Where is this book set and why did you choose that location?

Ramsey Bridge is a fictional town, which exists only in my imagination and within the pages of The Essence of Bliss. I was deliberately vague about its location so that readers are free to use their own imagination. However, I couldn’t help picturing my local area when I was writing and the beach scenes are based very closely on one of my favourite local beaches, Burnham Overy Staithe on the North Norfolk Coast, which I believe is one of the most beautiful places in the world.

What’s the best advice you can give to aspiring authors?

I would encourage anyone who wants to write, to get on and do it and stop waiting for the perfect time. Everyone’s lives are busy and it’s so easy to think that you’ll get around to it when the kids are a bit older or when you have more time but you will find that the perfect time never arrives. I had to snatch writing moments between work and family, ferrying various children to various clubs and parties and looking after my family, my animals and my home. It took me a long time but I made the time and it is the best thing that I have ever done. I wish that I had begun years ago, but hindsight is a wonderful thing.

Thank you so much for this interview, Emily. What’s next for you?

I am currently working on The Essence of Insanity, sequel to The Essence of Bliss. It is another intense, emotional ride but with a darker edge. I can’t wait to get it out there. I have ideas for a prequel as well as other stories in the same series and other exciting and very different projects that I desperately want to try, if only there were more hours in the day, days in the week, weeks in the year…

About the Author

Emily Astillberry is an author and RSPCA Inspector from Norfolk, England. She has a degree in English Literature and Linguistics from York University and has been investigating animal cruelty and neglect and rescuing sick and injured animals for 20 years. In her day job, Emily deals with very difficult and often emotional situations and meets all sorts of people from all sorts of backgrounds. Her career provides some of the inspiration for themes and characters that can be found in her fictional work.

At home, in a very old cottage in the country, Emily has a husband, 5 children, a dog, a cat, an axolotl, 2 giant African land snails and a varying number of rescue hens, so finding time to write can be a challenge. She is happiest outdoors, growing fruit and vegetables in the garden, walking the dog and family holidays usually involve walking up mountains in summer, skiing down them in winter and sleeping in a tent whenever possible.

Emily loves spending time with her large, noisy, chaotic family, cooking meals for friends and playing board games. She always has at least one book on the go and has always dreamed of writing her own novel. She now dreams of writing more. 

Visit her website at https://emilyastillberry.com. 

You can also find her on Facebook and Instagram.

The Essence of Bliss is her latest book.

 

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Book Spotlight! You Don’t Belong Here by D.M. Siciliano ~ Excerpt and #Giveaway! #YouDontBelongHere @XpressoTours

You Don’t Belong Here by D.M. Siciliano
Publication date: October 13th 2025
Genres: Adult, Horror, Paranormal, Suspense

A girl who feels invisible finally faces her worst fear on her sixteenth birthday and hastily makes a dark deal.

An old man returns to the same place every year on the anniversary of his wife’s death, to have one last moonlit dance with her.

A woman’s health concerns are ignored, and it leads to global chaos.

A young woman goes home to bury her father and sell his house but finds that the home is no longer hers.

An old man with Alzheimer’s becomes increasingly lost in his own house, which seems to be doing its own forgetting.

Two young girls find a Ouija board, thinking they’re communicating with a deceased relative, but find something much more cunning.

A woman, grieving the loss of her baby, takes a trip to a remote cabin in Tahoe. Her worried sister goes after her and isn’t prepared for what she finds.

A woman’s drive through California’s winding roads leads her to a perilous and sinister discovery lurking in the woods.

A woman takes a job as a nanny for two troublesome kids, only to find that the children aren’t the problem.

Goodreads | Amazon

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SNEAK PEEKS

ROUND & ROUND

Once she was gone, the house grew quiet, the house got dark, even in daylight, even with all the lights on. He had taken to turning all the lights on most of the time, hoping it might give him some clarity, some help in understanding and navigating the house he knew inside and out. He’d flip the lights on, and then the nurse would come and shut most of them off behind him once he left the room. It was as if the house’s memory was beginning to slip, just like the old man’s. Things seemed to make less sense to both the man and the house. What might happen if the house couldn’t remember what its curving walls gave way to? What if it forgot where a door should be? Or even where the entrance and exit of the labyrinth in the backyard must be? He was certain the forgetfulness wasn’t all on him. Yes, his mind was playing tricks on him, but there was more to it than that. He played a part in it for sure, but there was something about the house. It was part of him, after all. His blood, sweat, and tears had gone into building it. The house was as much a part of him as his daughter was, perhaps even more.

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SUNNY DAYS AHEAD

Tommy took a long sip of his milk, leaving a trail of a white mustache above his top lip. “She died.” He took the sleeve of his pajamas and wiped it across his lip, removing the stain. “She got sick. Sad sick.” He leaned back against a pillow on the sofa and pulled the corner of the throw blanket up to his chest.

“Oh, I am so sorry.”

“She got confused a lot. And cried a lot. She confused me and Danny. Didn’t know who was who. Sometimes she yelled at my father for no reason. Sometimes she got so sad and nervous that she would itch her arms until they bled. That’s what Dad said.”

Terry pulled her sleeves down low, so as not to call attention to the long red marks that now plagued her arms. They began to itch and tease at her, but she resisted the urge. Instead, she locked her hands around her teacup. “That is very sad.”

“When everyone went to sleep, she stayed awake. She would walk up and down the halls. Open our doors and just stand there at the bed watching us sleep.”

A chill of recognition swept over Terry.

“If we were bad, she would lock us up in our room.”

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HYSTERIA

If only women’s health had been taken more seriously, perhaps the invasion would never have happened. If the Earth were a woman, it would be giving the human race the middle finger and saying, I told you so!” right about now. What’s left of Earth anyway. It might as well be called something else entirely. Or perhaps that is a human ego’s way of thinking. Since human life on this planet changed, why couldn’t it still be Earth?

I’d spoken to my doctor more in the past few months than my literary agent. It was my third visit in six months for the same problem. What started with what my doctor had called vague, benign symptoms, turned into a nightmare. Even she recommended we might have to consider more invasive methods to deal with it. Hysterectomy: that’s what she’d called it. Such a strange word. Such an offensive base. In ancient Greece, hysteria was thought to be caused by the uterus, thus hysterectomy, so the removal of the uterus would cure the hysteria. If anything in life was that easy. In hindsight, I’d have preferred to have been hysterical and called it a day.

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About the author

DM is a lover of all things creative. From the moment she could speak, growing up in Massachusetts, she had a passion for flair and drama, putting on concerts for anyone who was even remotely interested (and even for those who were not). A storyteller by nature, she first pursued her young dream of becoming a singing diva while living in Arizona. She soon found that stage life wasn't the only form of storytelling she craved, so she dropped the mic and picked up a pencil instead. She still hasn't given up on her diva-ness, and hopes her pencil stays as sharp as her tongue.

A dark sense of humor and curiosity for haunted houses and things out of the ordinary led her down the path of completing her first novel, Inside. Several other projects are constantly floating around in her head and her laptop daily, and sometimes keeping her up much too late at night. Occasionally, those projects are so dark and twisted, she needs to leave a nightlight on.

She now lives in Northern California with her two fluffy furbabies, Cezare and Michaleto.

Connect with DM

Website | Bookbub | Facebook | Instagram

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Virtual Book Tour Spotlight! Find My Daughter by Jennifer Chase ~ Book Excerpt #FindMyDaughter @JChaseNovelist @pumpupyourbook

Find My Daughter by Jennifer Chase

(Detective Katie Scott Book 13)

Crime Thriller 384 pages

Published February 17, 2025 by Bookouture

She hears footsteps approaching, then the clunk of a heavy lock. Her body is numb in the cold but she stands, determined to fight. A blinding light overpowers her, and the world goes black…

When Detective Katie Scott finds a woman dying in the car garage, blood pooling around her, she reaches her just in time to hear her utter the words: find my daughter.

Katie doesn’t waste a second gathering her team and pulling the case file for the missing child, Anna Braxton, a teen with sparkling blue-eyes and an even brighter future. Staring at the blank investigation board, Katie won’t rest until she fulfills Anna’s mother’s dying wish.

Searching the Braxton’s impeccable family home, Katie finds Anna’s journal, filled with teenage secrets. Buried among the pages, she thinks she finds a lead—a strange man reached out to Anna, just days before she went missing…

But the case takes a terrifying turn when Anna’s best friend also vanishes. Hours later, a girl’s body is found in the embers of a house fire, her yellow satin dress devastatingly beautiful amongst the ashes. Is it Anna, her best friend, or another girl?

One thing is certain: a monster has the closeknit community of Pine Valley in a chokehold, and Katie must get one step ahead of the killer before any more precious young lives are taken. But at what cost?

Find My Daughter is available at Amazon.

  

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Book Excerpt

PROLOGUE

Darkness shrouded the old cellar, causing a continuous chill to trickle down her spine. The dirt floor felt cold against her bare feet and her hands were dry as she rubbed them together. She could smell the musty remnants of what had been stored there in the past and the earthiness of being underground. The four walls seemed to be old stone or brick and they crumbled beneath her fingernails as she tried to claw her way out—but to no avail. Her exhaustion ultimately took over and she sat still, alone with her overwhelming fears. She had been left isolated and abandoned—in the pitch-black.

She hadn’t heard the man in hours, or maybe it was days—she wasn’t sure. In her bones, she knew this time he wasn’t coming back. The plastic-bottled water and peanut butter sandwiches were almost gone; her mouth was constantly dry. Her memory seemed to play tricks on her. How long had it been since she’d gone to the casting call for young aspiring models? She hadn’t told anyone where she was going, not her mom or even her best friend. She’d wanted to wait until she got the job to tell them the great news. It had been exciting; she dreamed of being a model and actress.

Her hands touched the dress she had been given to model—a yellow silk sheath wrap that made her feel beautiful, grown-up, as if she was finally someone who mattered.

She didn’t know how many times she had crawled up the wooden stairs to the small opening into the cellar, checking to see if he had left it open. But it was always the same—bolted shut. She had memorized each stair, which ones were sturdy, which were creaky and unstable. There were nine steps in total.

As hard as she tried, she couldn’t remember how she got there or what the house looked like. Even if she had a cell phone, she wouldn’t have been able to describe where she was—or even what town she was in. She felt a million miles away from home.

But she wasn’t giving up. Though weakened from lack of proper food, she dropped to her knees once again and crawled slowly toward the stairs. Her knees were bruised and scraped from the dozens of times she had attempted to escape—hoping that each time would be successful and she would be free.

As she paused at the first stair, feeling the familiar outlines in the darkness, she used her hands to steady her ascent; each time a stair ahead. Her knee pressed against the first stair, then the second, and the third. The creaks and groans were a disturbing symphony that reminded her of her situation: she was a prisoner in an empty basement and no one was coming back for her.

She stopped halfway to the top; her breathing quickening; feeling lightheaded. Her stomach grumbled. Her hope dwindled. Each time she’d gathered the strength to go up the stairs, it had turned out to be disheartening. She was never going to be free again. How stupid and selfish she had been, thinking she would become a model. She wondered if any of the other girls ended up like this. Or was she the only one whose fate was sealed?

Looking up toward the opening, she thought she heard footsteps. Yes, she had heard something. They were faint, but steady. He was coming. She froze. Her knees and hands were almost numb—her fingers hurt. Should she go back down or keep going?

What did she have to lose?                                   

The footsteps were getting closer. They sounded like a pair of work boots hitting old hardwood floors. There was a strange echo to the movement, which was now above her. She could hear the creaks of the uneven planks; a mismatched harmony.

The distinct jingle of keys, then the rattle of a heavy lock.

She was going to stand her ground and push past the man to make her escape. It was all she had.

She could barely breathe.

The heavy creak of hinges.

Her body numb. She tried to stand up, ready to fight.

The doorway opened a crack at first, then wider, and finally pushed all the way open.

The blinding light overpowered her. Trying to escape it, she fell backward, flailing her arms in an attempt to catch her balance. She couldn’t focus on anything. She felt every step hit her back and ribs as she tumbled down to the dirt basement. Her head struck the floor. She lost her breath and closed her eyes.

Excerpted from Find My Daughter by Jennifer Chase, Bookouture, 2025. Reprinted with permission.

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About the author

Jennifer Chase is a multi award-winning and USA Today Best Selling crime fiction author, as well as a consulting criminologist. Jennifer holds a bachelor degree in police forensics and a master's degree in criminology & criminal justice. These academic pursuits developed out of her curiosity about the criminal mind as well as from her own experience with a violent psychopath, providing Jennifer with deep personal investment in every story she tells. In addition, she holds certifications in serial crime and criminal profiling.  

Connect with Jennifer

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Release Day! Summons to Berlin by Joanne Intrator ~ #Giveaway! #SummonsToBerlin @JoanneIntrator @shewritespress @GoSparkPoint

 

Congrats Joanne

on the release today of

Summons to Berlin!

Summons to Berlin: Nazi Theft and A Daughter's Quest for Justice by Joanne Intrator

Biographies & Memoirs of Women, Nonfiction, 272 pages

Expected publication August 1, 2023 by She Writes Press

On his deathbed, Dr. Joanne Intrator’s father poses two unsettling questions:

“Are you tough enough? Do they know who you are?”

Joanne soon realizes that these haunting questions relate to a center-city Berlin building at 16 Wallstrasse that the Nazis ripped away from her family in 1938. But a decade is to pass before she will fully come to grasp why her father threw down the gauntlet as he did.

Repeatedly, Joanne’s restitution quest brings her into confrontation with yet another of her profound fears surrounding Germany and the Holocaust. Having to call on reserves of strength she’s unsure she possesses, the author leans into her professional command of psychiatry, often overcoming flabbergasting obstacles perniciously dumped in her path.

The depth and lucidity of psychological insight threaded throughout Summons to Berlin makes it an attention-grabbing standout among books on like topics. As a reader, you’ll come away delighted to know just who Dr. Joanne Intrator is. You’ll also finish the book cheering for her, because in the end, she proves far more than tough enough to satisfy her father’s unnerving final demands.

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Praise for Summons to Berlin

“Dr. Joanne Intrator has a powerhouse personality and a razor-sharp intellect. Her quest for restitution for one of the center-city Berlin properties that the Nazis stole from her family during the Holocaust is an inspiring saga of vindication and justice, and of one very determined woman prevailing against seemingly impossible odds.”—Dean Pitchford Academy Award and Golden Globe Award Winner

“Joanne Intrator's proposed Summons to Berlin is a real-life story that simply must be told. Intrator's perseverance in pursuing justice for her family—in the matter of a center-city Berlin property stolen during the Holocaust era -- is a model of courage and gumption for us all. Where an indifferent German bureaucracy expected Dr. Intrator to split the value of the property with an heiress of Nazis, and additionally wanted to sweep the Nazi history of the building under the rug, Intrator dug and dug and dug and then dragged that Nazi history out into the light of day. That she simultaneously was working on groundbreaking research into the brain structure of psychopaths -- work that relates directly to the complex mysteries of the Nazi phenomenon—guarantees that her unique story will be informed by equally unique insights. Joanne’s story is certain to appeal to readers who love when a strong woman pursues and achieves her goals.”—Kathrin Seitz, Writer and Producer 

“A courageous and determined daughter confronts the German government, seeking justice for her parents, who had been victims of Nazi racism and immorality. Joanne Intrator’s story is that of a woman who dares to confront those who would find security in silence, even as this “silence” is perpetuating the evil and immorality that her parents endured.”—Rabbi David Greenberg, Temple Sharaay Tefila, Bedford Corners, New York

“It took a lot of guts for Joanne Intrator to go to Berlin and fight for her family’s building. To think that through her fierce determination, Joanne managed to get uncovered that Nazi flags, and worse yet, one million yellow Jewish star patches were manufactured in her family’s building during the war.

I know that Joanne had to morph from being the dutiful daughter of German-Jewish refugees to become assertive in an environment that was totally disinterested, that is, when it wasn’t being downright obstructionist. She could have taken the easy way out and settled at the beginning, gotten some money and gone on with her life. But that has never been Joanne’s way. The same resolve that drove her to become a psychiatrist—years after graduating from Connecticut College—led her to seek justice in Berlin, and makes her a fine model for all women.

I am really looking forward to reading her book and hopefully, to seeing a film based on her story.”—Judy Licht, Television and Print Journalist

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About the author

Joanne Intrator’s life has been shaped by being the daughter of German Jewish refugees. Since childhood, she pondered why people perpetrate atrocities on their fellow human beings. After studying European history at Connecticut College, she received an MD from Columbia University and became a psychiatrist. She did a fellowship in Psychiatry and Law at Albert Einstein. Mentored by Dr. Robert Hare, she spearheaded the first brain imaging research on well-defined psychopaths, published in The Journal of Biological Psychiatry. 

Following her father’s death in 1993, she took it upon herself to fight for the restitution of a building in Berlin. Her journey has been the subject of news articles, television interviews, and museum exhibits. Joanne practices psychiatry in New York City. She has written for The Journal for The Study of Antisemitism, Ästhetik & Kommunikation (Berlin), Women Writers. Women(‘s) Books, and she writes a blog on psychopathy for Psychology Today.

Connect with Joanne

Website | Goodreads | Twitter | Facebook | Amazon

Background information about Joanne's family

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